Muse of my muses and Queen of Our Popdom, Madonna celebrates her birthday today. As a tribute, here’s a list of some of my favorite songs from each of her albums. Her musical legacy is set in stone, even if it’s been six long years since her last proper album. Here’s hoping the whispers about the next one are true, and that it comes out sooner rather than later.
Madonna ~ ‘Borderline‘ is the song that spoke to me most, even if everybody else loved ‘Lucky Star‘.
Like A Virgin ~ ‘Material Girl‘ and ‘Dress You Up‘ were the very first songs by Madonna that I loved. Not gonna hate on title track ‘Like A Virgin‘ though, especially given all its vast and varied interpretations over the years.
True Blue ~ ‘Open Your Heart‘ is the stand-out track for this one, followed closely by ‘Live To Tell‘.
Like A Prayer ~ I mean, it’s ‘Like A Prayer‘ and ‘Express Yourself‘. (But if you’re the kind of fan who favors ‘Promise To Try‘, then you’re my kind of fan.)
I’m Breathless ~ Hell yes this is a proper Madonna album – and ‘Vogue’ is proof of that.
Erotica ~ “Bottomless with potential hit singles”, this spawned the delightfully-demonic title track, wondrous ‘Bad Girl‘ and stirring ‘Rain‘, but it is ‘Deeper and Deeper‘ that still gets me up out of my seat.
Bedtime Stories ~ There’s no ‘Secret’ that the lead single is probably my fave song from this underrated musical moment, though ‘Take A Bow‘ has more than its merits too.
Ray of Light ~ My favorite Madonna song of all-time, ‘Drowned World/Substitute for Love‘ opens this opus, arguably her greatest work to date, and title track ‘Ray of Light‘ illuminates the fact that it still shines.
Music ~ A fun bop, ‘Music‘ takes the favorite track crown, but I’m always up for an ‘Impressive Instant‘ too.
American Life ~ The unfairly-maligned collection of perhaps-poorly-timed truth-to-power musical statements made here contained jewels like ‘X-static Process‘ and ‘Mother and Father‘.
Confessions on a Dance Floor ~ Another musical resurrection, Confessions brought us opening banger ‘Hung Up‘ but my favorite remains the equally-thrilling ‘Sorry‘. (Shout out to ‘Jump‘ for inspiration.)
Hard Candy ~ Thought this album was a slow-burner, it gave us ‘Give It 2 Me‘ and that will have to be enough.
MDNA ~ This was an under-appreciated ‘Masterpiece‘ in my mind, with cuts like ‘Girl Gone Wild’ and ‘I’m a Sinner‘ being sweet aural candy.
Rebel Heart ~ It is easily the title track ‘Rebel Heart’ that is my absolute favorite from this Madonna era.
Madame X ~ Her most recent proper album (all the way back in 2019!) this one brought us ‘God Control‘ and ‘Come Alive‘.
