My 20 Favorite Madonna Songs, Ranked
Madonna, the queen of pop since 1983, is still unstoppable. She’s agile, acrobatic, and a musical goddess who continues to surprise us with every release and collaboration (hello, Sabrina Carpenter!).
So while the world is rocking out to her new album, Confessions II, we think it’s high time to take a trip down memory lane in honor of the Material Girl. Enjoy!
#20: “Lucky Star” (Madonna)
My very fist experience seeing and hearing Madonna commenced at my childhood best friend’s house, when we caught a glimpse of her video of “Lucky Star” on MTV. It was an early 80s memory that’s embedded in my head, and I can still see her black-netted gloves and teased hair in my mind’s eye. The 1983 dance-pop song is still catchy as heck.
#19: “Justify my Love” (The Immaculate Collection)
Sultry and NSFW, this 1990 song — and Madonna’s very provocative video — became iconic the moment our siren whispered, “I want to kiss you in Paris.” Written by Lenny Kravitz and Ingrid Chavez, a Prince collaborator, “Justify My Love” was considered ultra-controversial at the time: MTV actually went so far as to ban it for its sexualized content.
#18: “Music” (Music)
This millennial banger with robotic samples from Madonna’s self-titled 2000 album christened the new century with an infectious dance-pop hook and a catchy chorus. It’s one of my favorites off the last Madonna CD I ever purchased, soon after transitioning to the digital realm.
#17: “Borderline” (Madonna)
Madonna’s breakout sweet synth-pop tune from her 1983 self-titled debut is sweet and innocent and always takes me back to my elementary school days. It’s sweet and cute. I wish life were as easy as it was when it landed.
#16: “Vogue” (I’m Breathless)
Strike a pose! This 1990 nightclub staple inspired a new form of dance in NYC and countless runway walks. It’s timeless, and far more memorable than the rest of the tracks on I’m Breathless.
#15: “True Blue” (True Blue)
The title track for my favorite Madonna album is abundant with vintage, 1950s Jukebox-era vibes, with one of the best singalong choruses. The 1986 dance tune was reportedly inspired by Madonna’s feelings for her then-husband Sean Penn.
#14: “Frozen” (Ray of Light)
Perhaps her most emotive ballad since “Live to Tell,” 1998’s cinematic “Frozen” is a mature electronica-pop tune that reels in the listener with the lyrical hook, “Hmmm… if I could met your heart.” It’s the kind of song that keeps me coming back, again and again, year after year.
#13: “Don’t Tell Me” (Music)
One of the standouts from Madonna’s eighth studio album is a country-dance ear worm. “Don’t Tell Me” is strong and unexpected, and a fun reprieve from the late-90s goth and grunge that dominated my dorm room back in the day. She wears her cowgirl hat well!
#12: “Like a Virgin” (Like a Virgin)
Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” music video is one of the most iconic in history, with Madge cavorting with a lion, and riding a gondola across Venice. With its infectious pop hooks and fresh lyrics, it’s also (unsurprisingly) her biggest Billboard Top 40 hit, spending six consecutive weeks in the #1 spot.
The fact that it Madonna was lambasted for singing about something taboo is almost laughable now, but I’ll never forget how horrified my parents were when they caught 8-year-old me belting out, “Like a Virgin … touched for the very first time” at a family reunion! Poor mom and dad — they just weren’t ready for a daughter like me!
#11: “Live to Tell” (True Blue)
Hearing the song “Live to Tell” is one thing — it’s a standout ballad from 1986’s True Blue. But seeing it live, as I did on Madonna’s 2024 Celebration tour, was something else entirely. Her emotional performance of the song against a backdrop of images of artists and community activists who died of AIDS during the 1980s and 1990s, hit hard. Seeing images of Freddie Mercury and Keith Haring, alongside images of thousands of other lesser-known individuals, was unforgettable.
