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Confessions on a Dance Floor is the tenth studio album by American singer and songwriter Madonna. It was released on November 9, 2005, by Warner Bros. Records. A complete departure from her previous studio album American Life (2003), the album includes influences of 1970s disco and 1980s electropop, as well as modern-day club music. Initially, she began working with Mirwais Ahmadzaï for the album but later felt that their collaboration was not going in the direction she desired. Madonna took her collaboration with Stuart Price who was overviewing her documentary I'm Going to Tell You a Secret. The album was mainly recorded at Price's home-studio where Madonna spent most of her time during the recordings.

Musically, the record is structured like a DJ's set. The songs are sequenced and blended so that they are played continuously without any pauses. The title comes from the fact that the album tracklisting consists of light-hearted and happy songs in the beginning, and progresses to much darker melodies and lyrics describing personal feelings and commitments. Songs on the album sample and reference the music of other dance-oriented artists like ABBA, Donna Summer, Pet Shop Boys, the Bee Gees and Depeche Mode, as well as Madonna's 1980s output.

Madonna promoted the album through several live performances and a promotional tour. She embarked on the Confessions Tour in 2006, which became the highest-grossing tour ever for a female artist at that time. Four singles were released from the album. "Hung Up", the lead single, topped the charts in a total of 41 countries. According to Billboard, it was the most successful dance song of the decade. It was followed by "Sorry" which became Madonna's twelfth number-one single in the United Kingdom. "Get Together" and "Jump" were also released as singles, both becoming top-ten hits in several countries.

Most critics praised the album, calling it a return to form for Madonna and ranking it alongside her best albums. Madonna was honored with a Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album in 2007, as well as International Female Solo Artist at the 2006 BRIT Awards. Commercially, the album peaked at number one in 40 countries, earning a place in the 2007 Guinness World Records for topping the record charts in the most countries, and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Ranked third on "The 99 Greatest Dance Albums of All Time" by Vice magazine, the album is noted as a testament to Madonna's longevity with the ability to continuously reinvent herself in the third decade of her career.

Background and development
In 2003, Madonna released her ninth studio album, titled American Life, which was based on her own observations of American society. It was received with mixed reviews from critics and had low sales compared to her previous works, becoming her lowest-selling album at that point with four million copies sold worldwide. The anti-war content of the music video for the title track and lead single was interpreted as being unpatriotic, making Madonna withdraw its release from American music channels as she did not want to risk offending anyone who could misinterpret its meaning. To promote the album, Madonna embarked on the Re-Invention World Tour, which visited North America and Europe from May to September 2004, and received polarized reviews, with critics being ambivalent towards the show's themes and political tones. Nonetheless, it became the highest-grossing concert tour of 2004, earning over $125 million from 56 shows. At the 2004 Billboard Touring Awards, the tour received the Top Tour while Madonna's tour manager Caresse Henry was awarded the Top Manager award. A documentary was released the following year, titled I'm Going to Tell You a Secret, directed by Jonas Åkerlund and followed Madonna and her crew during the tour.

In 2004, after the release of American Life, Madonna began working on two different musicals: one tentatively called Hello Suckers and another one with Luc Besson, who previously directed the music video for her single "Love Profusion" (2004), which would portray her as a woman on her deathbed looking back on her life. She collaborated with Patrick Leonard, Mirwais Ahmadzaï, and Stuart Price to write new songs, the latter being assigned to pen disco-influenced songs sounding like "ABBA on drugs". However, Madonna found herself dissatisfied with the script written by Besson and scrapped it. Hence she decided to use the compositions for a new album instead. According to the singer, it was easy for her to shift from her previous album's sentiments, since she included those political views in her documentary I'm Going to Tell You a Secret. She elaborated that while working on the documentary, she wanted to be "happy, silly and buoyant", and felt the need to lift herself and others up with a new record. She elaborated, "I feel that I just want to have fun; I want to dance; I want to feel buoyant. And I want to give other people the same feeling. There's a lot of madness in the world around us, and I want people to be happy."

