Madonna's Japanese 7" singles are without any doubt a dream for any Madonna collector. Japanese 7" were housed in a generic card sleeve (with the label's logos) and came with a cover insert with the artwork which was often completely different from Us and European releases, which is one of the reasons these vinyls are so sought after. The inserts also reported the song's lyrics and Japanese translation on the flip side.

 

 

Madonna's first single in Japan was Burning Up (Everybody was not released there as a 7"). The cover artwork is the official one used on many releases and the single is part of a series called "Dance Contemporary".

The second single, Holiday, features a picture by photographer Gary Heery from the session of the first album cover but in colour while the third (Borderline) and fourth single (Lucky Star) both comes with a photo by photographer George Holy (photos from the same session were later used in Europe for the artwork of the re-release of the first album in 1985).

 
 

The next single, Like A Virgin, comes with the same photo we find on the album cover, while Material Girl uses the picture of the 'stardard' like a virgin 7" release but with different artwork.

Angel, the third single from the Like A Virgin Album has a completely unique artwork, showing a singing Madonna from one of her appearances at a music show on Japanese tv.

Crazy For You, as in the rest of the world, is the first single to come out on Geffen records (distributed by Cbs/Sony in Japan) instead of Sire (Warner-Piooner).

The photo and artwork are very similar to the standard release just like the other Vision Quest 7", Gambler. Both of them are now particulary scarce.

The theme from Madonna's movie Desperately Seeking Susan comes with the cover that Angel had in Europe and in the US while Dress You Up is another record to have a unique cover. It features a Herb Ritts photo from the famous "Beach Session".

Love Don't Live Here Anymore, the last single from Like A Virgin only released in Japan comes with the album's back image as the cover (Italy is the only other country to have another unique release at that time. Over and Over was the last Lav single there).

 
 

Live To Tell
, the first song off Madonna's "True Blue" album was available in two vinyl format. The standard black vinyl came out just like the other singles. The rarer white vinyl version had a cover sleeve like the Us and European singles. Move your mouse pointer over the two Live To Tell covers to see the black and white vinyls.

Papa Don't Preach has the iconic cover image of the "True Blue" album on its insert while the following True Blue single uses again the same image but uncropped.

The artwork of Open Your Heart is the same as the other world releases but La Isla Bonita has unique cover with a stunning photo of Madonna by Herb Ritts.

 


The three "Who's That Girl" singles (Who's That Girl, Causing A Commotion, The Look of Love) all have the familiar artworks of the Euro/Us releases.

Another unique Japanese release, Spotlight, also comes with another stunning Herb Ritts pic and a remixed edit of Where's the party as B-side.

 


The last commercial vinyl single of Madonna in Japan is Like A Prayer from March 1989. And the artwork is the "international" one. This single being more limited has become quite scarce.

The following single, Express Yourself, was also pressed on vinyl but only as a promo single not for sale.

In some copies of the singles from the "Virgin/True Blue era" an additional black and white card insert, that could be used to mail order vinyl and cds, was also included.

When the new 3" cd single format was introduced in Japan in 1988 vinyl singles were destined to premature death in the country.

Warner Pioneer kept the double format for singles (7" vinyl and 3" cd single) for a couple of years (1988-1989). Due to the lack of many Madonna releases in 1988, the only two singles commercialy available in both formats were Spotlight and Like A Prayer.

P-1775 Burning Up - Physical Attraction
P-1831 Holiday - I know It
P-1852 Bordeline - Think Of Me
P-1877 Lucky Star - Everybody
P-1887 Like A Virgin - Stay
P-1943 Material Girl - Pretender
P-1973 Angel - Angel Remix Edit
07SP-892 Crazy For You - I'll Fall In Love Again*
P-1988 Into The Groove - Physical Attraction
07SP-922 Gambler - Nature of the Beach*
P-2003 Dress You Up - Shoo Bee Doo
P-2041 Love Don't Leave Here Anymore - Over And Over
P-2106 Live To Tell - Live To Tell (Instrumental)
P-2130 Papa Don't Preach - Think Of Me
P-2159 True Blue - Ain't No Big Deal
P-2204 Open Your Heart - White Heat
P-2237 La Isla Bonita - La Isla Bonita (Instrumental)
P-2266 Who's That Girl - White Heat
P-2324 Causing A Commotion - Jimmy Jimmy
P-2356 The Look Of Love - I Know It
P-2348 Spotlight (Edit) - Where's The Party (Remix Edit)
07P7-611 Like A Prayer - Act Of Contrition

*Non Madonna track