Madonna’s sophomore album sat on the shelf for a few months because her debut was still selling so well. A month after its predecessor reached the top ten, selling more than two million copies in the process, Like a Virgin was released in November of 1984.

And just like that, she went from emerging star to superstar. Within a few months, Like a Virgin reached #1, where it spent a few weeks. By July of 1985, it had sold more than five million copies, making her the first woman to achieve that feat. It would eventually become her top-selling album in the U.S., achieving Diamond status with domestic sales of more than 10 million units.

After a bad experience with the producer of her first album, Madonna wanted to helm this one herself. The record label balked, unwilling to give that much control to a young (woman) artist, so she recruited Nile Rodgers, whose work on David Bowie’s Let’s Dance she admired.

Together, they crafted a more mature and slick pop sound and churned out a handful of era-defining singles, including opener ‘Material Girl,’ ‘Angel,’ ‘Dress You Up’ and the classic title track.

While Madonna co-wrote most songs on the album, only ‘Angel’ from that lineup was her own composition. It’s a testament to Madonna’s confidence as an artist that she set her ego as a songwriter aside to record what she viewed as the best possible material, regardless of authorship.

“On this one I’ve chosen all the songs and I want them to be all hits—no fillers,” she said in an interview as the time. “That’s why I’ve done outside songs as well as six of my own … I wanted every song to be strong.”

While I don’t agree that the album has no fillers (‘Over and Over’ and ‘Shoo-Bee-Doo’ haven’t exactly stood the test of time), it is definitely a more consistently enjoyable work than her debut.