{"id":524310,"date":"2026-06-29T15:06:42","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T15:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/524310\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T15:06:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T15:06:42","slug":"madonna-ranked-her-best-songs-ever-from-hung-up-to-like-a-virgin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/524310\/","title":{"rendered":"Madonna ranked: Her best songs ever, from \u2018Hung Up\u2019 to \u2018Like a Virgin\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Madonna<\/a>. Madge. Mistress Dita. The queen of Pop. The queen of working out. The queen of wearing sunglasses indoors and sporting grills on your teeth that make you borderline unintelligible. However you see Madonna<\/a>, you\u2019ll have a favourite \u2013 and probably least favourite \u2013 incarnation. Her catalogue is enormous, comprising sexy songs and sad songs, political songs and nonsensical songs, and songs that continue to scandalise the clean-living and respectable among us.<\/p>\n

Picking the best is nigh-impossible, but we\u2019ve tried to. As she prepares to unveil her 15th studio album<\/a> Confessions II \u2013 a sequel to her 2005 disco masterpiece Confessions on a Dancefloor \u2013 we\u2019ve ranked her top 45 songs released so far, one for each year she\u2019s been releasing music.<\/p>\n

Your faves might be missing, entire albums could be absent (don\u2019t shoot me, Rebel Heart stans!), but it speaks to the sheer brilliance of Madonna herself. She\u2019s an icon, she\u2019s a legend, and she is \u2013 then, now and for always \u2013 the moment.<\/p>\n

45. \u201cDie Another Day\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Die Another Day\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Madonna\u2019s 2002 Bond theme was thoroughly rinsed upon release, because everything Madonna does tends to be subject to annoying over-criticism. I sort of get it with this one, though. \u201cDie Another Day\u201d is, as is typical of the woman behind it, an act of total domination: this isn\u2019t a 007 song by Madonna, but a Madonna song shoved into a 007 movie, take it or leave it. There are the ingredients of the franchise\u2019s sounds here and there \u2013 in the dramatic strings and audible moaning \u2013 along with things altogether her own, from the distorted vocals to the unabashed camp. \u201cSigmund Freud\u2026 analyse this!\u201d she demands ? at one point, because why not?<\/p>\n

44. \u201cSupernatural\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, this is a track in which Madonna has sex with a ghost. Like the theme song to a horny version of Ghostbusters, Madonna is spooked in the night by a randy spectre, then starts to worry she\u2019s fallen pregnant by him (\u201ca ghost baby?\u201d she queries). This 1989 number is knowingly ludicrous, Madonna giggling as she boasts that she\u2019s going to take off her pants in preparation for her lover\u2019s \u201csuper-duper-naturally big thing\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s a rare Madonna track laced with overt humour, alongside the requisite funky bassline.<\/p>\n

43. \u201cTime Stood Still\u201d<\/p>\n

The only saving grace to Madonna\u2019s ill-fated 2000 gay\/straight parenting comedy with Rupert Everett, The Next Best Thing, is this pretty love song, which appears on its soundtrack. Madonna\u2019s vocal is pristine, serenaded by the twinkly piano flutters of William Orbit, her main collaborator from this era.<\/p>\n

42. \u201cI\u2019m Addicted\u201d<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t like to talk about 2012\u2019s MDNA, the only Madonna album that could arguably be described as half-arsed. Led by a collaboration with future Trumpian agitators Nicki Minaj and MIA that\u2019s aged like milk, MDNA only really has one good track on it, with Madonna otherwise largely checked out and busy with her Wallis Simpson movie WE (it was a rough time for her fandom, to be honest). And that song is \u201cI\u2019m Addicted\u201d, its absolute hurricane of furious synthesizer noises best experienced at max volume.<\/p>\n

41. \u201cPapa Don\u2019t Preach\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Papa Don\u2019t Preach\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

A curious mix of the classically operatic yet thematically contemporary, this is Madonna\u2019s original anti-patriarchy, pro-choice, \u201ccontroversy? yes please!\u201d bop. Released in 1986, it\u2019s about a teenage girl who\u2019s keeping her baby, goddammit, no matter what her hectoring father says. If it feels a little anonymous (Madonna doesn\u2019t typically sing as characters, does she?), it\u2019s because she didn\u2019t have a huge amount of involvement with its lyrics. It\u2019s difficult to deny its cultural staying power, though.<\/p>\n

