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Madonna's Official biggest selling albums
As Madonna prepares to release her 14th studio album, we look at the smashes that came before it.
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Unless you've been without wifi for the last two months, you'll know Madonna is poised to release a new album this month. Madame X will be Madonna's 14th official studio album, and will be competing to become her 13th Number 1 on the Official Albums Chart.
As record-holder for the female artist with the most chart-topping albums, Madonna has an impressive back catalogue, so we delved into her archive to rank her Top 10 biggest albums.
Top of the shop is Madonna's first greatest hits retrospective The Immaculate Collection, which has shifted 3.77 million, across physical, digital, and streaming equivalent sales. Released in late 1990, The Immaculate Collection featured all Madonna's hits up to that point, along with future Top 10s Justify My Love and Rescue Me and spent nine consecutive weeks at Number 1, her longest stint at the top. It's one of the biggest selling albums of all time.
Madonna's biggest studio album comes from the peak of mid-eighties Madonna mania. True Blue featured three Number 1s – Papa Don't Preach, the title track, and La Isla Bonita – plus two iconic Top 10s Live to Tell and Open Your Heart. True Blue was the first album by a US artist to go straight in at Number 1, and spent six straight weeks there to become the biggest album of 1986, shifting almost a million in its first six months of release alone. It's sold over two million copies. See all of Madonna's hit songs and albums in her chart archive.
In third is Madonna's huge late-nineties comeback, Ray of Light. Released in 1998, Madonna's new techno direction spent two weeks at Number 1 and spawned five Top 10 singles, including the chart-topping lead single Frozen. Ray of Light has sold 1.73m. Its follow-up Music, released in 2000, is Madonna's fourth biggest, and features two Number 1s (if you count American Pie, which Madonna very likely doesn't, as she didn't want it on the album). Spending two weeks at the top, Music has shifted 1.63m copies.
In fifth is Madonna's 1989 opus Like A Prayer, perhaps the first major gear shift of her career. The title track was a Number 1, and all the singles from that campaign went Top 5. (Oh Father was released years later but as part of a different album campaign.)
MORE: 60 of Madonna's most amazing chart facts and feats
With 2005's thumping Confessions on a Dance Floor and 1984's Like A Virgin in sixth and seventh place, each selling over a million, the rest of the Top 10 features greatest hits albums and a stray soundtrack. Something to Remember was Madonna's mid-nineties ballad retrospective, with 880,000 sales, and GHV2 added another decade of hits her existing collection in late 2001, shifting 868,500. Madonna's Evita album rounds things off at 10, with 737,000.
Just outside the Top 10 is another greatest hits: 2009's Celebration, on 666,000 copies.
If you were to cut out those greatest hits and have only studio albums*, removing Immaculate Collection from the top and the other three from the bottom, the lower four rungs of the all-time Madonna albums Top 10 would be occupied by Erotica (1992), Bedtime Stories (1994), American Life (2003), and Hard Candy (2008).
*I'm Breathless, featuring music from and inspired by Dick Tracy, isn't usually considered an official studio album, but if it were… it would come above Erotica on the rundown.
Here's Madonna's biggest albums of all time:
| TITLE | PEAK | YEAR | |
| 1 | THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION | 1 | 1990 |
| 2 | TRUE BLUE | 1 | 1986 |
| 3 | RAY OF LIGHT | 1 | 1998 |
| 4 | MUSIC | 1 | 2000 |
| 5 | LIKE A PRAYER | 1 | 1989 |
| 6 | CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR | 1 | 2005 |
| 7 | LIKE A VIRGIN | 1 | 1984 |
| 8 | SOMETHING TO REMEMBER | 3 | 1995 |
| 9 | GREATEST HITS - VOL 2 | 2 | 2001 |
| 10 | EVITA - OST | 1 | 1996 |
And if you're interested, here's her Top 10 studio albums:
| TITLE | PEAK | YEAR | |
| 1 | TRUE BLUE | 1 | 1986 |
| 2 | RAY OF LIGHT | 1 | 1998 |
| 3 | MUSIC | 1 | 2000 |
| 4 | LIKE A PRAYER | 1 | 1989 |
| 5 | CONFESSIONS ON A DANCE FLOOR | 1 | 2005 |
| 6 | LIKE A VIRGIN | 1 | 1984 |
| 7 | EROTICA | 2 | 1992 |
| 8 | BEDTIME STORIES | 2 | 1994 |
| 9 | AMERICAN LIFE | 1 | 2003 |
| 10 | HARD CANDY | 1 | 2008 |
All charts ©2019 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
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chicagary
These figures are all wrong. First off, The Immaculate Collection has sold over 35 million copies, True Blue is over 25 million copies. I don't know where this article got it's figures from but you can disregard the entire thing. LoL Do your homework.
