Madonna: Top 100 Songs

Madonna Top 100 Songs

The dance-pop singer and record executive (Maverick Records) was born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone on August 16, 1958 in Bay City, Michigan. She was the third of six children born to an Italian-American. Her mother died of breast cancer when Madonna was only five. She was raised in a Catholic family in the Detroit suburbs and was a straight A-student who was on the cheerleading squad and studied ballet. She went to the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship, but left in 1977 for New York, dreaming of being a ballet dancer. She performed with the Alvin Ailey dance troupe and studied with Martha Graham before forming the dance/po group the Breakfast Club. She signed to Sire Records as a solo artist in 1982. She quickly established herself as a master of controlling “the media and the public with her music, her videos, her publicity, and her sexuality.” AMG She was “arguably…the first female pop star to have complete control of her music and image.” AMG She was named the most successful female recording artist of all time by Guinness World Records in 2000. She has sold an estimated 275 million albums worldwide and 75 million singles. She was married to actor Sean Penn (1985-89) and British director Guy Ritchie (2000-08). She was also featured in movies such as Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Dick Tracy (1990), A League of Their Own (1992), and Evita (1996), the latter of which won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 100 Songs Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Songs which hit #1 on various charts are noted. (Click for codes to singles charts.) DMDB Top 1%: 1. Like a Prayer (1989) 2. Like a Virgin (1984) 3. Vogue (1990) 4. Music (2000) 5. Into the Groove (1985) 6. Take a Bow (1994) DMDB Top 2%: 7. Ray of Light (1998) 8. Hung Up (2005) 9. Crazy for You (1985) 10. Papa Don’t Preach (1986) 11. Holiday (1983) 12. 4 Minutes (with Justin Timberlake, 2008) DMDB Top 5%: 13. Justify My Love (1990) 14. Don’t Cry for Me Argentina (1996) 15. Live to Tell (1986) 16. Borderline (1984) 17. Material Girl (1984) 18. Frozen (1998) 19. Express Yourself (1989) 20. I’ll Remember (1994) 21. American Pie (2000) 22. This Used to Be My Playground (1992) 23. Open Your Heart (1986) 24. Beautiful Stranger (1999) 25. Who’s That Girl? (1987) DMDB Top 10%: 26. La Isla Bonita (1987) 27. Lucky Star (1984) 28. Die Another Day (2002) 29. Don’t Tell Me (2000) 30. Angel (1985) 31. Secret (1994) 32. True Blue (1986) 33. You Must Love Me (1996) 34. Sorry (2006) 35. Oh Father (1989) 36. Cherish (1989) 37. You’ll See (1995) DMDB Top 20%: 38. Deeper and Deeper (1992) 39. Human Nature (1995) 40. Causing a Commotion (1987) 41. Dress You Up (1985) 42. Rain (1993) 43. Erotica (1992) 44. Me Against the Music (with Britney Spears, 2003) 45. Rescue Me (1990) 46. Give It 2 Me (2008) 47. What It Feels Like for a Girl (2001) 48. The Power of Goodbye (1998) 49. Hanky Panky (1990) 50. Celebration (2009) 51. Keep It Together (1990) 52. Bedtime Story (1994) 53. American Life (2003) 54. Love Don’t Live Here Anymore (1984) 55. Fever (1992) 56. Bad Girl (1992) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 57. Give Me All Your Luvin’ (with Nicki Minaj & M.I.A., 2012) 58. Burning Up (1983) 59. Nothing Really Matters (1998) 60. Gambler (1985) 61. Santa Baby (1987) 62. Hollywood (2003) 63. Jump (2005) 64. Girl Gone Wild (2012) 65. Get Together (2005) 66. Love Profusion (2003) 67. Miles Away (2008) 68. Ghosttown (2015) 69. Living for Love (2014) 70. Bitch I’m Madonna (with Nicki Minaj, 2015) 71. Everybody (1982) 72. Sooner or Later (1990) 73. Dear Jessie (1989) 74. Drowned World/Substite for Love (1998) 75. One More Chance (1995) 76. Spotlight (1987) 77. Nothing Fails (2003) 78. Crave (with Swae Lee, 2019) 79. Now I’m Following You (with Warren Beatty, 1990) 80. The Look of Love (1987) 81. Where’s the Party? (1986) 82. I Want You (with Massive Attack, 1995) 83. Another Suitcase, Another Hall (1996) 84. Little Star (1998) 85. Medellin (with Maluma, 2019) 86. Something to Remember (1990) 87. Revolver (with Lil’ Wayne, 2009) 88. Bye Bye Baby (1992) 89. Masterpiece (2012) 90. Physical Attraction (1983) 91. Turn Up the Radio (2012) 92. Hey You (2007) 93. What Can You Lose (with Mandy Patinkin, 1990) 94. I Don’t Search I Find (2019) 95. I Rise (2019) 96. Love Song (with Prince, 1989) 97. Spanish Eyes (1989) 98. Impressive Instant (2000) 99. Hold Tight (2015) 100. More (1990) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Madonna Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 3/29/2012; updated 8/21/2022.