40. \u201cEasy Ride\u201d<\/p>\n

A folky detour on her divisive 2003 record American Life, this essentially works as Madonna\u2019s life manifesto. \u201cI want the good life \/ But I don\u2019t want an easy ride,\u201d she sings. \u201cWhat I want is to work for it \/ Feel the blood and sweat on my fingertips.\u201d It\u2019s brilliantly sparse and dramatic, and wildly underrated.<\/p>\n

39. \u201cI Feel So Free\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her new short film video for \u2018Confessions II\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit early to determine this a Madonna classic, considering it\u2019s brand new and the lead off her new album, Confessions II. But doesn\u2019t it feel bloody huge? We meet Madonna as she narrates her loneliness, her fear of strangers, but the salvation she feels on the dancefloor. Stuart Price\u2019s production is straight out of the Giorgio Moroder playbook, with slivers of \u201cI Feel Love\u201d and lots of cosmic, sexy melancholy throbbing through it.<\/p>\n

38. \u201cLucky Star\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Lucky Star\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Early Madonna! Her vocals are adorably squeaky on this very early 1983 single, as she sings of a lover with the naivety of a woman barely out of her teens, but with enough carnal longing to gesture to the rampant boundary-pusher she\u2019ll soon become. \u201cShine your heavenly body tonight,\u201d she pleads. A star was born.<\/p>\n

37. \u201cBedtime Story\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Bedtime Story\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

A rare collaboration between Madonna and kooky Icelandic genius Bj\u00f6rk, 1994\u2019s \u201cBedtime Story\u201d gloops along like a jittery dream, Madonna\u2019s vocal a hushed quiver, Nellee Hooper\u2019s production full of plush ambience and longing. It\u2019s so wavy. And \u201cLet\u2019s get unconscious, honey\u201d is up there with some of the most plainly evocative lyrics ever, surely?<\/p>\n

36. \u201cI\u2019ll Remember\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018I\u2019ll Remember\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Designed as a palette cleanser on the heels of both her Sex photo book and flop (but camp!) erotic thriller Body of Evidence, 1994\u2019s \u201cI\u2019ll Remember\u201d is radically un-sexy by design. The sonic equivalent of a knitted cardigan, it is driven by an echo-y bass line, while Madonna softly hums and recalls an old love affair. She\u2019d rip up this kind of MOR niceness within a year or two, but that doesn\u2019t mean this isn\u2019t still quietly brilliant.<\/p>\n

35. \u201cHollywood\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Hollywood\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

An electro-folk banger from American Life, \u201cHollywood\u201d conjures images of Norma Desmond and rampant fame-whoring, as Madonna laments the empty excesses of Los Angeles and the dire nature of celebrity. \u201cTrip the station, change the channel,\u201d she roars. She also kissed Britney Spears at the MTV VMAs while singing this so, you know, yes.<\/p>\n

34. \u201cCrazy for You\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Crazy for You\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

A true-blue Eighties torch song and Madonna\u2019s attempt at her own \u201c\u2018Take My Breath Away\u2019 on the Top Gun soundtrack\u201d moment\u2026 albeit for the now almost entirely forgotten 1985 romantic drama Vision Quest. But gosh is it wonderful, mainly because of the production, which is full of sweeping strings and big, lush background vocals.<\/p>\n

33. \u201cSecret\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Secret\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

We mentioned it a few entries ago, but Madonna is just really, really good at humming, and it\u2019s the secret sauce here \u2013 the lead single off 1994\u2019s trippy, R&B-influenced Bedtime Stories. It quickly conjures a fierce, sensual groove, as Madonna boasts of a lover with a dark side. It\u2019s arguable she\u2019s never been cooler.<\/p>\n

32. \u201cMusic\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Music\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Is it sacrilege to rank this at 33? \u201cMusic\u201d, from 2000, is obviously one of Madonna\u2019s signature hits, and of course absolutely bangs. But between Ali G being all over the video, the neo-funk of Mirwais Ahmadza\u00ef\u2019s production and the spacey distortion on Madonna\u2019s vocals, it feels very, very Y2K, whereas so much more from her discography feels incredibly timeless. Still, you have to respect the brilliance here all the same.<\/p>\n

