She is one of the music industry’s most enduring talents, an eclectic, idiosyncratic and enigmatic singer and songwriter, who guards her private life jealously, juggles a recording career with motherhood, and recently celebrated her 50th birthday. But enough about Kate Bush – we’re here to look at the phenomenon that is Madonna, who shares all of the above characteristics with Bush and has enjoyed unparalleled success since she arrived on the recording scene in 1982.

Although precocious in many ways, Madonna was something of a late starter as a recording artist, and has still spent less than half her life as a hitmaker.

Born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone in Bay City, Michigan, she is one of a quartet of major stars born within a few weeks of each other in 1958. Prince arrived on June 7, Kate Bush on July 30, Madonna on August 16and Michael Jackson on August 29.

Her initial singles, Everybody and Burning Up, were major club hits in America – both reached number three on the Billboard dance chart but fell short of the Hot 100.

Third single Holiday’s frivolous, sing-along style won it a much wider audience, and provided her with her introductory Top 20 hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and much of the rest of the globe. On its first visit to the UK chart, in 1984, it peaked at number six. Subsequently reissued in 1985 (when it reached number two) and 1991 (number five), it continues to sell well as a download, and recently became the third song by Madonna to top 0.75m sales here.

Madonna has not looked back since Holiday, and has accumulated 64 consecutive hits, all of which made the Top 20. Along the way, she has sold 16.41m singles in Britain – an average of more than 250,000 per release. That is enough for her to rank fourth in the all-time table of top singles artists in the UK, trailing only Cliff Richard (21.21m), The Beatles (20.71m) and Elvis Presley (20.66m). Richard and Presley rarely penned their own songs but for Madonna, writing, or co-writing her hits is part of the process, and in sales terms she is by far the most successful singer/songwriter in UK chart history.

She has sold as many singles as the two next most successful female solo artists – Kylie Minogue and Whitney Houston – combined. Runner-up Kylie’s career tally of 9.05m is impressive but, although 10 years Madonna’s junior, she has lost ground on her in the last five years.

Here is Music Week's exclusive list of Madonna’s UK hits, ranked by sales.


Note: 4 Minutes is by Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake, Me Against the Music by Britney Spears feat. Madonna. All others credit only Madonna. Sales include digital downloads, and are complete to midnight on Saturday 15 August 2008, when Madonna’s 50th birthday started.

Article by Alan Jones
Source: www.musicweek.com (found on MadonnaTribe)