France Album Sales: Madonna
Like A Prayer (1989) Era
After a one year hiatus, Madonna made her return in March 1989 with the song Like A Prayer. The song was one more impressive hit for her, reaching as high as #2 during three weeks, only blocked by Boney M Megamix.
The album faced the competition of Jean-Jacques Goldman live album Traces, released the same day as Like A Prayer. While Who’s That Girl was blocked by the previous album of the French superstar, Madonna got her revenge by debuting at #1 ahead of Traces which came in at #2. For eight weeks, both albums remained at #1-2 respectively, until the live set incredibly dislodged Like A Prayer. The 18 weeks spent inside the Top 10 by the lead single maintained the album’s success very well as it stood eight weeks at #2 after its first eight weeks at #1.
If the first six months of this album were incredible, subsequent singles all failed to reach the Top 20 and the album started to lose its staying power, dropping from #9 to out of the Top 50 within two months and never recovering. The fact the album lost ground before reaching the key Christmas period hurt its sales. It was also strong during a weak period for sales, which is why the record failed to reach 2xPlatinum status, it moved a calculated 527,000 units for the year.
Top 3 Most Streamed Tracks on Spotify
- Like A Prayer – 45,212,000
- Express Yourself – 7,582,000
- Cherish – 3,378,000