31. \u201cBurning Up\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Burning Up\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting to look back on Madonna\u2019s second ever single \u2013 how it seems to sit directly at the centre of the thrashing post-punk club world she was emerging from at the time, and the sparkly new wave pop she\u2019d completely transcend, then dominate, just a year or two later. \u201cBurning Up\u201d, released in 1983, is therefore a bit of a tease of what was to come: the energy, the double entendres, the sheer command of Madonna\u2019s vocal. It was clear she was no ordinary pop star, even at this point.<\/p>\n

30. \u201cCandy Perfume Girl\u201d<\/p>\n

An underrated Madonna album track, sporting the same languorous sensuality of the softer singles on her breathtaking 1998 record Ray of Light (namely \u201cFrozen\u201d and \u201cThe Power of Good-Bye\u201d), but with an incredibly grungy production backing her up. It\u2019s a little Shirley Manson, a little Sneaker Pimps. It\u2019s Madonna dipping her toe into the sparse trip-hop pop sound of the late Nineties, and completely owning it.<\/p>\n

29. \u201cSecret Garden\u201d<\/p>\n

Arguably the most thinking-outside-of-the-box song in Madonna\u2019s discography, \u201cSecret Garden\u201d is the last randy gasp on the tracklist of 1992\u2019s Erotica, her vocals low and croaky, like it was sung at the end of a long night. She\u2019s swaddled in the sounds of a jazz club \u2013 shuffling drums, the gorgeous flutter of piano. And yes, duh, it\u2019s about her vagina. But when wasn\u2019t Madonna singing about her vagina in 1992?<\/p>\n

28. \u201cFuture Lovers\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the secret masterpieces on 2005\u2019s Confessions on a Dancefloor is this phenomenal mash-up of spoken word, synthesizers and orgiastic moans. It would make Donna Summer proud. Producer Stuart Price twists and distorts the single line \u201cin the evidence of its brilliance\u201d until it resembles a nonsensical tongue-twister, like the sonic equivalent of tripping balls in front of laser lights.<\/p>\n

27. \u201cAmerican Life\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018American Life\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Like \u201cDie Another Day\u201d, this was released at a time when treating Madonna like a punching bag became incredibly popular for Britain\u2019s tabloids. That she started speaking in a cut-glass English accent around this period didn\u2019t help her much. But it means much of her music from the early Noughties, and her 2003 record American Life in particular, got an unfair drubbing. This lead single is fascinatingly blunt in its lyricism \u2013 Madonna is pissed, furious at the Bush administration and cultural imperialism, and does a kitsch but also sort of sensational rap halfway through that\u2019s actually aged pretty well. I, too, will drink a soy latte (with a double shot-tay) in tribute.<\/p>\n

26. \u201cLa Isla Bonita\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018La Isla Bonita\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Gloriously melodramatic in ways that in hindsight feel sort of unusual for Madonna, who\u2019s only on occasion trafficked in this sort of thing. Lyrically, this 1986 single is very mystical-exotic-island-by-numbers, Madonna dreaming of a faraway Spanish locale populated by the beautiful. But it\u2019s undeniably just very fun, full of maracas and flamenco guitar and OTT crooning.<\/p>\n

25. \u201cGod Control\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018God Control\u2019 (Interscope)<\/p>\n

You might have noticed already that this is a ranking devoid of much of Madonna\u2019s newer material, which is less to do with the quality of her recent albums, and more to do with how much better they work as bodies of work rather than as albums that can be stripped for parts \u2013 Madame X, released in 2019, is case in point: it\u2019s an experimental, enjoyably odd little mess of a thing, albeit with only one song that feels as if it could stand alone alongside Madge classics. And that\u2019s \u201cGod Control\u201d, a six-minute odyssey about mass shootings and discrimination (it was inspired by the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, in which 49 people were murdered), which funnels disco, a gospel choir and sounds of gunshots. Madonna sings of rage, hopelessness and watching the world and feeling as if you\u2019re going insane. It\u2019s completely brilliant, and completely devastating.<\/p>\n