Recording
https://www.musicweek.com/interviews/read/hitmakers-stuart-price-on-the-songwriting-secrets-behind-madonna-s-hung-up/085799 After scrapping the soundtracks for both musicals, Madonna still owed her record company an album, but she felt "tapped out" and running out of ideas. She started working with Price, who had served as musical director on her two previous concert tours and co-wrote one song on American Life. They began initially experimenting with sounds as Madonna was not sure she wanted to make an album, but she still wanted to work with Price as she had fun doing it. They worked on most of the music alone in a recording studio at his apartment in London for five to six weeks. There were no other people with them, and Price was in charge of playing all the instruments and programming the songs, while Madonna described herself as "just the whiny pop star that showed up". She also appreciated the fact that "there was no drinking, there was no smoking, there was no eating. And there were no phones".

In an interview with Billboard, Madonna commented that the recording process was a give-and-take situation. According to her, Price used to stay up all night working on the songs. This was helped by the fact that he is a DJ and is used to staying awake all night. This gave Madonna the chance to work on other aspects of the compositions. She noted that she and Price had opposite characteristics, as she "make[s] dance music and he's a classically trained musician, who happens to be a DJ with excellent taste", and thought it helped in their collaboration. She further elaborated that their camaraderie was also because they had toured together before. Hence Madonna reflected that her relationship with Price was more of a brother-sister kind than the formal collaborations she was accustomed to during the recording process, definying them as "very much the odd couple". Price detailed the recording sessions: "We spent five or six weeks in my apartment; the studio used to be upstairs in the loft. I would work on a track overnight, then she would come in and we'd start messing around. She would do vocal melodies and I would come up with a few ideas, and then she'd go, 'Okay, I'm gonna go home and think about it.' Then she'd come back the next day and have the hook for "Hung Up" or the chorus for "Sorry". Then I would carry on working on more tracks to keep us going. It was more of a really fluid and almost childlike environment than anything that seemed too serious."

The first three songs that were written by them were "Hung Up", "Sorry" and "Future Lovers". Price had the idea to sample ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" on a song while driving home, before he began working with Madonna. In order to gain the rights to sample the track on "Hung Up", Madonna sent her emissary to Stockholm with a letter to songwriters Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus which begged them to allow her to sample the song, as they generally do not allow anyone to sample any of their works. After receiving their positive response, Madonna decided that she wanted to make a dance album. After recording "I Love New York" while on the Re-Invention World Tour, Madonna decided to re-record the track for the album as she liked it, but did not fit into its dance-pop vibe. Price started remixing it in a small studio in Australia, where he was touring, and would sent the results to Madonna.

Madonna also worked with Ahmadzaï, with whom she had previously developed her previous albums Music (2000) and American Life. However, that collaboration did not suit Madonna's musical direction as he was "very intellectual, cerebral and I just wanted an easy time" and wanted to make the album quickly. The pair was supposed to compose five or six tracks for the album, but the producer left the project after he worked on only two songs as he also "had some issues to resolve". Madonna also wanted to collaborate with Bloodshy & Avant after they worked with Britney Spears; the duo's goal was to "give her a real dancefloor filler", and worked on two tracks with her for the album.

Themes and influences
Confessions on a Dance Floor is primarily a dance-pop, nu-disco, EDM, album. Confessions on a Dance Floor merged elements from 1970s disco, 1980s electropop and 2000s club music. Madonna decided to incorporate disco-influenced elements in her songs while trying not to remake her music from past, instead choosing to pay tribute towards artists like the Bee Gees and Giorgio Moroder. The songs reflected Madonna's thoughts on love, fame and religion, hence the title Confessions on a Dance Floor. For Ken Tucker of NPR, "Only Madonna would have the nerve and the artistic verve to blend dance rhythms with musings about middle age superstardom and the Kabbalah" and "pull it off as enjoyable, rather than sufferable". It was the complete opposite direction from her previous studio effort American Life, which was a form of diatribe directed at the American society, questioning fame and the material world, with an angry Madonna "very agitated by what was going on in the world". However, New York's Ben Williams noted that there were also reflections on fame and money present on certain songs on Confessions on a Dance Floor.

