The year 2011 is going to be a good one for divas. New albums from Britney Spears and Lady Gaga are already within view, and it's quite likely that we could end up getting new music from Beyoncé before these 12 months are up. Madonna could also check in with new music this year, perhaps adding to her already-large docket of chart-topping hits (she has a dozen to her name so far). On this day in 1987, she picked up her fifth career number one on the Billboard Hot 100 when "Open Your Heart" ascended to that position.

"Open Your Heart" was the fourth single to come from Madonna's massive third album True Blue (which was released back in the summer of 1986). Two of those singles -- "Live to Tell" and "Papa Don't Preach" -- had already topped the chart, and the title track from True Blue came up just short (it ended up at number three). According to songwriters Gardner Cole and Peter Rafelson, the song was written with Cyndi Lauper in mind (the original title was "Follow Your Heart"), though they never actually presented the track to her. Madonna scooped it up, added her own lyrical twist and laid down one of her most confident vocal performances over a punchy pop track.

Not only was the song a big success on radio, but the video also ended up in heavy rotation on MTV (as most of Madonna's videos always did) and picked up plenty of critical acclaim (Madonna was praised for making the clip less about sex and more about innocence and escape). "Open Your Heart" is probably best remembered as the song that accompanied the Material Girl's legendary conical bra during her 1990 Blonde Ambition World Tour, but the video remains one of Madonna's best narratives.

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