24. \u201cWhat It Feels Like For a Girl\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018What It Feels Like for a Girl\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Desperately sad, glitchy folk-pop made in the afterglow of Ray of Light, this mournful single off of Music opens with a monologue by Charlotte Gainsborough (ripped from the 1994 film The Cement Garden) and only grows more transcendent from there. The less said about the Guy Ritchie-directed video \u2013 set to a remix and depicting Madonna committing vehicular murder-suicide with an elderly woman \u2013 the better\u2026 maybe. It was a weird time.<\/p>\n

23. \u201cSorry\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Sorry\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

The grumpy little sister of \u201cHung Up\u201d, \u201cSorry\u201d is acidic where that song is euphoric, playing like the messy comedown after a night out. Like much of Confessions on a Dancefloor, it hinges on the perfect symbiosis between Madonna and producer Stuart Price, who twists and contorts her vocals with abandon, and swaddles her in reverb and blissful synth noise.<\/p>\n

22. \u201cOh Father\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Oh Father\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

A key touchstone in the canon of daddy issues anthems, and inspired by Madonna\u2019s complicated relationship with her father, 1989\u2019s \u201cOh Father\u201d is all surging violins and pleading vocals. It flopped at the time, but has aged brilliantly.<\/p>\n

21. \u201cThe Power of Good-Bye\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018The Power of Good-Bye\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Madonna and producer William Orbit just found one another at the right time \u2013 Madonna a new mother, tangling with maturity and religion and the uncertainty of being 15 years in the pop game, and Orbit mastering a sound that felt digital and sparse and altogether lonely. \u201cThe Power of Good-Bye\u201d, a single from 1998, is one of their greatest collaborations, Madonna singing of leaving a lover behind, while computer blips and strings engulf her.<\/p>\n

20. \u201cThief of Hearts\u201d<\/p>\n

Appearing on 1992\u2019s Erotica, this is one of Madonna\u2019s angriest songs (it opens with a smash of glass and Madonna snarling \u201cBitch!\u201d), but is sung with the languor of someone by now used to being romantically disappointed. Before, that is, the incredibly fizzy bridge you may have seen on TikTok recently: \u201cYou\u2019ll do it, you\u2019ll take it \/ You\u2019ll screw it, you\u2019ll fake it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

19. \u201cInto the Groove\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Into the Groove\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Madonna\u2019s first UK number one, and the song you could argue properly announced her as the queen of pop. But (whisper it), she does basically this exact same track a bit better later down the line. That doesn\u2019t mean this isn\u2019t masterful, though. The synth hook of this 1985 song is irresistibly danceable, and there\u2019s something so thrilling about Madonna\u2019s vocals on that bridge: \u201cNow I know you\u2019re mine!!\u201d<\/p>\n

18. \u201cJustify My Love\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Justify My Love\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

The video for \u201cJustify My Love\u201d was banned for being just too damn raunchy, accelerating Madonna\u2019s fame and notoriety to even higher heights back in 1990. The noise was justified though: this is too randy, too unlike anything else at the time and even arguably today. There\u2019s little coyness here, just Madonna monologuing about getting freaky between the sheets against a hypnotic drum beat. \u201cTalk to me \/ Tell me your dreams \/ Am I in them?\u201d Yes.<\/p>\n

17. \u201cLive to Tell\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Live to Tell\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Both because it\u2019s the theme song to his 1986 movie At Close Range, and the fact that Madonna was in a turbulent relationship with him during its recording, this has Sean Penn all over it \u2013 \u201cLive to Tell\u201d is one of Madonna\u2019s finest ballads, ambiguous in its themes, but undeniably evocative. Is it about domestic violence? Betrayal? Pure survival? She\u2019s never disclosed it. The production \u2013 sharp, moody, very Eighties \u2013 is marvellous, though, particularly how it drops into near-silence four minutes in, then explodes back into life.<\/p>\n

