Top 10 Madonna's Pop Hits of All Time
Madonna's new six-track "Christmas gift" to fans has proved to be big hits around the world, topping the iTunes charts in 36 countries in just hours.
Madonna is one of those artists that you either love or hate. Some people l-o-v-e Madonna (get it?) and swear by her every utterance of feminism and progress in music. And others are just kind of like meh, don’t really see what all the fuss is about.
I’m not a Madonna Queen, but I’ve got Madonna’s Top 10 best songs that just about anyone should love.
10.“Dress Me Up”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt2Bcn6aY9E]
I admit: there was that one holiday season where I worked at The Gap and this was the theme song of all the Gap commercials and they played this song SO MUCH in the store I thought I would lose it. Still a great song, though!
9. “Like a Virgin”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHW5RVvg2v4]
"Like a Virgin" has been inspiring "Yeah, right!" snickers since it was released in 1984 but, despite the irony, there is a delightful sweetness to the song that sets it apart from the rest of her work. This performance, from the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, was a major star-making moment for the singer.
8.“Ray Of Light”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGf8GwXG0eM]
And I feeeeelllllllllll.
7.“Justify My Love”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np_Y740aReI]
The best part of this song is the video though. It was banned by MTV, which of course only made people want to see it more.
6. “Live to Tell”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzAO9A9GjgI]
"Live to Tell," written by Madonna and frequent collaborator Patrick Leonard, is arguably the singer's finest and most distinctive ballad. The song, which deals with her complicated relationship with her parents and her struggle to trust others, is as cutting as it is melancholic.
5. “Frozen”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zETVr04XUE4]
"Frozen," the lead single from Madonna's 1998 album Ray of Light, announced a new direction for the singer. Though she had dabbled in "mature" pop on Erotica and Bedtime Stories, "Frozen" finds her and producers William Orbit and Patrick Leonard striking the perfect balance of pop accessibility, sophisticated balladry and cutting-edge electronic textures.
4.“Hung Up”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDwb9jOVRtU]
Madonna circa “Human Nature” might have been the first Madonna I was aware of, but disco queen Madonna is the one that made me start to like her. This album came out during my last year of college and i swear it’s all I listened to for MONTHS.
3. “Express Yourself”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxNBaoWrbzs]
A straight up Madonna classic.
2. “Vogue”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuJQSAiODqI]
Madonna looked to underground drag culture as inspiration for "Vogue," one of her biggest and most iconic hits. As always, she was very far ahead of the curve; current shows like Ru Paul's Drag Race are bringing the drag subculture into the mainstream two decades after this hit.
1. "Like a Prayer”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMZtrsuv508]
Madonna has always looked to her Catholic upbringing for inspiration and as a target for rebellion, but "Like a Prayer" is the most overtly religious hit of her career, from the song to the imagery of its video. She tapped into something powerful here – to this day, it remains one of her most resonant and defining hits.
