The Numbers Behind Madonna on ‘Glee’.

Early this year, the wildly phenomenal TV program Glee featured music by Madonna. This musical comedy-drama TV show pulls together music from many different genres, from rock, pop, rap, R&B to more traditional Broadway showtunes. With over thirteen million digital single sales and five million album sales, the music on the show has become a commercial success with fans who are both young and old.

Featuring Madonna on that one episode became the most expensive Glee episode ever created. Network programs usually have a music budget between $100,000 to $200,000 and spent between $10,000 and $15,000 for the license to use a track.

Needless to say, Glee must have spent a fortune on their tribute to Madonna. Was it worth it? For both Glee and Madonna, yes, it was. The “Glee” episode — “Glee: The Power of Madonna” — and accompanying record  came out one week after Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour CD and DVD hit the market. The album debuted in the Top 10, and the DVD topped the music-video charts.

In general, the “Glee” albums are doing pretty well. “Glee Volume 1,” which came out in November 2009, has sold 776,000 units between November and April 2010, and “Volume 2,” which came out in December, has sold 574,000 between December and April 2010, aside from the digital sales. The show, itself, is extremely popular. It started out with around 9 million viewers for it’s pilot episode, and rose to 11.07 million viewers for the season finale.

TV has never seen a program like this before, and it targets people of all ages. It is a unique show that resurrects old, classic rock songs (that my dad used to listen to) and reintroduces them to the younger generation (aka me). Sure, you can put a price on how much it costs to produce and create a TV show like this. However, the price to bring families together and totally create a new pop culture of Gleeks around the world? Priceless.