Madonna hit #1 in the UK with “Into the Groove”

Into the Groove Madonna

Writer(s): Madonna, Stephen Bray (see lyrics here) Released: July 15, 1985 First Charted: April 27, 1985 Peak: 4 GR, 6 RR, 19 RB, 14 UK, 14 AU, 7 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.6 US, 1.5 UK, 4.1 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 98.71 video, 123.19 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “Into the Groove” was Madonna’s #1 song that wasn’t. The “pumping party jam” TB came out while the Like a Virgin album was being promoted, so it was decided not to released it as a single for fear that it would compete with “Angel,” the album’s third single. WK A similar problem had already occurred with second single “Material Girl” coming out at the same time as “Crazy for You” from the Vision Quest soundtrack. Considering that those songs hit #2 and #1 respectively, it’s hard to understand the logic of not releasing “Into the Groove,” but that was the call. While the lack of an official single made the song ineligible for the Billboard Hot 100, it became Madonna’s most played song on the recurrent airplay chart. It also hit #19 on the R&B chart and was released as the B-side of “Angel.” The pair of songs reached the top of the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. WK The song also charted in the UK, where it became Madonna’s first #1 and her biggest selling song in the country. WK Madonna originally wrote the song for her friend Mark Kamins’ protégée Chyne, but kept it to use for the movie Desperately Seeking Susan, in which Madonna essentially played a version of herself in her early days before fame. The song didn’t end up on the soundtrack, but was added to the 1985 worldwide reissue of Like a Virgin. Regarding the song being about dancing, Madonna told Q magazine, “I started off wanting to be a dancer, so that had a lot to do with the song. The freedom that I always feel when I’m dancing, that feeling of…letting yourself go, expressing yourself through music. I always thought of it as a magical place.” TC J. Randy Taraborrelli, author of Madonna: An Intimate Biography, said the song demonstrated her ability to create infectious dance music. WK Clive Barker and Simon Trussler, authors of New Theatre Quarterly, said the song was the first disco-anthem of the 1980s. WK Author Matthew Rettenmund called it the ultimate 1980s song. WK Billboard readers concurred, voting it the Song of the 1980s. SF “All the magic of the ‘80s is right here.” TC Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Madonna TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 243. SF Songfacts TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 220. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/28/2020; last updated 5/1/2024.

Madonna's Like a Virgin album hit #1

Like a Virgin Madonna

Released: November 12, 1984 Peak: 13 US, 12 UK, 3 CN, 2 AU Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 1.63 UK, 26.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: dance pop

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Material Girl (2/9/85, 2 US, 3 UK, 38 AC, 49 RB) Angel (4/27/85, 4a US, 5 UK, 5 AC, 71 RB, sales: 0.5 m) Like a Virgin (11/17/84, 1 US, 3 UK, 29 AC, 9 RB, sales: 0.5 m) Over and Over Love Don’t Live Here Anymore (4/20/96, 78 US, 29 AC) Into the Groove (4/27/85, B-side of “Angel,” 1 UK, 19 RB) * Dress You Up (8/17/85, 3a US, 5 UK, 32 AC, 64 RB) Shoo-Bee-Doo Pretender Stay * not on original album Total Running Time: 43:10

Rating: 3.964 out of 5.00 (average of 34 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Madonna’s first album certainly wasn’t shabby – it produced two top 10 hits (“Borderline,” “Lucky Star”) and a top 20 hit (“Holiday”) – but it was her second album which made her a superstar. In the history of pop music, there haven’t been many runs as successful as Madonna’s 1984-1985 chart presence. Interspersed between Like a Virgin’s four top 5 hits were two more major Madonna songs from soundtracks – the #1 “Crazy for You” from Vision Quest and the would’ve-been #1 Into the Groove from Desperately Seeking Susan had it been officially released. Alas, it was only released as the B-side of “Angel” in the U.S., but it was Madonna’s first #1 UK hit and later included on Like a Virgin. “She saw the opening for this kind of explosion and seized it, bringing in former Chic guitarist Nile Rodgers in as a producer, to help her expand her sound, and then carefully constructed her image as an ironic, ferociously sexy Boy Toy; the Steven Meisel-shot cover, capturing her as a buxom bride with a Boy Toy belt buckle on the front, and dressing after a night of passion, was as key to her reinvention as the music itself.” STE “Yet, there’s no discounting the best songs on the record, the moments when her grand concepts are married to music that transcends the mere classification of dance-pop.” STE The album’s success owes itself “principally to two gimmicky hits: the sinuous Like a Virgin, with its taboo-busting metaphor for that fresh, clean new-love feeling, and the cutesy, Betty-Boopsy Material Girl.” KB These are “the two songs that made her an icon, and the two songs that remain definitive statements.” STE These were also the songs responsible for sending the album to #1. The week that Like a Virgin ascended to the throne, the title cut was still in the top 10 after a six-week run at the top. Meanwhile, “Material Girl” was just beginning its run, debuting on the chart at #43. It would peak at #2 six weeks later. That pair of singles “overshadow the rest of the record, not just because they are a perfect match of theme and sound, but because the rest of the album vacillates wildly in terms of quality.” STE Of course, that all depends on point-of-view. Another opinion is that “most of the rest of the album, although similarly frothy, is superior to those warhorses, notably the irresistible LP tracks Over and Over, and Pretender – which adds a bit of gossamer delicacy to the mandatory bounciness.” KB “The other two singles, Angel and Dress You Up, are excellent standard-issue dance-pop.” STE The latter “is a Madonna classic, an insubstantial dance-pop delight bedecked in synthesized bells and replete to the beat with kinky suggestions.” KB “The earnest cover of Rose Royce’s Love Don’t Live Here Anymore” STE offers “a sign of greater depth to come” KB with “a heartfelt vocal supported by a subtle, gorgeous arrangement helmed by producer Nile Rodgers and his two key Chic instrumental compatriots, Bernard Edwards and Tony Thompson.” KB However, if you go back to the first opinion expressed here, then the album overall “adds up to less than the sum of its parts – partially because the singles are so good, but also because on the first album, she stunned with style and a certain joy. Here, the calculation is apparent, and while that’s part of Madonna's essence – even something that makes her fun – it throws the record’s balance off a little too much for it to be consistent, even if it justifiably made her a star.” STE

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Madonna KB Ken Barnes, Amazon.com STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Other Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/26/2008; last updated 12/2/2021.