“Like A Prayer” LP hand signed by Madonna on the front cover in blue ink.  Like a Prayer is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, released on March 21, 1989 by Sire Records, three years after her previous studio album. Madonna worked with Stephen Bray, Patrick Leonard, and fellow icon Prince on the album while co-writing and co-producing all the songs. As Madonna’s most introspective release at the time, Like a Prayer has been described as a confessional record. She described the album as a collection of songs “about my mother, my father, and bonds with my family.” The album was dedicated to her mother, who died when Madonna was young. The album debuted at number eleven on the Billboard 200, and within three weeks was number one, where it would stay for over a month. The singles “Express Yourself” and “Cherish” both reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, while “Oh Father” was her least successful single since 1984, peaking at number twenty. “Keep It Together” reached number eight, and “Dear Jessie” became a hit single in Europe, with an animated video. After the advent of the Nielsen SoundScan era in 1991, the album sold a further 575,000 copies in the United States. The album was also very successful in Asia and Oceania. In Japan, Like a Prayer reached number one on the Oricon weekly albums chart and remained on the chart for 22 weeks. At the 1990 Japan Gold Disc Awards held by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, Madonna won three awards for “Artist of the Year”, “Grand Prix Album of the Year”—which acknowledge the best-selling international artist and best-selling international album of the year, respectively—and “Best Album of the Year – Pops Solo”. It also became her sixth platinum album in Hong Kong, the most for any international artist of the decade. Like a Prayer has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.