Madonna: Celebration

Madonna's Celebration arrived in stores today. Wanting the physical CD, I waited until after work and picked it up at Best Buy (sadly, the only place convenient to my home for buying music). Here's my track-by-track rundown of what it includes, what it doesn't and an analysis of the stats behind these hits.

Overview: The 2-disc version includes 34 remastered greatest hits and two new tracks, split evenly over 2 discs with one of the new songs on each (an additional new track, "It's So Cool," is available with the online version). The tracks are not presented in chronological order, although generally the older ones come before the newer ones. The 1-disc version has 17 hits plus "Celebration."

In general, the set favors her dance pop hits over her ballads, particularly the 1-disc version, whose only slower song is "Frozen," picked over other major ballads like "Crazy for You," "Live to Tell" and "Take a Bow," which are only on the 2-disc set.

Track-by-track: Let's get into it. Here's my breakdown of each track, which version is included, and how it charted in the US and UK (tracks with an asterisk appear only on the 2-disc version):

Disc 1:

1. Hung Up (2005, US: 7, UK: 1). Album version.

2. Music (2000, US: 1, UK: 1). Album version.

3. Vogue (1990, US: 1, UK: 1). This is the extended version that appeared on The Immaculate Collection with the "what are you looking at" opening and extended intro.

4. 4 Minutes (2008, US: 3, UK: 1). "4 Minutes" has been cut almost a minute to 3:10 (kind of odd to cut this one, given its title).

5. Holiday (1983, US: 16, UK: 2). Album version--all 6 minutes of it.

6. *Everybody (1982). Here's one of the album's selling points for fans--a nice single edit version of Madonna's first single, edited to 4:11 from its original 6:03 length.

7. Like a Virgin (1984, US: 1, UK: 3). This is the edited and slightly remixed version from The Immaculate Collection.

8. Into the Groove (1985, US: 5--as the b-side to "Angel", UK: 1). Thankfully, this is the original 1985 single version and not The Immaculate Collection remix/edit. It's nice to have this remastered, as the version from the "Angel" single doesn't sound that great anymore.

9. Like a Prayer (1989, US: 1, UK: 1). Here's a disappointment for me. This is the album version, which is an improvement over what we got on The Immaculate Collection, but I was really hoping for the slightly different single version (which I don't own, unfortunately).

10. Ray of Light (1998, US: 5, UK: 2). This is the same radio edit that appeared on GHV2.

11. *Sorry (2006, US: 58, UK: 1). Single edit.

12. Express Yourself (1989, US: 2, UK: 5). Here's another bonus. It's the dance version, which I love, but not The Immaculate Collection edit, but rather the version that appeared in the video, which is way better.

13. Open Your Heart (1986, US: 1, UK: 4). It's an edit, the same as was on The Immaculate Collection. As far as I can tell though, it's not a remix, as the True Blue tracks weren't remixed for The Immaculate Collection (at least they sound the same to me).

14. *Borderline (1984, US: 10, UK: 2). It's The Immaculate Collection version, which was edited and slightly remixed.

15. *Secret (1994, US: 3, UK: 5). Single edit, maybe even a little shorter than the edit from GHV2.

16. *Erotica (1992, US: 3, UK: 3). Radio edit, same as was on GHV2 with a few more seconds shaved.

17. *Justify My Love (1990, US: 1, UK: 2). Slightly edited--7 seconds shorter than The Immaculate Collection original.

18. *Revolver (feat. Lil Wayne). New track.

Disc 2:

1. Dress You Up (1985, US: 5, UK: 5). Album version. There's something a little funny with it though. When I first uploaded it, the first few second were garbled with "Revolver," which isn't even on the same disc. I uploaded it again, and there's still a bit of a glitch at the beginning, although not as bad. Quite strange.

2. Material Girl (1985, US: 2, UK: 3). Album version.

3. La Isla Bonita (1987, US: 4, UK: 1). Album version.

4. Papa Don't Preach (1986, US: 1, UK: 1). Album version.

5. Lucky Star (1984, US: 4, UK: 14). The edited and slightly remixed version from The Immaculate Collection.

6. *Burning Up (1983). Album version. Still an interesting choice to include this early non-hit over later major hits.

7. *Crazy for You (1985, US: 1, UK: 2). Edited version, at 3:44 it's shorter than the Something to Remember (4:11) and Immaculate Collection (3:46) versions.

