On November 20 2005, Madonna’s Confessions On A Dance Floor debuted at #1 on the UK album chart, becoming her ninth UK #1 and her fifth consecutive album to reach the top of the chart. While Confessions took the top spot, Hung Up enjoyed a second week at the top of the singles chart in the UK, ahead of Westlife’s You Raise Me Up (#2) and Black Eyed Peas My Humps (#3).
On October 12 1985, Madonna’s Gambler debuted at #20 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was included on the Vision Quest soundtrack (along with Crazy For You) and released by Geffen Records. Madonna’s record company, Sire Records, prevented Gambler from being released as a single in the USA.
After two weeks on the chart, Gambler peaked at #4.
With Gambler‘s success, Madonna became the first female artist to rack up 8 UK top-ten singles in one calendar year.
Jay’s Note: I’d love to see Gambler appear on a future greatest hits collection. Madonna could totally rock this song out on guitar on a future tour. Fingers crossed!
On August 1 2005, Madonna appeared on the cover of Vogue magazine, along with daughter Lourdes and son Rocco. Photos by Tim Walker.
On April 2 2012, Madonna’s MDNA was the #1 album in the UK. MDNA was also Madonna’s 12th #1 album in the UK, the most by any solo artist in the UK’s chart history at the time.
On March 17 1994, the music video for I’ll Remember (Theme From With Honors) premiered on BBC1-TV’s Top Of The Pops in the UK.
I’ll Remember began as a collaboration between Richard Page (of 80’s band Mister Mister) and Patrick Leonard. Leonard had been asked by Madonna to score Alek Keshishian’s film With Honors, and had also been collaborating with Page on an upcoming Toy Matinee album. When Leonard played an early demo of I’ll Remember for Madonna, she loved it and decided to record it with new lyrics she had written. The song was produced by Madonna & Patrick Leonard, with Page providing additional backing vocals.
Madonna had previously crossed paths with Richard Page when he presented her with a trophy at the 1987 American Music Awards (pictured above).
On March 3 2000, American Pie was released as a single in the UK. The cover of the Don McLean classic would hit number-one on the UK singles chart the following week.
A huge international hit, American Pie also topped the charts in Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Finland. In the U.S. the track was not released commercially in a strategic move designed to maximize sales of The Next Best Thing soundtrack, however it managed to reach number twenty-nine on the Hot 100 based on the strength of airplay alone.
On January 25 1986, Borderline re-entered the UK Singles Chart at #15.
The re-release of the single was loosely linked with the promotion of the European reissue of Madonna’s debut album, which was repackaged in September 1985 with new artwork under the title, The First Album.
After reaching an initial peak of #56 on the UK Singles chart in 1984, the re-release of Borderline proved to be much more successful, peaking at #2 on February 15, 1986.
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