The Immaculate Collection

by

Madonna

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The Immaculate Collection is the first greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on November 9, 1990 by Sire Records. It contains newly remixed versions of her greatest hits from 1982 to 1990, as well as two new tracks "Justify My Love" and "Rescue Me". The album includes eight of her twelve U.S. number one singles and five of thirteen U.K. number ones.

The RIAA certified it Diamond on October 11, 2001, recognizing ten million shipments throughout the United States making it her best-selling album there, while selling 5,777,000 according to Nielsen SoundScan (post march 1, 1991). In the UK, the BPI certified it 12x Platinum, for shipments of over 3.6 million copies.

The album is the best-selling compilation album ever released by a solo artist and the 13th world's best selling album of all time, with 30 million copies sold worldwide.

The title of the album is a loose pun of the Immaculate Conception, the conception of the Virgin Mary without any stain of the original sin. This name follows Madonna's religious-themed songs and videos, as well as the second section of her Blond Ambition Tour, ambiented in the same way.

In 1991, The Holiday Collection EP was released in Europe to accompany the compilation and the re-release of the single "Holiday". It contained tracks omitted from this album: "True Blue", "Who's That Girl" and "Causing a Commotion". The album was ranked number 278 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

After the release of Madonna's 2009 career-spanning double-disc compilation Celebration, which includes all of the songs featured on The Immaculate Collection except for "Rescue Me", the latter has been discontinued.