Madonna (album)

For Madonna's album discography, see Madonna albums discography. For other albums, see Madonna (disambiguation).

Madonna
Madonna's image with her right hand placed on her right cheek and with the left hand, she holds on to a number of chains wound on her neck.
Studio album by
Madonna
ReleasedJuly 27, 1983 (1983-07-27)
RecordedApril 1982 – May 1983
StudioSigma Sound, New York City
Genre
Length40:47
Label
Producer
Madonna chronology
Madonna
(1983) 		Like a Virgin
(1984)
Madonna video chronology
Madonna
(1984) 		Madonna Live: The Virgin Tour
(1985)
Singles from Madonna
  1. "Everybody"
    Released: October 6, 1982
  2. "Burning Up" / "Physical Attraction"
    Released: March 9, 1983
  3. "Holiday"
    Released: September 7, 1983
  4. "Lucky Star"
    Released: September 9, 1983
  5. "Borderline"
    Released: February 15, 1984

Madonna is the debut studio album by American singer Madonna, released on July 27, 1983, by Sire Records. In the late 1970s, Madonna had established herself as a singer in downtown New York City; alongside her Michigan boyfriend Stephen Bray, she put together a demo tape with four dance tracks and began pitching it around local nightclubs. She managed to get Mark Kamins, the resident DJ at Danceteria, to play "Everybody" —one of the songs from the tape. The song drew positive reception from the crowd, and Kamins took Madonna to Sire Records, where label president Seymour Stein signed her on for three twelve-inch singles. Following its release on October 6, 1982, "Everybody" found success on the dance scene, and the label approved the recording of an album.

For the album, Madonna worked with Warner Bros. producer Reggie Lucas, who had worked with artists like Roberta Flack and Stephanie Mills. Soon, however, problems between the singer and Lucas arose, as she was not happy with his production outputs. Madonna then invited John "Jellybean" Benitez, her boyfriend at the time, to work and remix the rest of the album. Madonna is mostly a dance-pop post-disco album, and features the newest technology of the time, including the LM-2 drum machine, Moog bass and Oberheim OB-X synthesizer. Its songs talk mostly about love and partying. Five singles were released from the album: "Everybody" and "Burning Up" were published months before it was completed; neither song made a major impact on the charts. "Holiday" was Madonna's big breakout single, followed by "Lucky Star" and "Borderline".

Upon release, Madonna received generally positive reviews from critics, who highlighted its dance-oriented nature and sound. In the United States, it peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 and was certified five-times Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It reached the Top 10 of the charts in Australia, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and has sold an estimated 10 million copies worldwide. Between 1983 and 1984, Madonna promoted the album and singles through a series of live appearances in nightclubs and television programs across the United States and Europe. The singles were also included on the Virgin Tour of 1985, Madonna's first concert tour. In retrospective reviews, Madonna has been referred to as one of the greatest debut albums of all time, and one of the best albums from the 1980s. Critics have also said that it helped to make dance music popular again, and "set the standard" of dance-pop for decades afterwards; its influence can be seen in the work of female artists such as Janet Jackson, Debbie Gibson, Kylie Minogue, and Lady Gaga.

  1. ^ Mitchell, Matt (July 21, 2023). "The 50 Greatest Synth-Pop Albums of All Time". Paste. Retrieved July 22, 2023.
  2. ^ Hunt, El (March 21, 2024). "Don't go for second best, baby: all Madonna's albums, ranked on the 35th anniversary of Like a Prayer". Evening Standard.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference AllMusicAlbum was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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