8. *Who's that Girl (1987, US: 1, UK: 1). Album version. Nice to see this here, as I've always loved it, since it was my introduction to Madonna.

9. Frozen (1998, US: 2, UK: 1). This track appears in different forms, depending on which version of the album you get. On the 1-disc set, it's the shorter single edit that appeared in GHV2. On the 2-disc set, it's the longer original album version.

10. *Miles Away (2008, US: failed to chart, UK: 39). Single edit. Other than "Everybody" and "Burning Up," which didn't chart in either the US or UK, this is the lowest-charting track to make it on the set.

11. *Take a Bow (1994, US: 1, UK: 16). Album version.

12. *Live to Tell (1986, US: 1, UK: 2). Album version.

13. *Beautiful Stranger (1999, US: radio only, UK: 2). Album version.

14. *Hollywood (2003, US: failed to chart, UK: 2). Album version.

15. *Die Another Day (2002, US: 8, UK: 3). Album version. I'm surprised they included the full-length versions of "Beautiful Stranger" and "Die Another Day" but not "Lucky Star."

16. *Don't Tell Me (2000, US: 4, UK: 4). Radio edit.

17. *Cherish (1990, US: 2, UK: 3). This is an edit, but it's not the edit that appeared on The Immaculate Collection, since that version was also slightly remixed, but this edit is based on the original album version.

18. Celebration (2009, US: 71, UK: 3). New track and current single.

Stats and exclusions:

Decade breakdown - The set favors the '80s. On the 2-disc version, half the tracks (18) are from the '80s, with 8 from the '90s and 10 from the '00s. Even more so on the 1-disc version, which has 11 tracks from the '80s, only 3 from the '90s, and 4 from the '00s.

Number ones - The 2-disc version includes 11 #1 hits from the US and the UK (missing US #1 "This Used to Be My Playground" and UK #1s "True Blue" and "American Pie"). The 1-disc version is friendlier to UK #1s, dropping only "Sorry" and "Who's That Girl," while dropping 5 US #1s--"Crazy for You," "Live to Tell," "Who's That Girl," "Justify My Love," and "Take a Bow."

Albums - Madonna rules, having contributed 5 tracks to the set. True Blue has 4; Like a Virgin and Like a Prayer 3; Bedtimes Stories, Ray of Light, Music, American Life, Confessions on a Dance Floor and Hard Candy each contribute 2, I'm Breathless and Erotica just 1. One the 1-disc version, Like a Virgin and True Blue are still represented by 3 songs each, while Madonna and Like a Prayer drop to 2. Ray of Light stays at 2, and every other album gets 1 track except Erotica and Bedtime Stories, which get none.

Previous collections - 16 songs from The Immaculate Collection appear here--all but "Rescue Me." In contrast, there are only 8 of the 15 songs from GHV2. Three of the seven songs from You Can Dance appear and only 3 songs from Something to Remember.

Top 10 US hits excluded from Celebration (11):

#1 "This Used to Be My Playground"
#2 "I'll Remember"
#2 "Causing a Commotion"
#3 "True Blue"
#5 "Angel"
#6 "You'll See"
#7 "Deeper and Deeper"
#8 "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"
#8 "Keep It Together"
#9 "Rescue Me"
#10 "Hanky Panky"

Top 10 UK hits excluded (30!):

#1 "True Blue"
#1 "American Pie"
#2 "American Life"
#2 "Hanky Panky"
#2 "Me Against the Music"
#3 "Rescue Me"
#3 "This Used to Be My Playground"
#3 "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"
#4 "Gambler"
#4 "Causing a Commotion"
#4 "Bedtime Story"
#5 "Angel"
#5 "Dear Jessie"
#5 "You'll See"
#6 "Deeper and Deeper"
#6 "Fever"
#6 "The Power of Good-Bye"
#7 "Rain"
#7 "I'll Remember"
#7 "Another Suitcase in Another Hall"
#7 "Nothing Really Matters"
#7 "What It Feels Like for a Girl"
#7 "Get Together"
#7 "Give It 2 Me"
#8 "Human Nature"
#9 "The Look of Love"
#9 "Jump"
#10 "Bad Girl"
#10 "You Must Love Me"
#10 "Drowned World/Substitute for Love"