16. \u201cMaterial Girl\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Material Girl\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Madonna at her squeakiest, 1985\u2019s \u201cMaterial Girl\u201d is glorious Eighties excess, and either a feminist triumph or a vapid bit of capitalist propaganda (choose your fighter!). The best Madonna songs tend to be divisive, after all. And that production! The plastic-y wind tunnel effect, those chunky synths. And that video! Madonna in full Marilyn Monroe garb, toying with an army of silly boys. She\u2019s the best who\u2019ll ever do it.<\/p>\n

15. \u201cOpen Your Heart\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Open Your Heart\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

\u201cWatch out!\u201d Gosh, the drums go hard in this 1987 banger, which opens loud and never lets up. It sparkles, and there\u2019s so much fun to be had in Madonna \u2013 imperial phase fully activated \u2013 just insisting no one can, or will, resist her.<\/p>\n

14. \u201cBeautiful Stranger\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna (and Austin Powers) in the video for \u2018Beautiful Stranger\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Absolutely inescapable in 1999 was Madonna\u2019s theme song for Austin Powers 2, which carries over producer William Orbit from Ray of Light. The result is this fantastically psychedelic number, which is a bit The Doors, a bit jangle-pop, and impossible not to sing along to.<\/p>\n

13. \u201cDrowned World\/Substitute for Love\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Drowned World\/Substitute for Love\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s so much breathing room to this five-minute baring of Madonna\u2019s soul, that kicks off 1998\u2019s Ray of Light, and which recaps her career up till then. \u201cI had so many lovers \/ Who\u2019ve settled for the thrill \/ Basking in my spotlight \/ I never felt so happy.\u201d And then, as she sings of nascent motherhood, producer William Orbit ditches the bloopy ambience for psychedelic electric guitar and that trademark Madonna humming again. It\u2019s miraculous.<\/p>\n

12. \u201cLike a Virgin\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Like a Virgin\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

In 1984, \u201cLike a Virgin\u201d sent Madonna stratospheric, launching her second album and breaking the brains of anyone who watched her on MTV, rolling around in a wedding dress and flashing her underwear. It\u2019s essentially the blueprint for everything that came after it, by Madonna and every other pop girlie in her wake: naughty, provocative, indulgent, and thrillingly fun. A karaoke classic that\u2019s somehow never grown cringe.<\/p>\n

11. \u201cErotica\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Erotica\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Two years after \u201cJustify My Love\u201d, 1992\u2019s \u201cErotica\u201d was also banned from MTV, arriving as a second detour into Madonna\u2019s sexual fantasies. It\u2019s more full-bodied than \u201cJustify My Love\u201d, in that its production is full of freaky sonic pivots, from that recurring, swirly \u201cJungle Boogie\u201d sample to the Arabic hymn towards the end. It\u2019s also so refreshing, particularly when listened to in 2026, to hear a song about sex that treats the subject matter with absolute sincerity. There\u2019s no silliness here, just Madonna in total dominatrix mode, enjoying the moment and demanding you get on board with her.<\/p>\n

10. \u201cDon\u2019t Tell Me\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Don\u2019t Tell Me\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

The finest four minutes made by Madonna and her early Y2K collaborator, producer Mirwais Ahmadza\u00ef, 2000\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Tell Me\u201d is a hazy blur of country folk and electronic futurism. Madonna\u2019s vocals, and the production around her, are relentlessly cut up and halted, like someone\u2019s attacked the track with scissors. It\u2019s arguably Madonna at her most defiant \u2013 as if you didn\u2019t know it by now, never try and tell her what to do.<\/p>\n

9. \u201cFrozen\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Frozen\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s sort of baffling that this expansive, ambient and decidedly non-commercial electronic ballad from 1998 was as big as it was \u2013 could you imagine anyone dominating the charts with something like \u201cFrozen\u201d today? Putting that aside, this remains staggering \u2013 it\u2019s a little mystical, a little tribal, and very, very dramatic.<\/p>\n

8. \u201cDeeper and Deeper\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Deeper and Deeper\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

An exercise in total, blissful abandon in a night club, 1992\u2019s \u201cDeeper and Deeper\u201d is a peak Madonna party anthem. It\u2019s also majestically arranged \u2013 you think you\u2019ve got the hang of it, then it suddenly pivots to an extended flamenco bridge, then back to throbbing disco dazzle.<\/p>\n

7. \u201cRain\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Rain\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

