Like a Prayer (song) portrayal of a love song, rather than blasphemy. He was more interested in the stigmata presented in the clip. Taraborrelli described his thoughts: "Madonna danced with such abundance in [the video], as if she knew that she was about to cause a commotion, and couldn't wait to see how it would unfold." At the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, "Like a Prayer" was nominated in the Viewer's Choice and Video of the Year categories, winning the former. Ironically, the award show was sponsored by Pepsi that year, and when Madonna came onstage to receive the award she added, "I would
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