Today in Madonna History: November 6, 1984

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On November 6 1984, Madonna’s Like A Virgin was released as the lead single from the album of the same name.  The b-side for Like A Virgin was Stay.

Billy Steinberg reflected on the recording process and commented that:

“When Madonna recorded it, even as our demo faded out, on the fade you could hear Tom (Kelly) saying, “When your heart beats, and you hold me, and you love me…” That was the last thing you heard as our demo faded. Madonna must have listened to it very, very carefully because her record ends with the exact same little ad-libs that our demo did. That rarely happens that someone studies your demo so carefully that they use all that stuff. We were sort of flattered how carefully she followed our demo on that.

Today in Madonna History: October 10, 1984

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On October 10 1984, Madonna’s first EP, Like A Virgin & Other Big Hits!, was released in Japan through Sire Records.

Although three of the include singles (Holiday, Lucky Star and Borderline) had been released before, Like A Virgin would not be released as a single until November 6 1984.

The EP included the following tracks:

  • Like a Virgin (Extended Dance Remix)
  • Holiday (Album Version)
  • Lucky Star (Extended Dance Remix)
  • Borderline (Extended Dance Remix)

Like A Virgin & Other Big Hits! was re-released in 2016 as part of Record Store Day releases. The Record Store Day version was printed on pink vinyl.  lav-obhits-6

Today in Madonna History: August 30, 1985

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On August 30 1985, Madonna’s Like A Virgin album spent a third week at #2 on the UK Albums Chart.

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Today in Madonna History: July 22, 1985

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On July 22 1985, Like A Virgin was certified 5x Platinum in the US – the first solo album by a female artist to be certified for shipment of 5-million copies. The album remained a consistently strong catalogue seller well into the next decade, eventually earning a Diamond certification (the RIAA’s highest certification award) in 1998 for shipment of over 10 million copies in the US.

Today in Madonna History: April 23, 1985

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On April 23 1985, Madonna’s Like A Virgin album was certified 4x platinum (4 million units).

Today in Madonna History: April 21, 2018

On April 21 2018, Rhino Warner released two limited edition Madonna albums for Record Store Day:

  • You Can Dance – re-released on vinyl for the first time in 30 years. The Record Store Day version was pressed on red vinyl and included the obi strip, custom hype sticker and folded poster.
  • The First Album – re-released replica of the Japanese picture disc, repressed for the first time since 1987. Originally part of a 3-picture disc reissue set along with Like A Virgin and True Blue. Includes lyric insert notes in English and Japanese.

Today In Madonna History: March 23, 1985

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On March 23 1985, Madonna’s Material Girl hit #2 in the USA.

The US and UK 12″ singles included:

Side A: Material Girl (Extended Dance Remix) 6:05

Side B: Pretender 4:28

Material Girl also appeared on the 1990 greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, and on the 2009 greatest hits compilation, Celebration. The song was written by Peter Brown and Robert Rans, and Nile Rodgers produced the track.