On June 9 1984, Madonna’s Borderline single climbed from #12 to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Here’s what Seymour Stein had to say about the single:
I dared to believe this was going to be huge beyond belief, the biggest thing I’d ever had, after I heard “Borderline.” The passion that she put into that song, I thought, there’s no stopping this girl. All of her energy – my God, I never saw anybody work this hard in my life. And then make it look so easy.
On June 2 1984, Madonna’s Borderline was released as a single in the UK. The single only reached a peak of #56, but upon re-releasing the song on January 1 1986, it reached a new peak of #2.
Borderline was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in February 1986, for shipment of 500,000 copies.
On February 15 1986, the re-release of Madonna’s Borderline reached #2 on the UK singles chart (up from #3 the week before). And while Borderline climbed up the chart, Dress You Up enjoyed its 11th and final week on the chart, dropping to #68 from #61 the week before.
On February 12 1984, Madonna was featured on The Dance Show, a syndicated American television variety show.
She appeared in a segment from New York performing Holiday and Borderline, followed by a brief interview in which she introduced her brother and backup dancer, Christopher. Borderline was also included in a second episode that aired a few months later on April 25th, as the single was climbing the charts.
Despite an extensive list of promotional appearances for her first album, this was Madonna’s only known television studio performance of Borderline until she revisited the song during a 2016 appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.
On June 16 1984, Borderline became Madonna’s first Top 10 hit when the single peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.
Thanks to Rex!
On June 9 2016, Madonna appeared as musical guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, singing a soulfully spot-on take of her classic 1984 hit, Borderline.
With nothing in particular to promote, Madonna accepted the offer to perform as a means of meeting the featured guest, U.S. President Barrack Obama. An uncharacteristically starstruck Madonna posing for a picture with Obama backstage offered proof that Madonna’s wish was indeed granted.
Forgivably opportunistic photo-ops aside, there was a poetic twist behind the nostalgia of her rare throwback performance that went typically unnoticed: Madonna’s very first appearance on the The Tonight Show had occurred exactly twenty-nine years earlier to the day – on June 9, 1987 – with late-night legend of the era, Johnny Carson. In that flirtatious first appearance she effortlessly accomplished her modest goal of having a smitten Carson in the palm of her hand.
Twenty-nine years, three hosts and four Presidents later, Madonna returned to The Tonight Show to deliver the definitive performance of an under-performed classic, and capped it off with a spontaneous roll on the floor with Fallon and some snapshots with Obama. Cuz that’s just how she rolls.
On March 27 1993, Bad Girl peaked at #20 on the Canadian Top 100 Singles chart (RPM).
Although the single fared better in Canada than it did south of the border (it peaked at #36 on the Hot 100), Bad Girl nevertheless earned the undesirable distinction of being Madonna’s lowest charting Canadian single since Borderline at the time, which had peaked at #25 in September, 1984.
The Bad Girl single was backed with the album version of Fever in North America (both songs were released separately in Europe), while the Bad Girl maxi-single focused primarily on remixes of Fever along with an extended version of Bad Girl. Strangely, a music video for Fever was produced only after the single had run its course on the European charts, set to a remix that was not issued was not included on the North American maxi-single of Bad Girl or the Fever 12-inch promo set that was serviced to DJ’s in the U.S.
Despite the unusual promotion, Fever managed to top the U.S. Club chart and the video was put into regular rotation on MTV and MuchMusic in Canada.
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