#10: “Ray of Light” (Ray of Light)
Madonna’s voice soars to new heights on the futuristic title track of the singer’s 1998 album. Produced by William Orbit, who also produced the album, this techno-pop anthem is a highlight from her Grammy-winning artistic reinvention era.
#9: “Dress You Up” (Like a Virgin)
Flirty and cute, “Dress You Up” takes me back to that time my college-age cousin teased my hair, put makeup on me, and took me dancing on the streets of Daytona Beach (I was 8, and my grandparents made her and her friend Vicki babysit me one night during her spring break trip). The 1984 song isn’t her biggest hit, but hearing her sing, ‘you’ve got style, that’s what all the girls say,” always puts me in a good mood.
#8: “Hung Up” (Confessions on a Dance Floor)
This disco-ready banger is one of my favorite standouts of Madonna’s post-2000 catalogue, with its ABBA samples and vintage feel. Every time I hear the 2005 tune in a club — which isn’t as often as I’d like, admittedly! — I hit the dance floor.
#7: “Into The Groove” (You Can Dance)
“You can dance… for inspiration!” The synth intro to “Into the Groove” is one of the most memorable from this 1987 hit, which is still a club banger. Featured in is the 1985 film Desperately Seeking Susan, “Into the Groove” was also included in the reissue of Like a Virgin and 1987’s You Can Dance. There’s an interesting backstory to it, too: ‘”Into the Groove” is the streetwise beatbox anthem Madonna kept trying to write when she was down and out in New York, the days when she squatted and ate out of garbage cans,” according to Rolling Stone.
#6: “Material Girl” (Like a Virgin)
Madonna channels Marilyn Monroe in this iconic song and video celebrating Reagan-era indulgence, glamour, and the upsides of living in a material world as a Type A go-getter gal.
#5: “Who’s That Girl?” (Who’s That Girl? Soundtrack)
Madonna and her fire-engine red lipstick make a big impression on 5th-grade me, and the 1987 hit “Who’s That Girl?” is one of her coolest, most endorphin-inducing ‘80s party songs. Be warned: The movie that inspired it is much less memorable (I couldn’t tell you the plot without Googling it).
#4: “Open Your Heart” (True Blue)
Madonna’s confident vocals give the upbeat True Blue banger “Open Your Heart” a big dose of power. It’s super fun to dance along to and sing along to (and was my after-school jam with my neighborhood friends in 1986 and 1987!). Complete with Madonna’s peep-show-themed music video, the song written by Gardner Cole and Peter Rafelson, was the artist’s third number one from her 1986 album.
#3: “Papa Don’t Preach” (True Blue)
“Papa Don’t Preach” isn’t what it seems — and it’s deeper than its catchy chorus, too. But Madonna almost rejected it when she heard the demo from writer Brian Elliot. ”When I first heard this song, I thought it was silly,” she told The New York Times. “But then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, this song is really about a girl…[who] has a very close relationship with her father and wants to maintain that closeness.”
#2: “La Isla Bonita” (True Blue)
When I was 12, my parents left me at home alone on New Year’s Eve to go to a party with friends — so I spent the evening watching MTV’s 1987 countdown. The show featured some real gems (George Michael’s “I Want Your Sex” was a standout!), but I fell in love with “La Isla Bonita.”
With its passionate lyrics, lush flamenco guitars, and vacation vibes, the song felt aspirationally sexy to a preteen Marisa. It still feels sexy and fresh today, especially live: It was a true, full circle moment when Madonna’s son David Banda, played the acoustic guitar to accompany his mom on this song during her Madison Square Garden concert on January 29, 2024.
#1: “Like a Prayer” (Like a Prayer)
If I had to only pick one single that epitomized Madonna’s boundary-pushing style, brilliance, and musicality, I’d pick “Like a Prayer.” The title track off her 1989 album is epic in so many ways, from the stark, liturgical lyrics to the gospel choir, to the provocative, Vatican-condemned video that tells the story of a woman who seeks strength and safety in her church to fight for justice. It’s incredible on so many levels and exemplifies why she is possibly the most iconic pop-star of my time.
