It’s an incredible 30 years since the
undisputed Queen of Pop had her very first Top 10 hit with "Holiday". To celebrate
Madonna’s three decades of Official Charts supremacy, we count down her 13
Number 1s and reveal the biggest selling of them all…
13. Sorry (2006)
To kick things off, it’s one of Madonna’s
most recent chart-toppers. The second single to be released from Madge’s big
return to the disco album Confessions On A Dance Floor, Sorry was something of
a surprise Number 1 for her. The video was Madonna in full kitsch mode – first
driving around in her own version of the Vengabus (possibly) before rollerskating
dressed like a kind of disco astronaut. It was catchy, it was energetic and it
was a worthy chart-topper
WHO DID IT BEAT? Corinne Bailey Rae’s Put
Your Records On had to settle for Number 2.
CHART FACT: It was the first time she’d had two consecutive Number 1s in five years.
CHART FACT: It was the first time she’d had two consecutive Number 1s in five years.
SALES: 200,000
12. Who’s That Girl (1987)
A product of Madonna’s movie ambitions –
with some success – Who’s That Girl was the first of three tracks released from
the soundtrack of the movie of the same name. After a whole campaign with blond
hair, brunette Madonna was back and up to her usual tricks, dancing about and
‘causing a commotion’ in between clips from the movie. Critics had their knives
out for the movie, in which Madonna played a kooky ex-con with sticky fingers
but a heart of gold, but Madge just about pulls it off. As lead singles go, it
may not be up there with Madonna’s finest, but it has a certain charm.
WHO DID IT BEAT? Madonna knocked Pet Shop
Boys’ It’s A Sin off the top. Almost 20 years later, they would remix Sorry for
its single release. So no hard feelings, then. That's good.
CHART FACT: Who’s That Girl was Madonna’s second chart-topper to spend just one week at Number 1.
CHART FACT: Who’s That Girl was Madonna’s second chart-topper to spend just one week at Number 1.
SALES: 350,000
11. American Pie (2000)
A long, long time ago… well, 1972 to be
exact, Don McLean had a hit with the classic American Pie, which was so long it
took up two sides of a 7” single (ask your mum). Madonna, for reasons that are
unclear, decided to cover the song, but to make it all fit nicely onto one CD
(ask your older sister) she edited the track considerably. Then-collaborator
William Orbit added his signature swooshes and even Rupert Everett, Madonna’s
co-star from movie The Next Best Thing, popped in to lay down some backing vocals
and appear in the video.
WHO DID IT BEAT? American Pie knocked All
Saints’ Pure Shores – another William Orbit production – off the top spot and
left N Sync settling for Number 3 with Bye Bye Bye. Madonna would later go on
to team up with N Sync's Justin Timberlake on another Number 1…
CHART FACT: Don McLean’s version only got
to Number 2.
SALES: 390,000
10. La Isla Bonita (1987)
Just before Who’s That Girl came La Isla
Bonita, a song which, legend has it, was originally written for Michael
Jackson. Madonna got her hands on it first, however, and created a new anthem
for anybody who wishes their holiday would go on for a bit longer – and she
loves a Holiday does our Madge.
WHO DID IT BEAT? La Isla Bonita held off Judy
Boucher’s boohoofest Can’t Be With You Tonight.
CHART FACT: La Isla Bonita took four weeks
to slowly climb from Number 5 to spend two weeks on the top spot. Not bad for a
fifth and final single from an already huge-selling album, True Blue.
SALES: 410,000
9. Music (2000)
Madonna was a force to be reckoned with in
late 2000, and enjoyed her second Number 1 of the year with this, the true lead
single off her album Music. Although she had just given birth to her second
child, Madonna went on a promo blitz for Music, performing a special concert in
Brixton that was broadcast over the internet (more impressive then than it
sounds now). The Mirwais-produced Art Of Noise-style romp went straight in at
Number 1 and is a favourite of hers – she still performs it regularly. Hey Mr
DJ, put a record on… is possibly one of her best opening lyrics.
WHO DID IT BEAT? Madonna knocked another
dance classic off the summit – Spiller and Sophie Ellis–Bextor’s Groovejet
slipped to Number 2.
CHART FACT: Music was deposed after just
one week by A1’s cover of the A-ha chart-topper Take On Me.
SALES: 415,000
8. 4 Minutes (2008)
Madonna’s most recent chart-topper weighs
in next, a duet with Justin Timberlake and featuring Timbaland in the
background. It was the very first time a collaboration had hit Number 1 for
Madonna – at that point she preferred to take centre-stage all by herself.
WHO DID SHE BEAT? Madonna nudged American
Boy by Estelle off the top spot, taking five weeks to do it.
CHART FACT: It was the first time a Madonna
Number 1 hadn’t gone straight in at the top of charts since Vogue in 1990. It’s
also Madonna’s biggest selling download ever and spent a month at Number 1.
SALES: 500,000
7. Vogue (1990)
Perhaps one of Madonna’s signature tunes,
she has learned to love again this massive hit from 1990, last performing it at
her Superbowl Halftime Show in 2012. Vogue came seemingly out of nowhere after
Madonna’s Like A Prayer album ended. Madonna was said to be in her ‘imperial
phase’ – she was just about the hugest star on the planet and was set to bare
all in fly-on-the-wall movie about her Blond Ambition tour and star in movie
Dick Tracy with then-boyfriend Warren Beatty. Soundtracking Madonna’s year of
excess, Vogue was sophisticated, slowed-down house dripping in glamour.