The album is structured like a nightly set composed by a DJ. The music starts light and happy, and as it progresses, it becomes intense, with the lyrics dealing more about personal feelings, hence "Confessions". Madonna explained that "[t]his is the direction of my record. That's what we intended, to make a record that you can play at a party or in your car, where you don't have to skip past a ballad. It's nonstop." According to Tucker, this was meant to simulate the nonstop barrage of music in the disco era, and also connects her past, when dance clubs were the first place where her music was played and appreciated, to her present. while for Jon Pareles of The New York Times it also hints "at the arc of Madonna's career from pop ingénue to (somewhat) deeper thinker". Madonna used samples and references of music by other disco artists, including ABBA, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, and Daft Punk, as well as the disco hits of Parisian DJ Cerrone. The lyrics of the songs on the album also incorporate bits of Madonna's musical history and are written in the form of confessions. Regarding sampling herself and her own song names, Madonna commented that she did it on purpose: "I mean, if I'm going to plagiarize somebody, it might as well be me, right? I feel like I've earned the right to rip myself off."

Music and lyrics
The album opens with "Hung Up", which features vaguely familiar hooks, sustained overlays of the string arrangement and acoustic guitar enfolding the music to create a haze like sound. It prominently features a sample from the instrumental introduction to ABBA's single "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", in addition to elements of Madonna's older songs like "Like a Prayer" (1989) and "Holiday" (1983). Lyrically, the song is written from the perspective of a girl who once had nothing, and uses a ticking clock to symbolize fear of wasted time. It also contains lyrics from Madonna's track "Love Song" from her album Like a Prayer (1989). The next track "Get Together" starts with the ringing of an alarm clock, before turning into "an irresistible wave of filtered synths and thumping house beats". Lyrically, "Get Together" is about the possibility of finding love on the dance floor, with Madonna asking several questions, such as "Do you believe in love at first sight?" and "Do you believe we can change the future?", over a "tripping" vocal melody. The "cascades of sound" of "Get Together" lead directly into "Sorry", which starts off with calm, ballad-esque strings, with Madonna apologizing in several languages, before the beat comes in with 1980s-inspired synthesizers. On the lyrics, Madonna rejects an apology as she sings, "Please don't say you're sorry / I've heard it all before and I / Can take care of myself". It was speculated that the song was written about her then-husband Guy Ritchie.

The fourth track "Future Lovers" opens with a rhythmic, pulsating arpeggiated synthesizer, as Madonna softly-spoken encourages the listener to "forget your life, forget your problems, administration, bills, and loans", before a Europop hook comes in with warped, pitch shifted vocals, that return throughout, sounding increasingly deranged. The production is inspired by Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" (1977), recreating a similar syncopated riff that gets buried and obscured with synthesizers. Following song "I Love New York" mixes pop-punk with dance-pop and neo-disco. It also features police sirens, a pulsing synthesizer, a ticking clock, a rumbling timpani, and whirs and beeps. It is lyrically a Madonna's love letter to New York City where her career began, with Madonna declaring "I don't like cities, but I like New York / Other places make me feel like a dork". It focuses on what makes every other city rubbish in comparison, citing Los Angeles, London, and Paris. "I Love New York" also indirectly cites George W. Bush on the lyric "Just go to Texas, isn't that where they golf?". The sixth song, "Let It Will Be", opens with an orchestra and has a synthesized string section. Lyrically on the song, Madonna looks back on her career and sings about fame and fortune: "Now I can tell you / About the place where I belong / You know it won't last long / And all those lights, they will turn down".

