Like a Prayer (song) "Like a Prayer" as the song of a passionate young girl "so in love with God that it is almost as though He were the male figure in her life." Madonna's further inspiration for the track came from the Catholic belief of transubstantiation. She introduced liturgical words in the track, but changed the context so that the lyrics had dual meaning. With superficial pop lyrics about sexuality and religion on the surface, the song had different meaning underneath to provoke reaction from her listeners. Leonard explained that he was not comfortable with the lyrics and the sexual innuendos present in
Like a Prayer (song) 20 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart. "Like a Prayer" was ranked at number 25 on the 1989 Hot 100 year-end chart, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in May 1989, for shipment of a million copies of the single. According to Nielsen SoundScan, it has also sold 1.1 million digital downloads as of December 2016. In Canada, the song reached the top of the "RPM" Singles Chart in its ninth week. It was present on the chart for 16 weeks and was the top-selling single in Canada for 1989. In Australia, "Like a