Welcome to part two of our article devoted to Madonna singles and Maxi Singles that were released in Japan as 5" discs. In this second part we are taking a look at cds from 1998 to 2006.

Madonna's first single from her studio album Ray Of Light is the beautiful Frozen. A two track single comes out in Japan in February 1998 on a 5 inch format disc with a second 5 inch release called Frozen - Remixes, with the same Euro and US track list, out in April 1998.

The second single (the album track) is out in the same formats, a cd with dance versions called Ray Of Light - Remixes released at the beginning of May and a two track cd single containing the bonus, previously unreleased track, Has To Be released at the end of the same month.

The third Japanese single from Ray Of Light (following the European path) is Drowned World - Substitute For Love. The first two track single is out on September 29th 1998, while a three track cd with Sky Fits Heaven is released the following week on October 5th. Both have an upsidedown cover artwork.

  
 

The fourth single from Ray of Light is out on November 26 and it's a 5 track cd of The Power Of Goodbye.

The following release is a two track cd of Holiday from the soundtrack of the film The Wedding Singer. This cd, which is simply the Japanese print of the German 1995 re-issue, came out the first week of February 1999.

The fifth and final release from ROL is a 4 track cd of Nothing Really Matters and is very well known among collectors as the madonnan single, simply because on the cover insert Madonna is credited as madonnan.

Beautiful Stranger was then released next in July 1999 with same European tracklist.

  
 
 

The Don McLean cover American Pie from the soundtrack of the film The Next Best Thing (2000) gets two cds in Japan. One is a three track single in slim case, the other is a 5 track cd in standard jewel case.

  
 

Two are the number of releases for each of the three singles off the album Music. They all came in jewel case except for the first Don't Tell Me cd that was housed in a slim case.

  
 

A cd with 6 versions of Die Another Day was out in stores in November 2002. The following two cds were the Blue and Red singles of American Life, which are also the latest single releases in Japan by Warner. Neither Hollywood nor Love Profusion were infact released after these two American Life maxis.
The latest Japanese release from the American Life album is the Remixed & Revisited EP - that we include here although it is often considered as a mini album and not as a Maxi single.

Let's also add to this collection of maxi singles the Japanese version of Britney Spears' single Me Against The Music featuring of course Madonna. This disc, released in November 2003 on the BMG Japan label, contains 4 mixes of the song in a slim jewel case format.

  
 

This collection of maxi singles is temporary completed with the Japanese version of the first two singles from "Confessions On A Dance Floor". Hung Up and Sorry were both released in Japan as 3-track singles in slim cases, while maxi singles were imported from Europe and the U.S. The third single from "Confessions", Get Together, was not released domestically in Japan and was only available as an import, feeding fears in the collectors' world that Japan may become the first country were digital downloads completely substitute the commercial release of cd-singles. Now it's up to Jump to see if the trend continues.

 

 


Madonna - Japanese 5" Cds Discography - Part Two 1998-2006

WPCR-1791 Frozen - 2 track cd single
WPCR-1846 Frozen Remixes
WPCR-1860 Ray Of Light - Remixes
WPCR-1887 Ray Of Light - Has to be
WPCR-1975 Drowned World/Substitute For Love - 2 tracks
WPCP-1983 Drowned World/Substitute For Love - 3 Tracks
WPCR-2297 The Power of Goodbye - 5 tracks
WPCR-10070 Holiday - Lucky Star (Slim Case)
WPCR-10298 Nothing Really Matters - 4 Tracks
WPCR-10486 Beautiful Stranger - 3 Tracks
WPCR-10657 American Pie - 3 tracks (Slim Case)
WPCR-10693 American Pie - 5 tracks
WPCR-10901 Music
WPCP-10902 Music Remix
WPCR-10903 Don't Tell Me (Slim Case)
WPCP-10904 Don't Tell Me - Remixes
WPCR-10905 What it feels like for a girl - Cd 1
WPCR-10906 What it feels like for a girl - Cd 2
WPCR-11398 Die Another Day - 6 Tracks
WPCR-11541 American Life - Blue Cover 3 Tracks
WPCR-11610 American Life - Red Cover 6 Tracks
BVCQ-29601 Me Against The Music - Britney featuring Madonna Remixes
WPCR-11769 Remixed and Revisited EP
WPCR-12187 Hung Up - 3 tracks (Slim Case)
WPCR-12225 Sorry - 3 tracks (Slim Case)