and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for shipment of 500,000 copies. According to Music Week magazine, over 768,129 copies of the single have been sold as of 2008. In Australia, "Like a Virgin" became Madonna's first number one song on the Kent Music Report chart; in New Zealand, it entered the charts on December 9, 1984, and peaked at number two, remaining on that spot for two weeks. "Like a Virgin" proved to be a success across Europe as well, peaking within the top ten of the charts of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. It came in at number one on the European Hot 100 Singles chart. It was less successful in Japan, where it barely reached the top 20. According to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, "Like a Virgin" has sold over six million copies worldwide. Music video Background and synopsis The music video for "Like a Virgin" was directed by Mary Lambert, who had previously worked with Madonna on "Borderline"; it was filmed on location in Venice and New York at a cost of $150,000, "way more than we'd ever spent on a video" according to Warner Bros. creative director Jeff Ayeroff. Shooting in Venice was Lambert's idea, as "[Madonna] singing in a gondola was the most outrageous thing I could think of". The visual interspersed footage of the singer as "a knowing virgin", dressed in a white wedding dress, with scenes of her "strutting" throughout Venice in a "sluttish getup". Also present are a male lion wandering through the streets, and a man in a lion's mask. Madonna herself explained the concept: "[Mary] wanted me to be the modern-day, worldly-wise girl that I am. But then we wanted to go back in time and use myself as an actual virgin"; she also recalled that, at one point, she was "leaning against this pillar with [the lion's] head in my crotch [...] I thought he was going to take a bite out of me". It begins with Madonna getting off a boat at the Brooklyn Bridge. The setting then moves to Venice, where a "flirtatious" Madonna watches the lion walk through the streets; she then walks to the beat of the music. Later on, the singer is seen walking through a "fairytale castle" dressed in a "virginal" white wedding gown. These scene are interspersed with shots of Madonna dancing suggestively