This Week in Billboard Chart History: In 1989, Madonna’s ‘Prayer’ Was Heard Loud and Clear
Madge's "Like a Prayer" album ascended to the top of the Billboard 200. Plus, remembering feats by the Black Eyed Peas, Blondie & Whitney Houston.
Your weekly recap celebrating significant milestones from more than seven decades of Billboard chart history.
April 18, 2009
The Black Eyed Peas begin their unprecedented six-month stranglehold atop the Billboard Hot 100, as “Boom Boom Pow” reaches No. 1. The song would lead for 12 weeks and be dethroned by the group’s follow-up, “I Gotta Feeling,” which led for 14 frames, giving the Peas a record 26 consecutive weeks atop the Hot 100.
April 19, 1980
Pioneering alt act Blondie, fronted by Deborah Harry, begin its longest Billboard Hot 100 rule, as “Call Me” spends its first of six weeks at No. 1. The group’s “Heart of Glass” had led for a week in 1979, and the band would also top the chart twice more in 1981, with “The Tide Is High” (for one week) and “Rapture” (two).
April 20, 1991
Wilson Phillips lands its milestone third No. 1 from its self-titled album with “You’re in Love.” “Hold On” and “Release Me” had reigned in 1990. The act remains the only group (of at least three members) to notch three No. 1 hits from a debut album in the Hot 100’s history.
April 21, 2007
Timbaland scores his first and only (so far) Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 as a lead artist, as “Give It to Me,” featuring Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake, hits the top spot. Timabaland had guested on Furtado’s leader “Promiscuous” the year before.
April 22, 1989
Madonna‘s Like a Prayer ascends to the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart. The set spawned smashes in the three-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 title cut, “Express Yourself,” “Cherish” (both reaching No. 2), “Oh Father” (No. 20) and “Keep It Together” (No. 8).
April 23, 1988
As “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” reaches the apex, Whitney Houston links her record seventh consecutive Billboard Hot 100 No. 1.
April 24, 1961
Going back to the early days of rock, Del Shannon‘s classic “Runaway” begins a four-week reign on the Billboard Hot 100, fueled in part by its memorable Musitron instrumental bridge. Elvis Presley, the Beatles and the Beach Boys are among the acts that have covered the song, as have supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, which included Beatle George Harrison and Tom Petty, who himself name-checks “Runaway” in his 1989 hit “Runnin’ Down a Dream.”
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