Today in Madonna History: June 20, 1998

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On June 20 1998, Madonna’s Ray of Light became the #1 dance single on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The hit single remained #1 for 4 weeks!

Ray of Light was written by Madonna, William Orbit, Clive Muldoon, Dave Curtiss, Christine Leach, and produced by Madonna and Orbit.  Ray of Light is based on Curtiss Maldoon’s Sepheryn.

“It took a long time to do the album, months. And it wasn’t like we were slacking. We actually did have to work fast, and there were many times when we had to move on. One of Madonna’s favorite phrases was: ‘Don’t gild the lily.’ In other words, keep it rough, and don’t perfect it too much. It’s a natural urge for computer buffs to perfect everything because they can, and we were very wary of that.”

—William Orbit on working with Madonna; Keyboard magazine

Today in Madonna History: May 29, 1992

On May 29 1992, the FBI recovered 44 nude photographs of Madonna from a collection by photographer Steven Meisel that was set to appear in her upcoming book, Sex. The “thief of nudes” was arrested in West Hollywood, California for trying to sell the pictures for $100,000 to an undercover FBI agent.

Today in Madonna History: May 16, 1994

i'll remember canadian singles chart

On May 16, 1994, Madonna’s I’ll Remember (Theme From With Honors) hit #1 on the Canadian Top 100 Singles chart by RPM.

The song remained at the top of the Canadian singles chart for five weeks, surpassing Like A Prayer to become Madonna’s longest-running #1 single on the Canadian charts at that time. It was finally displaced on June 20th by All-4-One’s hit, I Swear – the same song that blocked I’ll Remember from reaching the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., where it spent four weeks locked at #2.

Today in Madonna History: April 25, 1998

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For the weeks of April 25, and May 2, 1998, Madonna’s Frozen was the #1 dance single on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Today in Madonna History: April 13, 1995

On April 13 1995, Bedtime Story was released by Maverick/Sire as the third single from the album Bedtime Stories in North America. The song was written by Björk, Nellee Hooper & Marius DeVries and produced by Madonna & Nellee Hooper. In both the U.S. and Canada the single and CD maxi-single were backed by the album opener, Survival.

The commercial maxi-single featured remixes by Junior Vasquez and Orbital. Additional promo-only remixes by Mark Picchiotti & Teri Bristol were also later serviced promotionally to clubs.

Bedtime Story was released in the UK in February following a poor reception to the album’s second single, Take A Bow.

It was the opposite situation in North America, where the third single was delayed for several months due to the prolonged chart-topping reign of Bow. Bedtime Story‘s more experimental, minimalist sound failed to gain traction on U.S. radio but did earn Madonna another #1 hit on the Hot Dance/Club chart.

Today in Madonna History: April 10, 2012

On April 10 2012, MDNA was issued on vinyl as a deluxe 2-disc set in North America.

The same configuration of the album was also released in European markets one week later.

Today in Madonna History: April 1, 2012

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On April 1 2012, Madonna achieved her 12th UK #1 album with MDNA, overtaking Elvis Presley as the solo artist with the most chart-topping albums of all-time in Great Britain.