Official Charts
This is UK sales only.
Jack fitsy
And they're inaccurate! Where is Something To Remember? Her debut? Always trying to shaft Madonna in favour of younger acts overtaking her. It wont happen.
J
Jamie
This is all lies, true blue sold 25 million copies and confessions sold 10 million copies
Official Charts
This is based on UK sales.
John Kalamvokidis
No Way Harcandy passed her debut album in sales! This list is inaccurate! Also "SOMETHING TO REMEMBER" a collection with ballads from Madonna has been tripple Platinum selling over 900000 copies in the uk alone while Hardcandy barely just over 300000.
S
Stu
Come on OCC!! Get the basics right! 'The Immaculate Collection' did NOT have all of the hits on it up to that point! There's no 'Angel', 'Gambler', ' Dress you Up', 'Who's that Girl?' and amazingly no ' True Blue'!!!!!
S
Stu
Or 'Causing a Commotion', 'Hanky Panky' or 'The Look of Love'!!!!! Shoddy!
NN
Nu No
Yeah! The album didn't even had all her #01 Hits until that moment!
Minutiaepedia
Smashes!? Thats a laugh and a half. She hasn't had a smash in literally over a decade... MDNA and Rebel Heart haven't gone GOLD let alone Platinum in the US and Hard Candy still hasnt gone Platinum but hey it's only been 11 Years.
julesin09
Still achieving more than you in life.
NN
Nu No
They have gone Gold in UK
This article is just about UK (not US).
MDNA was certified GOLD in 2013
Rebel Heart was certified GOLD now in 2020
Minutiaepedia
That's also not a SMASH! And she hasn't had a #1 in the UK since MDNA in 2012... She's released 6 Albums since that day
Her Complete Collection of 1981-2008 only went to 55
The MDNA World Tour Album (her last big & successful tour or to actually play in stadiums) only hit 55 when the Studio Album went to No. 1
Rebel Heart (all stolen material and marketing) #2 - Tour Album 42
Like a Virgin her biggest album peaked at 60 and her last album Madame X peaked at 2 and All of these albums stayed on the chart for a single week except for Rebel Heart (12wk) and Madame X (5wk) thats HORRIBLE!
Even MDNA was only on the chart for 12 wks
NN
Nu No
The Complete album collection was a box with all of her studio albums that previous peaked #01 or #02 in UK. A 12 CD box is expensive and won't chart high. Plus together those CDs together sold over 15 million copies in UK alone already so cut the . During the past 15 years Madonna released only 4 studio albums (2008, 2012, 2015, 2019). She released 1 compilation with 2 new songs in 2009 and 3 live albums with no new songs along the way as well. All Madonna studio albums in UK peaked #01 or #02 (except her first album that peaked #06 in 1984).
NN
Nu No
And you're right about not having SMASHES. She had Hit albums that peaked #01 or #02 but not SMASHES as her promotion after leaving WARNER sucked.
Her new record deal was with Live Nation that was worried only on cashing in from Madonna live tours. Her studio records were being issued by Interscoop/Universal and her live recordings being issued by EAGLE but Madonna was a LiveNation Artist so those record labels didn't put much effort promoting Madonna. All the promotion was about the live concerts and the records were just an excuse for new tours. The record promotion was the minimum and all the rest was done by Madonna team only.
As Madonna own the masters and the exclusivity distribution deal ends in early 2025 I'm sure that her return to WARNER also means Madonna last decade records to be re-issued by WARNER and will also be promoted in a different way by then too.
Her streaming was horrible and is being fixed now by WARNER. That's why she already have now 4 singles with SPS over a million and will have at least a total 10 during the next couple of years another 6 are getting close to that number. Also her catalog sales are good enough for her to have sold over 2.5 milliion albums in UK during the past decade despite new releases haven't faired as good as before.
Minutiaepedia
Gold does not a Smash make. Gold is awarded to a song or album in a single week in the UK. A gold in the UK Is 8.5 times less in the UK than the US
NN
Nu No
Gold ALBUM is 100k in UK and 500k in US.
Since UK have 65 million people and US 330 million people to achieve Gold in UK it's in reality as hard as to achieve in US based on the number of potential buyers and the sales needed to get the certification.
Platinum Album in UK it's 300k while in US it's 1 million. This means that to achieve Platinum in UK it's harder than in US.
Gold SINGLE in UK it's 400k while it's still 500k in US meaning that a SINGLE/SONG to achieve Gold in UK it's 4 times harder than to achieve Gold in US.
