Like a Virgin (album)

Like a Virgin is the second studio album by American singer and songwriter Madonna, released on November 12, 1984, by Sire Records. After the success of her 1983 debut, Madonna was keen to begin work on a follow-up. She chose Nile Rodgers to produce the album because she admired his work on David Bowie’s Let’s Dance (1983). To make sure the album turned out exactly as she wanted, Madonna selected all the songs herself: she wrote five of them—four co-written with her former boyfriend and collaborator Stephen Bray—while the other four were written by different artists. Recording took place at Power Station studio in New York City, where Rodgers brought in his former Chic bandmates Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson.

When it came out, Like a Virgin received mixed reviews from music critics. Rodgers’s production was praised, but Madonna’s vocals were criticized. Still, it became her first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200 and the first album by a female artist to sell more than five million copies in the United States. The Recording Industry Association of America later certified it diamond for shipments of ten million units. Internationally, it hit number one in Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom. With over 21 million copies sold worldwide, Like a Virgin remains one of the best-selling albums of all time. In the U.S., four singles from the album all reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100; the title track became Madonna’s first number-one single, and “Material Girl” peaked at number two.

The album was promoted on Madonna’s first concert tour, the Virgin Tour in 1985, which visited cities across North America. Like a Virgin is credited with turning Madonna into a superstar and proving she was not a one-hit wonder, while her fashion style during this era was widely copied by teens and young women. In 2023, the Library of Congress selected the album for preservation in the National Recording Registry, citing its “cultural, historical, or aesthetic significance.”

After her debut album and hits like “Holiday,” “Lucky Star,” and “Borderline,” Madonna had become, according to author Craig Rosen, “one of the most exciting new artists of the 1980s.” But she wasn’t fully satisfied with how her first album turned out and was eager to start the next one.