Madonna’s milestone – and most comprehensive – his collection to date, 2009’s Celebration unfurled the flags for almost three decades’ worth of chart dominance. In need of a single to introduce the project, the “Queen Of Pop” teamed up with club legend Paul Oakenfold to prove she could still set dancefloors alight at the turn of yet another new decade.
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A compilation that was a sign of the times
The music industry changed beyond all recognition in the early 2000s. As online piracy and the rise of streaming platforms upended familiar business models, record labels were forced to establish new revenue streams. Where physical releases had once been guaranteed money-makers, the highest income was now being made from touring.
Madonna had been signed to Sire Records by head honcho Seymour Stein, who famously finalised the initial two-single deal from his hospital bed in 1982. The relationship had endured with Sire’s parent label, Warner Bros, right until 2007, when Madonna announced she would be inking a 360-degree deal with Live Nation which would cover tours, merchandise and physical music product.
To mark the end of her first chapter with Warner (she would re-sign with the company a decade later), the “Queen Of Pop” compiled a new definitive hits collection, following from her previous compilations, the 1990 game-changer, The Immaculate Collection (still one of the best-selling albums of all time); the 1995 ballads package, Something To Remember; and GHV2, from 2001, which catalogued many of the hits from the Erotica album onwards. Inevitably, a new hits collection, titled Celebration, would need a new track or two…
Madonna picked a dancefloor legend to work on new material
London-born DJ Paul Oakenfold had made his name on the UK club scene in the 90s, enjoying huge hits with dance trio Grace (the 1995 reissue of Not Over You Yet) and as part on Perfecto Allstarz on Reach Up (Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag). Famous for creating compelling commercial trance remixes, Oakenfold had also been called upon to rework tracks from many of the world’s biggest pop acts, including Elvis Presley (the Rubberneckin’ mix that charted in 2003) and Britney Spears.
His remix of Give It 2 Me, Madonna’s collaboration with Pharrell Williams, from 2008’s Hard Candy, had been a huge club success (it was another of the “Queen Of Pop”’s 50 dance-chart-topping cuts, collected on Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones), and so reuniting for new material for the 2009 project seemed obvious.