"Forbidden Love" is the seventh track on Confessions on a Dance Floor. It is different from the same-titled song from Madonna's sixth studio album Bedtime Stories (1994), and was inspired by Kraftwerk and The Human League, featuring "glittering" syntherizers and filtered sounds. Madonna sings about a boy and girl's "intertwined hearts" on the song. The following song "Jump" features a 1980s synth-pop production, and finds Madonna singing in her lower register. It starts with a spoken-word vocals and has a message of empowerment and and the urge to move on from one situation to another. She also sings about the possibilities of finding new love, and appears to reflect upon the move to New York City as a teenager. Throughout the song, the lyrics shift its focus to self-sufficiency, represented by the line "I can make it alone". Ninth track "How High" begins with vocodered vocals with an Europop feel, as well as stabbing processed strings. In the lyrics, Madonna reflects about the fame and the money, being weary and seemingly exhausted at the perennial hate she received throughout her career, although recognizing that the "spent my whole life / Wanting to be talked about it". The lyrics also contains references to two song titles from her past album Music, "Nobody's Perfect" and "I Deserve It".

"Isaac", the next track, features vocalist Yitzhak Sinwani, who sang portions of the Yemenite Hebrew poem Im Nin'alu in the track, as well as references to the Biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. The song features a two-note pendulum string sample and a hummed melody, as well as a picked acoustic guitar built around Sinwani's vocal sample, who sings "If all of the doors of all of the generous peoples' homes are closed to you, the gates of heaven will always be open". It is regarded as the only song close to a ballad on the album. "Isaac" was heavily criticized by a group of Israeli rabbis who thought that the song was about sixteenth-century Kabbalah scholar Yitzhak Luria, but Madonna responded that it was named after Sinwani. The eleventh song, "Push", is characterized by a comparatively syncopated beat performed on an Indian tabla drum, rather than the four-to-the-floor club rhythm present on the album's other tracks. The lyrics of "Push" thank the person who challenged her to expand her limits, apparently addressed to Ritchie. The final track on the album, "Like It or Not", opens with arpeggiated guitars, mixing electronic elements with glam-rock with guitarist Monte Pittman playing a folky acoustic guitar riff. Madonna is heard singing with her lower register "This is who I am. You can like it or not/ You can love me or leave me, 'cause I'm never 'gonna stop", possibly as an answer to the intense criticism she received for American Life and her views on the Iraq War. On the lyrics, she also compares herself to Cleopatra and Mata Hari.

Release and artwork
Madonna announced the album's title as Confessions on a Dance Floor during her performance at Live 8 in July 2005. A month later, Madonna's official website announced that Confessions on a Dance Floor would be released on November 15, 2005; however, Madonna suffered an accident on her 47th birthday on August 16, 2005, after falling off her horse at her country estate at Ashcombe House, Wiltshire, which left her with several bones broken. Madonna's representatives said that the album would be delayed, but affirmed that the promotion would change slightly due to her injuries. On November 8, 2005, the album began being previewed on MTV, VH1 and Logo TV's websites, and was released by Warner Bros. Records the following day in Italy, before subsequent releases in other countries in Europe on November 14, and North America the day after. A remix only album titled Confessions Remixed was also released in limited vinyl editions, with only 3,000 copies produced, housed in a special black and silver sleeve. In Japan, a CD and DVD titled Confessions on a Dance Floor – Japan Tour Special Edition was released on August 23, 2006 to promote Madonna's concerts in the country.

The artwork for Confessions on a Dance Floor was conducted by Steven Klein in August 2005, after working with Madonna on a cover for W magazine in 2002 and the art installation project X-STaTIC PRO=CeSS in 2004. He photographed and videotaped her on 12 elaborate sets. The album cover was revealed on September 17, 2005, through Madonna's official website, and shows Madonna wearing a pink leotard and stilettos, with her hair long and red. The lettering of her name also depicts the "O" as a glitter ball. The artwork was treated and colored by designer Giovanni Bianco, who offered "soft, warm glitzy, feminine fuchsia pink hues" to the album. The album booklet features lyrics from a song called "Let It Will Be", apparently written in the singer's own hand.

Live appearances
Madonna embarked on a tour to support the album's release through televised appearances and concerts. Her first appearance to promote Confessions on a Dance Floor was on MTV's Total Request Live, on October 17, 2005, and on the next day, she was part of mtvU's Stand In series, where she surprised film and music students at Hunter College in New York City, serving as a stand-in professor to them. On October 20, 2005, she gave an interview on The Late Show with David Letterman and rode a horse through the streets of Manhattan, marking her first ride since her accident. The singer also made a surprise appearance at New York City's The Roxy nightclub and premiered tracks from the album three days later.

