Today in Madonna History: June 8, 1999

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On June 8 1999, Madonna’s Immaculate Collection video collection was released on DVD.

Today in Madonna History: May 24, 1991

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On May 24 1991, Madonna’s Rescue Me single was certified Gold by the RIAA for shipment of over 500,000 units in the U.S.

Today in Madonna History: February 27, 1991

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On February 27 1991, Madonna’s first greatest hits video collection, The Immaculate Collection video was certified double platinum (for sales of 200,000 units).

Stephen Thomas Erlewine (AllMusic) had this to say about the video collection:

If any artist exploited MTV and music video to its full extent, it was Madonna. Duran Duran may have been the first video stars, but Madonna was savvy enough to redefine her image with each video, not just each album. All of her major videos between 1983 and 1990 (with the exception of her first, Burning Up, and Justify My Love, which was one of the new tracks on the greatest-hits The Immaculate Collection) are included on the video edition of Immaculate. Images from the videos — the gondolas of Like a Virgin, the Marilyn Monroe homage of Material Girl, the faux-Blade Runner Express Yourself, the taboo-shattering Like a Prayer, the sleek, stylish Vogue — have not only become part of pop music history, but of pop culture, and that becomes apparent after watching this collection. It’s truly astounding to watch the videos back to back, as it confirms that Madonna always knew where she was going, visually and musically. The singles were benchmarks of pop music in the ’80s, and if anything, the videos are even more important. This is what mainstream pop was all about in the ’80s.

Today in Madonna History: January 18, 1991

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On January 18 1991, Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection was certified double platinum for sales of 2 million units in the USA.

Today in Madonna History: November 13, 1990

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On November 13 1990, Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection, greatest hits CD and video collection were released in North America.

SoulBounce.com says this about the insanely successful collection:

That The Immaculate Collection is the biggest selling compilation album by a solo artist OF ALL TIME is no big surprise when you factor in the consummate icon that is Madonna Louise Ciccone. That even her greatest hits album would set the bar for all greatest hits albums to follow it is a no-brainer given the astronomical number of bars she’s raised. Let’s set the stage, though: 1990 was a huge year for The Material Girl even prior to The Immaculate Collection. The movie Dick Tracy, which Madonna starred in with then-paramour Warren Beatty, and the movie’s soundtrack, I’m Breathless, which includes the Academy Award winning Stephen Sondheim ballad Sooner Or Later and Vogue, one of the biggest hits of Madonna’s career, were both released mid-1990 to much fanfare and many accolades. Madonna also embarked on a huge concert tour in the spring of ’90, the Blond Ambition World Tour, while simultaneously shooting her concert documentary, Truth or Dare. She had already solidified her place as the most successful female artist of the ’80s with three number one albums and seven number one singles. So it’s only fitting that The Immaculate Collection, which served as a venerable summary of Madonna’s entire career up to that point, closed out her mammoth year.

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The CD included the following hits:

Holiday
Lucky Star
Borderline
Like A Virgin
Material Girl
Crazy For You
Into The Groove
Live To Tell
Papa Don’t Preach
Open Your Heart
La Isla Bonita
Like A Prayer
Express Yourself
Cherish
Vogue
Justify My Love
Rescue Me

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The music video collection included the following clips:

Lucky Star
Borderline
Like A Virgin
Material Girl
Papa Don’t Preach
Open Your Heart
La Isla Bonita
Like A Prayer
Express Yourself
Cherish
Oh Father
Vogue
Vogue (live at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards)

If you could change The Immaculate Collection, what would you do?

Today in Madonna History: November 4, 1991

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On November 4 1991, Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection was certified triple platinum (for shipment of 3 million units) in the USA.

Here’s a quick review of The Immaculate Collection by Rolling Stone magazine:

A perfect Madonna CD: You get timeless pop such as Holiday, provocations like Papa Don’t Preach, dance classics like Into the Groove and a then-new Lenny Kravitz-produced sex jam, Justify My Love, which samples Public Enemy.

Today in Madonna History: September 20, 1994

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On September 20 1994, Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection music video collection was certified triple platinum (for shipment of 300,000 units) in the USA.