Like a Prayer (album) one album in his or her career whose critical and commercial success becomes the artist's magic moment; for Madonna [...] "Like a Prayer" was. [Madonna] pushed onwards as an artist, using her creative wit to communicate on another level, musically." Kenneth G. Bielen, author of "The Lyrics of Civility: Biblical Images and Popular Music Lyrics in American Culture", wrote that with the album Madonna began to be seen as a serious artist; "Five years earlier, she was a dance-pop 'Boy-Toy'. With "Like a Prayer", she proved she was an artist who could think with more than her body". Thomas Harrison
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