On November 4, Madonna opened the 2005 MTV Europe Music Awards in Lisbon, Portugal with her first performance of "Hung Up". She emerged from a glitter ball to perform the song, while wearing a purple leotard and matching leather boots. She then performed the song three days later on German game-show Wetten, dass..?, and would later perform the track along with "Get Together" on November 11. A day later, the singer gave an interview conducted by Michael Parkinson on his show Parkinson, where she also performed. On November 19, 2005, Madonna performed on the Children in Need 2005 telethon in London. In late November, the singer made two brief concerts at London's Koko Club and G-A-Y. In December, Madonna made her first visit to Japan in 12 years; she made a short concert at Tokyo's Studio Coast, and also appeared on TV show SMAP×SMAP.

On February 8, 2006, Madonna opened the 48th Grammy Awards, by pairing up with the fictional animated band Gorillaz. The band appeared on the stage via a three dimensional technique which projected their holograms on the stage. They performed their song "Feel Good Inc." while hip hop group De La Soul made a guest appearance. Madonna then appeared on the stage and started performing "Hung Up" while interchanging places with the hologram figures of the band. She was later joined by her own group of dancers and the performance was finished on the main stage rather than the virtual screen. On April 30, 2006, Madonna made a brief concert during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, at the festival's Sahara Tent, serving as a warm-up for her then-upcoming Confessions Tour. She opened the show with the same performance she did at the Grammy Awards, being revealed inside a disco ball that split in two.

Tour
To further promote Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madonna embarked on the Confessions Tour, her seventh concert tour, which ran from May to September 2006, visiting North America, Europe, and Asia. Additionally, it marked Madonna's first concerts in Russia, Czech Republic and Denmark. The show was divided into different thematic acts: Equestrian, Bedouin, Never Mind the Bollocks, and Disco. It received generally positive reviews, although Madonna's performance of her 1986 single "Live to Tell", which found her hanging on a giant mirrored cross wearing a crown of thorns, was met with strong negative reaction from religious groups. The tour was a commercial success, grossing over US$194.7 million, becoming highest-grossing tour ever for a female artist at that time. Additionally, the tour received the "Most Creative Stage Production" at the Pollstar Concert Industry Awards, as well as "Top Boxscore" from the Billboard Touring Awards. The concerts at London's Wembley Arena were filmed professionally and broadcast as a live special on NBC titled Madonna: The Confessions Tour Live, and was released as a live album and on DVD under the title The Confessions Tour in 2007.

Singles
"Hung Up" was released for digital download as the album's lead single on October 17, 2005. The song received critical appreciation amongst reviewers, who complimented the effective synchronization of the ABBA sample with Madonna's song, and suggested that the track would restore the singer's popularity, which had diminished following the release of American Life. "Hung Up" became a worldwide commercial success, peaking atop the charts of 41 countries and earning a place in the Guinness Book of World Records along with the album. In the United States, it reached number seven, becoming her 36th top ten hit, which tied her with Elvis Presley.

"Sorry" was sent to radio stations in the United States as the second single from the album on February 6, 2006. The song received positive reviews from contemporary critics who declared the track as the strongest song on Confessions on a Dance Floor. It achieved commercial success, topping the singles charts in Italy, Spain, Romania and the United Kingdom, where it became Madonna's 12th number one single. Elsewhere, the song was a top ten hit in more than a dozen countries around the world. However, in the United States, the song was less commercially successful due to minimal radio airplay, but managed to reach the top of Billboard's dance chart.

"Get Together" was released digitally as the third single from the album on May 30, 2006. The decision was spurred by the fact that "Get Together" was the third most downloaded song from the album, and its release coincided with the start of Madonna's Confessions Tour. Critics complimented Madonna's ability to turn cliché comments into pop slogans with the song. The song became a success on the United States dance charts, but failed to enter the Hot 100. It reached the top ten in countries such as Australia, Canada, United Kingdom and Italy, and peaked at number one in Spain.

