It’s hard to imagine music withoutMadonna.
It seems like she’s always been there, changing the game and reinventing herself.
Since then, she’s never looked back.
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Read ahead for a full ranking of releases from the Queen of Pop’s royal career.
“Masterpiece” (2012)
This Golden Globe-winning track featured in the Madonna-directed dramaW.E.
saw the singer reteaming withRay of Lightproducer William Orbit.
Mick Hutson/Redferns
While she may ruminate that “nothing’s indestructible,” that certainly doesn’t apply to her.
Still, this ray of sunshine is one of Madonna’s finest folktronica moments.
Co-written byBjorkand produced by Nellee Hooper, it’s a hypnotic dreamscape.
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Let’s get unconscious, indeed.
“Living for Love” (2014)
“I’m gonna carry on!”
Madonna declares on the first single from 2015’sRebel Heart.
Everett Collection
That line pretty much sums up her entire career.
But with its sweet guitar picking, thisAmerican Lifesingle shines its light wherever you are.
The trippy Timbaland beats flow smoothly with the melancholy melody and acoustic guitar.
Co-written and produced byDavid Foster, it served as a dramatic precursor toEvita.
Put on your go-go boots and get your shimmy on.
Stately and quietly insistent, it won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
This gorgeous goodbye almost makes the heartache worth it.
Other songs dealt with her family issues, but rarely better than this.
Her frequent collaborator Patrick Leonard did the music for the film, including co-writing and producing this tune.
But another co-writer was less familiar: Richard Page of ’80s “Broken Wings” group Mr. Mister.
Bonus points for it being the memorable finale in her legendaryBlond Ambition World Tour.
Even a bit of silly goofiness during that “get stupid” bridge withPharrellcan’t deny the insistent bounce.
Listening to this No.
1 hit over a quarter-century later, its nostalgic lyric resonates even more powerfully with Madonna today.
Vowing to dress her man up in some head-to-toe loving, she makes this throbbing come-on impossible to resist.
One of the most un-Madonna-sounding Madonna songs, it’s maybe the most elegant thing she’s ever done.
This is pop-songwriting perfection.
But that LP’s folktronica third single was a triumphcreatively if not commercially.
It goes from stripped-down earnestness to churched-up gloriousness.
“Don’t Tell Me” (2000)
Madonna as cowgirl?
As if any more proof of her powers of reinvention were needed, thisMusicsingle delivered it.
The track’s hip-hop soul flavor comes courtesy of producer and earlyMary J. Bligecollaborator Dave Hall.
And she would repeat that kind of party hyping throughout her career.
(She would break the record previously held byElvis Presleywith 2008’s “4 Minutes.")
Built around a hypnotic sample fromABBA’s “Gimme!
(A Man After Midnight),” it gets you caught up in a disco rapture.
“Papa Don’t Preach” (1986)
Dealing with teen pregnancy, this No.
1 single fromTrue Bluefound Madonna tackling a social issue for the first timeand she did it in strutting style.
Creating a mystical forest of sonic wondersweeping strings and all"Frozen” possesses an almost operatic grandeur.
It never fails to give you chills.
The single itself is ’80s synth-pop nirvana.
No doubt, she has rarely sounded more open-hearted than she does here.
1 hit from theVision Questsoundtrack was a career highlight.
Case in point: “Into the Groove,” which was featured in her filmDesperately Seeking Susan.
But this, her last No.
The weird, vaguely eerie electro-pop produced by Mirwais makes this one of her most eccentric hits ever.
But whether you are the bourgeoisie or the rebel, the message is universal.
“Vogue” (1990)
This No.
But this pumping house trackfrom theDick TracysoundtrackI’m Breathlessinspires everybody to be something better than they are today.
All you have to do is strike a posethere’s nothing to it.
It captures the spiritual glow of Kabbalah Madonna, who gives us a little piece of heaven.
But that chart position doesn’t do the song justice.
It’s the prototype for everything from “Into the Groove” to “Living for Love.”
But the single itself stands as one of the best of the ’80s.
1 hit paved the way for female pop artistsfromJanet JacksonandBritney SpearstoRihannato be sexually provocative.
No one had to act like a virgin anymore.
The whole thing takes you there again and again.
