Like a Prayer (song) demo of "Like a Prayer" in his car, and directed the choir accordingly. The choir was recorded separately, and Leonard wanted it to be added during post-production. Recording took more time than usual since Madonna and Leonard fought "tooth and nail" in the studio. According to author Lucy O'Brien, the singer wanted to prove that her second chance as a record producer (following her previous album "True Blue") was not a fluke. Leonard started working on the chord changes for the verses and the chorus. He had hired guitarist Bruce Gaitsch and bass guitar player Guy Pratt to work on
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