"Jump" was released as fourth and the final single from the album on September 11, 2006. Critics complimented the song and its empowerment theme. The song peaked inside the top ten of the charts in some European countries, while reaching the peak position in Italy and Hungary. In the United States, "Jump" charted in several Billboard dance charts but failed to chart on the Hot 100.

Critical reception
Confessions on a Dance Floor received acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 80, based on 28 reviews. Keith Caulfield from Billboard stated that the album is a "welcome return to form for the Queen of Pop." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic commented that it is the first album where Madonna sounds like a veteran musician since she created the record for "the dance clubs or, in other words, Madonna's core audience." Alan Braidwood from the BBC commented that "[t]his is the most commercial album Madonna has made in 15 years and it's magic." The New York Times' Kelefa Sanneh called the album "exuberant".

Alexis Petridis from The Guardian said that the album "may be a return to core values, but there's still a bravery about Confessions on a Dancefloor. It revels in the delights of wilfully plastic dance pop in an era when lesser dance-pop artists – from Rachel Stevens to Price's protege Juliet – are having a desperately thin time of it." Christian John Wikane from PopMatters commented that the album "proved that Madonna, approaching 50 years-old, is a vital force in the ever-expansive landscape of popular music." The Observer's Peter Robinson declared that the album ranks alongside Madonna's other albums like True Blue (1986) and Like a Prayer (1989). He credited producer Stuart Price for the album, noting that "Confessions clearly wouldn't exist without Madonna, but it's Price who steals the show." Thomas Inskeep from Stylus Magazine stated that the album is "Madonna's most purely beat-driven album since her self-titled 1983 debut" and "easily her finest effort" since Ray of Light (1998). Similarly, Q's Johnny Davis called Confessions on a Dance Floor Madonna's strongest album since Ray of Light and affirmed that it is among her best.

Joan Morgan from The Village Voice noted that "[w]ith Confessions on a Dance Floor, Madonna at long last finds her musical footing. Easily dance record of the year, Confessions is an almost seamless tribute to the strobe-lit sensuality of the '80s New York club scene that gave Madge her roots, which she explores with compelling aplomb."

Josh Tyrangiel from Time magazine commented that "In dance music, words exist to be repeated, twisted, obscured and resurrected. How they sound in the moment is far more important than what they mean, and Madonna knows that better than anyone. Confessions on a Dance Floor is 56 minutes of energetic moments. It will leave you feeling silly for all the right reasons."

Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine was impressed with the album and said that "Madonna, with the help of Price, [...] has succeeded at creating a dance-pop odyssey with an emotional, if not necessarily narrative, arc — and one big continuously-mixed F you to the art-dismantling iPod Shuffle in the process." He compared the album to Australian recording artist Kylie Minogue's studio album Light Years (2000), saying "Comparisons to Light Years, Kylie Minogue's own discofied comeback album from 2000, are inevitable".

Stephen M. Deusner of Pitchfork noted that with the album "Madonna again reinvents herself, and it appears she's nearly lapped herself." According to Deusner, the music also makes her appear young. However he felt that the first half of the album was strong, while the second half "loses its delicate balance between pop frivolity and spiritual gravity." Alan Light from Rolling Stone declared that the record illustrated that "Madonna has never lost her faith in the power of the beat." However, he opined that "Confessions on a Dance Floor won't stand the test of time like her glorious early club hits, but it proves its point. Like Rakim back in the day, Madonna can still move the crowd." David Browne from Entertainment Weekly noted that for "all its pretenses of being giddy and spontaneous, though, Confessions is rarely either." Writing for Salon, Camille Paglia stated that Confessions on a Dance Floor is "a good album -- but it is not a great one. And it certainly does not equal or surpass Madonna's early work", and condemned it as "a misguided attempt to appeal to today's youth".

Commercial performance


The album sold about 3.6 to 4 million copies worldwide during the first-week of release. Despite being released late in the year, Confessions on a Dance Floor was ranked by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) as the sixth biggest-selling album of 2005 worldwide, with sales of 6.3 million. Worldwide sales of the album stand at 10 million copies, and is considered to be one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century as well one of the best-selling by women.