Featuring a rap that namedropped a host of ‘40s screen legends, Madonna’s place
among them in the A-list was quickly secured.
WHO DID IT BEAT? Madonna Vogued her way to
Number 1 at the expense of Snap’s The Power, which ran out of batteries and
slid to runner-up spot after two weeks.
CHART FACT: Vogue was the 8th best selling
single of 1990 and spent four weeks at Number 1 in April.
SALES: 515,000
EXTRA CHART FACT: If Beautiful Stranger had
been a Number 1, it would have placed here on her sales countdown – 530,000
copies sold.
6. True Blue (1986)
Madonna’s third Number 1 was also the third
single from the album it gave its name. True Blue was a huge success and its
‘60s-throwback title track saw Madonna at her most demure – something we
wouldn’t see again for quite a while. Written for her then-husband Sean Penn,
Madonna seems to have airbrushed True Blue out of history – she hasn’t
performed it since 1987.
WHO DID IT BEAT? Five Star’s Rain Or Shine
had to settle for second place that week, while the Communards’ Don’t Leave Me
This Way fell from the top to Number 3.
SALES: 540,000
5. Frozen (1998)
Returning to pop after a few years off
starring in Evita and having her daughter Lourdes, the Madonna of 1997 was her
most unusual reinvention yet. Part-Earth mother, part-trance goth and looking a
bit like a witch (in the best possible way), Madonna released Frozen, a
traditional Madge ballad with a twist, as the lead single from comeback album
Ray of Light.
WHO DID IT BEAT? Frozen knocked
Cornershop’s Brimful Of Asha off Number 1, and kept My Heart Will Go On at
Number 2 for another week.
CHART FACT: Frozen was Madonna’s first
Number 1 for eight years.
SALES: 545,000
4. Like A Prayer (1989)
She’d been away for a while, but in early
1989 Madonna made a dramatic comeback. It’s not just her hair that had got dark
– her sound was more serious too. Like A Prayer, a rousing gospel-influenced
epic, caused instant controversy thanks to its video (pretty tame by 2014
standards, really) and was an instant classic. Even Madonna had to admit in an
interview years later that Like A Prayer was “up there” when it came to her
best work.
WHO DID SHE BEAT? Madge evicted Jason
Donovan’s Too Many Broken Hearts from Number 1. And just behind him was Donna
Summer’s This Time I Know It’s For Real.
CHART FACT: Like A Prayer spent three weeks
at Number 1 and was 11th best selling single of 1989.
SALES: 580,000
3. Hung Up (2005)
Into the Top 3 of Madonna’s chart-toppers
now, and this one came courtesy of a pretty big Abba sample. Coming after
American Life, a fan-favourite album, but one which hadn’t performed as well as
previous albums. Madonna went back to basics and headed back to the discotheque
with this storming global hit. Even though she was recovering from a rather
nasty fall from a horse, Madonna really went for it in the video, even stopping
off at the arcade to have a go at Dance Dance Revolution.
WHO DID SHE BEAT? It was bad news for
Westlife – You Raise Me Up had to take a step down.
CHART FACT: Hung Up sampled Abba’s Gimme
Gimme Gimme, which only made it to Number 3 in 1979.
SALES: 610,000
2. Papa Don’t Preach (1986)
She’d been flirting with controversy since
the very moment she first pulled on a pair of lace gloves and rolled around a
gondola in Venice on Like A Virgin, but Madonna was straying into new territory
with this tale of teenage pregnancy and a girl who was determined “I’m keepin’
my baby”. Churches were outraged, prim aunties clutched their pearls… and
everyone else rushed out to buy this amazing record immediately. It was
Madonna’s first proper foray into pushing people’s buttons and making everyone
think, but certainly not her last. And, no, it wasn’t her real dad in the
video. And, yes, that Italians Do It Better T-shirt is still brilliant.
WHO DID SHE BEAT? Madge knocked Wham!’s
Edge Of Heaven off the top.
CHART FACT: Papa Don’t Preach was the 11th
out of 35 consecutive Top 10 entries for Madonna between 1984 and 1994. 35!
SALES: 640,000
1. Into The Groove (1985)
“And you can dance… for inspiration…” So
the biggest selling Madonna number one is the song that kicked off that
impressive 13-strong run of chart-toppers. Released almost as an afterthought,
Into The Groove was taken from the soundtrack of Madge’s first movie hit (and,
er, last for quite for a while). Despite not having a proper video, and only
being a B-side in the USA, Into The Groove is a Madonna classic that almost
everyone knows the words to. Its success was perhaps helped by the fact that a)
it didn’t appear on Madonna’s Like A Virgin album until a hasty reissue once it
hit Number 1 and b) Madonna was at the very height of her early popularity and
c) it was amazing. Into The Groove spent pretty much all of August 1985 at
Number 1 and was knocked off the top by UB40 and Chrissie Hynde’s cover of the
Sonny & Cher classic I Got You Babe.
WHO DID SHE BEAT? Until Madonna came along
throwing her pop weight around, Eurythmics were enjoying their first ever
Number 1 with There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart). It lasted at the
top for just one week.
CHART FACT: Holiday was rereleased in July
1985 and peaked at Number 2, sitting right behind Into The Groove for one week.
Into The Groove is also Madonna’s best-selling single in the UK, spending 12
weeks in the Top 40, and selling…
SALES: 870,000
Did you know Madonna has had 59 Top 10
singles as a lead artist? And that’s without even counting songs that were
released more than once – Holiday made the Top 10 three times under three
different releases.
Source: Official Charts
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