She followed the debut album with Like a Virgin (1984), which became her first chart-topper in various countries and was certified diamond by the RIAA. It peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 and was certified five-time platinum by the RIAA. The first release under the label was her self-titled debut album, Madonna (1983). In 1982, Madonna signed a recording contract with Sire Records, a label owned by Warner Bros. She holds the all-time record for the most number-one albums by a female artist in major music markets such as Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
She is ranked by the RIAA as the best-selling female rock artist of the 20th century and third highest-certified female artist in the United States, with 64.5 million album units. In their 2006 press release, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) confirmed that Madonna's albums alone had sold over 200 million copies worldwide. Recognized as the world's best-selling female recording artist of all time by the Guinness World Records, Madonna has accumulated a total record sales of more than 300 million units worldwide. Here, Madonna is on fire, and that's the reason why it launched her career, launched dance-pop, and remains a terrific, nearly timeless, listen.Madonna during the promotion of Madame X (2019), her ninth number-one album on the Billboard 200.Īmerican singer Madonna has released 14 studio albums, three soundtrack albums, six live albums, six compilation albums, and 36 other limited releases. What's really necessary is personality, since that sells a song where there are no instruments that sound real. And there are some great songs here, whether it's the effervescent "Lucky Star," "Borderline," and "Holiday" or the darker, carnal urgency of "Burning Up" and "Physical Attraction." And if Madonna would later sing better, she illustrates here that a good voice is secondary to dance-pop. And that's the hallmark of dance-pop: every element blends together into an intoxicating sound, where the hooks and rhythms are so hooky, the shallowness is something to celebrate. This is music where all of the elements may not particularly impressive on their own - the arrangement, synth, and drum programming are fairly rudimentary Madonna's singing isn't particularly strong the songs, while hooky and memorable, couldn't necessarily hold up on their own without the production - but taken together, it's utterly irresistible. Why did it do so? Because it cleverly incorporated great pop songs with stylish, state-of-the-art beats, and it shrewdly walked a line between being a rush of sound and a showcase for a dynamic lead singer. And her eponymous debut isn't simply good, it set the standard for dance-pop for the next 20 years.
Certainly, her undeniable charisma, chutzpah, and sex appeal had a lot to do with that - it always did, throughout her career - but she wouldn't have broken through if the music wasn't so good. It was an era where disco was anathema to the mainstream pop, and she had a huge role in popularizing dance music as a popular music again, crashing through the door Michael Jackson opened with Thriller. Although she never left it behind, it's been easy to overlook that Madonna began her career as a disco diva in an era that didn't have disco divas.