In the United States, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 350,000 copies in its first week. It became her sixth number one album on the chart and the third consecutive album to debut at the top, following Music (2000) and American Life (2003). On December 14, 2005, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of one million copies. As of December 2016, the album has sold over 1.734 million copies in America, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album also debuted at the top of the charts in Canada, with first-week sales of 74,000. It was present on the chart for a total of 46 weeks and received a quintuple platinum certification from Music Canada (MC) for total shipment of 500,000 copies in the country.

Confessions on a Dance Floor enjoyed commercial success in Latin American countries. The album earned a gold certification in Chile and Brazil for the sales of 10,000 and 50,000 copies respectively. As of 2006, Confessions on a Dance Floor moved 80,000 units in Brazil. In Mexico, it received a platinum certification from AMPROFON for sales of 100,000 copies. In Argentina, the album became in one of the highest-certified albums of all time with five-time platinum from Cámara Argentina de Productores de Fonogramas y Videogramas (CAPIF) for total shipment of 200,000 units.

The album was also successful in Asia-Pacific countries. In Australia, Confessions on a Dance Floor debuted at the top of the ARIA Albums Chart for the issue dated November 21, 2005, and was present for a total of 33 weeks within the top 50 of the chart. It was certified two times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) denoting shipments of 140,000 copies. It debuted at number five on the New Zealand albums chart, and was certified platinum by Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ) for shipment of 15,000 copies. The same peak position was attained on the Oricon charts in Japan, where the album was certified double platinum for shipment of 500,000 copies by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). In Hong Kong, the album was awarded a Gold Disc Award by the IFPI for becoming one of ten biggest-selling international album for 2005.

The album found its biggest reception in Europe, where topped the European Top 100 Albums chart for four weeks and was certified quadruple platinum by IFPI for shipping a total of four million copies across the continent. In the United Kingdom, Confessions on a Dance Floor debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 217,610 units, her highest ever in the country. It became Madonna's ninth number-one album, and has sold 1,360,000 copies as of November 2020, according to the Official Charts Company, while being certified quadruple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). That same week, the first single from the album, "Hung Up", topped the singles chart. The album became the fifth consecutive Madonna album to top the chart. In Ireland, the album debuted and peaked at number three. In France, the album debuted at position 113 on the albums chart, jumping to the top of the chart the next week. According to Paris Match, Confessions on a Dance Floor sold 650,000 copies in the first two months in France, and was later certified diamond by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP). Actual sales in France stand at between 800,000 to 900,000 units. In Italy, Musica e dischi reported sales of 400,000 copies during the 2005-2006 period, more than any other album by an international act and behind only Eros Ramazzotti's Calma apparente, Luciano Ligabue's Nome e Cognome and Io canto by Laura Pausini. Across Europe, the album peaked at number one in Austria, Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Accolades
Madonna won the Best International Female Solo Artist at the 2006 BRIT Awards. She also won World's Best Selling Pop Artist and Best Selling U.S. Artist at the 2006 World Music Awards for the album. She was nominated for five awards at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards for the music video of the album's first single, "Hung Up". Madonna also got nominated for Best Album of the Year, Best Pop Video, and Best Female Artist at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2006. She also won a Grammy Award in the category of "Best Dance/Electronic Album" at the 2007 ceremony. The album peaked at number one in 40 countries, earning a place in the Guinness World Records for topping the record charts in the most countries.

Rolling Stone ranked Confessions on a Dance Floor as the twenty-second top album of 2005. NME also placed it at number 29 on the magazine's list of the 50 best albums of 2005. Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine ranked the album at the third position on his list of the top ten albums of 2005. The same magazine considered the album the 38th best one from the 2000s. Three critics writing for Stylus Magazine also included Confessions on a Dance Floor in their year-end lists of the best albums of 2005. Q Magazine named the record the 26th best one of 2005. On their ranking of the best albums from 2005, The Observer listed the album at number 26. By the end of the 2000s, Slant Magazine placed the album at number 38 on their list of "The 100 Best Albums of the Aughts". In 2015, Confessions on a Dance Floor was ranked third on "The 99 Greatest Dance Albums of All Time" by Vice magazine.