That's why in UK there is also SILVER Single (200k units sold). Still is twice as hard to achieve single silver in UK than to achieve a GOLD single in US.
The Platinum single in UK it's 600k while in US it's 1 million. This means that achieving a Platinum single in UK is 3 times harder than achieving a Platinum single/song in US.
It's really rare now for an album to sell enough to get certified Gold on first week. As matter of fact almost none album released in 2022 was certified Gold in UK yet (and we're already in May) let alone in 1 week. The new Harry Styles album may become the only one so far to get certified gold on first week in 2022 (but not sure it won't need 2 weeks to achieve it).
Jack fitsy
MDNA & Rebel Heart are Gold in the UK & Madame X Silver. On a par with artists of her era AND younger ones who rely on streaming
de Sascha
I think Madame X is going to hit the number #1 spot?
Hard to belive that a nice single like "Crave" won't make it into the UK charts, it's a very pleasant tune in my humble opinion.
rmckie713
It all depends on promotion, radio play and word of mouth which in recent years hasn't been good by those ignorant of good quality and inspired music.
Andii
They also now heavily factor in streaming, which is more common among the younger generations. Apparently, a lot of people listening to it is the same as someone actually investing money in buying a copy. Who knew? If they'd been able to count that in the 60s, the Beatles would probably have never left the #1 spot.
etin
what about dik tracy & whose that girl,next best thing soundtracks + you can dance ?
julesin09
Madonna/The First Album has out sold Hard Candy and American Life and possibly even Erotica and Bedtime Stories.
NN
Nu No
It sure did!
I think they "lost" the album. Is certified double platinum but it should get to 3 platinums in the next few years (now with streamings count for certifications - both "Holiday" and "Bordeline" have nice streams and are from "Madonna/The First Album").
nicosnectarinegirl
can't wait to see what Madame X does for her catalog some of her albums maybe ready for updated certs in the next 6 to 18 months due to the affect of Madame X for example the immaculate Collection could be certified 13 x platinum sometime before it's 30th anniversary in November 2020
Steven Pickup
Now I DO understand the 80's were a very different time BUT True Blue being her top studio album saddens me :(
julesin09
The album was a juggernaut and was the top selling album across Europe for over 30 consecutive weeks, not a suprise it's her top selling studio album here and globally.
She become too controversial after this album to really hit those sales figures again, but still hit payday with Like a Player, Ray of Light, Music and Confessions on a Dancefloor sales wise.
Steven Pickup
Look, I bought True Blue, so I too bear this responsibility. Point I was kinda saying DRAT (I know it was a juggernaut), is that the ONE?! OH NOEZ!! :(
GC
Graham Clarke
Immaculate Collection spent 9 weeks at the top not 10 and far from covered all her hits by that point.
FC
Fact Checker
Like A Virgin only at #7 overall !? It had sold 1.3m by the end of 1986 and 1.63m by 2008. Should be at #3 or #4.
Why isn't Madonna (the debut album) listed ? It had sold over 550,000 by the end of 1987, and will be over 700,000 (and maybe 800,000) by now. Should be at #10 on the overall list, and #7 on the studio albums list.
Steven Pickup
I like how she is credited with playing the 'cowbell' in the credits of Madonna - Madonna!! DING-DONG!!
LM
Lee Moore
Can the OCC please account for these discrepancies? The first album is a glaring omission! Like with Mariah's recent all time list, why do older albums seem to get their sales downgraded?!
Andii
It's her lowest charting studio album in the UK at #6 - https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/28948/madonna/ - even You Can Dance did better. The singles didn't do well on first release either. I'm not surprised it doesn't outsell the others, and the albums from the 2010s are missing too.
FC
Fact Checker
Andii, The debut album spent well over 2 years on the charts, and continued to sell thousands of copies a year for over 20 years, as people converted their vinyl or cassette copies into CDs. Longevity leads to big sales, not the first week's chart position. The 2010s albums are missing because they didn't sell enough. The First Album is missing because of an OCC error.
LM
Lee Moore
You Can Dance peaked at 5 but only spent 18 weeks in the chart; her debut album may have peaked at 6 but it spent 125 weeks in the chart, including 10 weeks in the top 10! It's pretty clear the OCC have made an error by its non inclusion, of course they wont admit it.
julesin09
Her debut album hit the UK charts in Feb 84 but was one of the top 40 selling albums of 1985 and one fo the top 100 selling albums of 1986. Her 2010 albums wouldn't be one of her top 10 studio albums thats for sure.
AK Nekryl
Yeah, her Interscope albums full of duets (thanks to Guy O's recommendation to boost sales) are hardly to make an entrance even this year. Poor Madonna... Brits f*cked and betrayed her, again)))