Like a Prayer (song) alternatives, producers Patrick Leonard and Stephen Bray were experimenting with instrumental tracks and musical ideas for her consideration. Both of them wanted to bring their unique style to the project and composed music for the title track. Eventually, Madonna felt that the music presented to her by Leonard was more interesting, and she started to work with him. Once Madonna had conceptualized the way she would interpose her ideas with the music, she wrote "Like a Prayer" in about three hours. Writing and producing it with Leonard, it became the first song developed for the album. The singer has described
Like a Prayer (album) Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of three million units. After the advent of the Nielsen SoundScan era in 1991, the album sold a further 575,000 copies. "Like a Prayer" has sold over 4 million copies in the United States. In Canada, the album debuted at number two on the RPM Albums Chart on May 1, 1989. It remained on that position during four weeks, before dropping to the third position the week of May 29, 1989. The album was present for a total of 37 weeks on the chart, and was certified five times