Legacy
Mike Nied from Idolator praised Confessions on a Dance Floor as one of the most influential pop albums of the decade and dubbed Madonna as a "timeless trendsetter" and "creative genius". According to Michael Arceneaux from NBC News, it is "arguably her last great, impactful album; it's the last time she still felt truly forward-thinking, even if it looked back sonically." Christopher Rosa from VH1 called it her "best album to date" and explained that is a "near-perfect pop record" and "her most natural reinvention". It was ranked as the third best dance album of all-time by Vice magazine—the highest peak by a female performer. The magazine staff commented: "This is the album all her subsequent albums is compared to; for its enduring relevance and how it redefined Madonna as an artist, it should be". Author Sancho Xavi from El País noted that the album started the disco revival during the 21st century and popularized the revivals concept of others musical genres during the first decade.

Justin Myers from the UK Official Charts Company commented: "An 'imperial phase' is when a pop star is at the pinnacle of their career, shifting stacks of records, having big hits, selling out arenas, owning the radio and being generally unavoidable and untouchable. Many pop acts barely manage one. Thanks to this album, Madonna claimed her third. How many popstars can honestly say that?" Calling her the "Mother of Reinvention", Jim Schembri from The Age wrote a detailed article of Madonna's impact with Confessions on a Dance Floor: [The album] went straight to No. 1 everywhere except Mars. So too did the first single, "Hung Up", the video for which is on every time you turn on the TV. [Madonna] has reclaimed her place in the pop firmament with unrivaled ferocity. And she is a sterling example of pop survival. In a firmament that eats up artists like popcorn and where chart success is as fleeting as Jessica Simpson's attention span, Madonna remains an inspiring, intimidating beacon of permanence. Her longevity has thrived on her ability to continually reinvent herself by reading the winds of pop culture and taking her cue from there.

With the Confessions on a Dance Floor era, Madonna broke several world records and the album resuscitated her music sales and popularity, after the critical and commercial disappointment of American Life. At that time, Madonna became the best-selling female artist in the European market and the fifth best-selling artist overall with a quadruple platinum award by the IFPI, equivalent of 4 million copies sold across the continent. In the United Kingdom, Confessions on a Dance Floor became one of the fastest selling albums ever, with first week sales of 217,610 copies according to the Official Charts Company. Also, Madonna earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "oldest artist to simultaneously top the UK singles and album charts". Album's influence has been noted on other works, including Dua Lipa's 2020 album, Future Nostalgia, Kim Petras's 2022 EP, Slut Pop, and Rommy's solo debut album Mid Air (2023).

Track listing
Sample credit
 * "Hung Up" samples "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" recorded by ABBA and written by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.

Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.


 * Madonna – lead vocals, backing vocals, producer
 * Stuart Price – producer, keyboard, synthesizer, vocoder, programming, sequencing, sampling
 * Roberta Carraro – keyboard, bass, drums, harmonica
 * Yitzhak Sinwani – additional vocals on "Isaac"
 * Monte Pittman – guitar
 * Magnus "Mango" Wallbert – programming
 * Steven Klein – photography
 * Giovanni Bianco – art direction, graphic design
 * Grubman Indursky – legal documents
 * Guy Oseary – management
 * Angela Becker – management
 * Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing (Olympic Studios and Record Plant Studios, Los Angeles)
 * Stuart Price – mixing ("Forbidden Love"); recording ("How High" and "Like It or Not") (at Murlyn Studios, Stockholm and Shirland Road); "Future Lovers" (at Mayfair Studios)
 * Alex Dromgoole – assistant engineer
 * David Emery – second assistant engineer
 * Antony Kilhoffer – second assistant engineer (at Record Plant, Los Angeles)
 * Brian "Big Bass" Gardner – mastering (at Bernie Grundman Mastering)