Doesn\u2019t \u201cRain\u201d just sound expensive? This epic ballad off the Erotica album is only horny if you squint a little. Then again, with its hesitant build and flowing water crescendo, could it actually be its most horny single? Either way, it\u2019s a Madonna all-timer, with those violent strings and the gorgeous moment where she recites two monologues at once, her words colliding with one another like crashing waves. Symbolism!<\/p>\n

6. \u201cExpress Yourself\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Express Yourself\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

The video to this 1989 track, directed by her then-frequent collaborator David Fincher, is a mini-movie in itself, and somehow looks more expensive than everything Marvel has produced in the last decade combined. There are skyscrapers, massive dance routines, dozens of extras, costume changes, practical sets, a cat. And the song itself feels like a total celebration of everything Madonna embodied at that point: total autonomy, total authority, total global dominance.<\/p>\n

5. \u201cLike a Prayer\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Like a Prayer\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

If not the greatest Madonna song, 1989\u2019s \u201cLike a Prayer\u201d is certainly her most important. Between the track itself and its controversy-stoking video, its collision of themes \u2013 sex, religion, race \u2013 speak to the unique greatness of Madonna herself, and how she\u2019s always been able to tackle big ideas in commercial packages. That \u201cLike a Prayer\u201d got her ad campaign for Pepsi axed \u2013 an act of censorship that somehow made her even more famous \u2013 and she got to keep the $5m Pepsi had already paid her, is case in point.<\/p>\n

4. \u201cBad Girl\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Bad Girl\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

And speaking of David Fincher videos, there\u2019s this one, too \u2013 a miniature erotic thriller that has the baroque stylings of his Se7en, made a few years later, and starring Christopher Walken as the Angel of Death. Obviously, it\u2019s a masterpiece. Don\u2019t overlook the song, though. Released in 1992, it\u2019s Madonna\u2019s greatest ballad, and a haunting depiction of depression, melancholy and big-city loneliness. No other Madonna song sounds like it, or matches its blend of luxury and devastation.<\/p>\n

3. \u201cHung Up\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Hung Up\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 2005, 23 years into her career, and Madonna unveils this, a thrilling, chugging disco masterpiece based around that transcendent Abba sample. She just gets it, doesn\u2019t she? The sing-along simplicity of the central hook (\u201cEvery little thing that you say or do \/ I\u2019m hung up\u201d), the rise and fall of Stuart Price\u2019s production, how it bends and curls and then ascends again. Stunning.<\/p>\n

2. \u201cRay of Light\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Ray of Light\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a famous clip of Madonna performing \u201cRay of Light\u201d on Oprah Winfrey\u2019s talk show in 1998, like a nocturnal raver bringing the party to a book club, and every single person in the vicinity losing their damn minds. Winfrey is gyrating all over the place, at the centre of a sea of middle-aged mums leaping up and down in unison. Little else sums up the power of this song, which careens between soft electric guitar and euphoric acid house synths, leaving absolutely nothing on the table. It almost sounds holy, as if Jesus swallowed a pill and saw the entirety of the universe before him, then started shooting laser beams out of his eyes.<\/p>\n

1. \u201cVogue\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MadonnaMadonna in her video for \u2018Vogue\u2019 (Warner Bros)<\/p>\n

It sort of had to be, surely? Intended as the B-side to a largely forgotten single called \u201cKeep It Together\u201d, then shunted onto the end of Madonna\u2019s soundtrack to the wacky Warren Beatty vanity project Dick Tracy, 1990\u2019s \u201cVogue\u201d would ultimately prove to be everything majestic, commanding and breathtaking about Madonna as an artist. This is a blancmange of pure gay, an exhilarating tribute to nightclubbing, glamour and the queer underground. It\u2019s all there instantly \u2013 those fruity little synth stabs, those glorious finger-snaps, Madonna\u2019s vocals somewhere between nurturing den mother and mouthy dominatrix. You can\u2019t not move to it, bow to it, want to strut and thrust and sing along to it. What an absolute masterpiece, one that\u2019s forever imitated but never, ever bettered. Imagine dying in the early days of 1990 and never once getting to hear it. It\u2019s unthinkable, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-524310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}