"Take A Bow" is the pinnacle of the mid-90's Madonna, the softer-gentler Madonna who sang love ballads and collaborated with Babyface. Most fans agree that "Take A Bow" is certainly a good song, but other Madonna classics like "Vogue," "Like A Prayer," and most recently "Music," tend to top fans' lists of favorites. The song, written by Babyface and featuring him on back-up vocals, is a slow charmer with a slight Asian feel to it. Its climb to the top of the Hot 100 was slow but steady, ascending to the top spot in its eleventh week and staying there for an additional six. It also had an incredible run on the airplay chart, showing continuous growth for sixteen consecutive weeks, eventually spending nine weeks at the top of that chart. It also was a huge success on the Adult Contemporary chart, where it also logged nine weeks at #1. It would go on to spend a remarkable 35 weeks on that chart. "Take a Bow" even found its way on the R&B chart, just barely making the top 40 and spending a few weeks inside the top 20 R&B sales chart. "Take A Bow"'s chart presence was so powerful that it appeared on some Billboard chart in every month from December 1994 to January 1996!

The only place where "Take A Bow"'s performance was not incredible, in fact, was in sales. The single managed to hit #4 and went Gold, but that pales in comparison to "Vogue," which went double platinum despite spending just three weeks at the top, or her platinum singles like "Music," "Justify My Love" and "Like A Prayer." This is why many fans argue about whether or not "Take A Bow" can be classified as Madonna's most successful single. Factoring in sales, social impact, and memorability, most consider "Vogue," "Like a Prayer," and even 80's hits such as "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl" to be bigger hits. Nonetheless, "Take A Bow" is a remarkable chapter in Madonna's career.

The video for "Take A Bow," like the song, is well-crafted and near-seamless, but also not quite as memorable as some of Madonna's other videos. The tale of Madonna and her matador-lover was compelling enough to inspire a sequel -- the storyline to the video was continued in the video for "You'll See," which even used footage from the "Take A Bow" video.

TRIVIA: Ironically, Madonna's longest-running #1 single in the United States is actually her lowest-peaking single in the UK. "Take A Bow" went no further than #16 on the UK charts, tying it with "Oh Father" as her least successful single there. Also, although "Take A Bow" holds the record for Madonna's most weeks at #1, most weeks in the top 5, and most weeks in the top ten, it actually places second in one category. By racking up a grand total of eight weeks in the top 2, "Take A Bow" is the runner-up to "Music," which spent ten weeks in the top 2 -- four at #1 and six at #2.