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The most important singles to Madonna's career?


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Like A Virgin, Open Your Heart, Material Girl, Holiday, Express Yourself, Papa Don‘t Preach, Like A Prayer, Justify My Love, Vogue, Ray Of Light, Frozen, Music, Hung Up, 4 Minutes, Bitch I‘m Madonna...

 

For me, these are the songs that represent her „Ups“ the past 35 years. Every human being has at least heard one of those songs above.

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Like A Virgin, Papa Don‘t Preach, Like A Prayer, Justify My Love, Vogue, You Must Love Me, Ray Of Light, Music, Hung Up, 4 Minutes, Bitch I‘m Madonna...

 

For me, these are the songs that represent her „Ups“ the past 35 years. Every human being has at least heard one of those songs above.

i'd take "you must love me" off of the list and put "material girl", "express yourself" and "take a bow"

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In my opinion, the most important singles are:

Everybody - Without its (and Burning Up) moderate sucess, Madonna wouldn't sign with Warner.
Holiday - Her first international hit (with no video help), which kept the wheel rolling.
Borderline - The video deserves credit for the MTV staple that it became and to give Madonna "her" look.
Like A Virgin - In the right place, at the right time: perfect first single, chorus, video, visual, attitude, controversy. If she was a one hit wonder, this would be her hit.
Material Girl - Gets points for the video and the nickname. The song itself is an 80's and pop music classic.  Helped to cemented Madonna's reputation.
La Isla Bonita - Eventually it ended up being a relevant single, as it build a bridge between her and the Latin community, something that still prevails and that not every pop star is able to do. None of the other True Blue/Who's That Girl singles are important per se, as none of them brought something new to the table cuz all had been seen and done before (controversy, romanticism, dance skills, etc). Their sucess was a consequence of her outcome.
Like A Prayer - It shown a more serious side of M after her poptard years, and, as Like A Virgin, it's a clever wordplay on her name. The debate that surrounded it all (song, video, Pepsi, tour) is the birthplace of Madonna, the Icon. Express Yourself and Vogue are her mantra songs, but not necessarily game changers in her career; in the end, both are just hits.
Erotica - Justify My Love came first, but it was just a new song in an old hits compilation, there was no truly statement behind it and lyrically and visually it is very "look at me". On the other hand, Erotica (and all its side projects) was a very risk taker venture that did damage to her career. She recovered, but it's her equivalent to Pandora's Box.
I'll Remember - It's important as it kept her "alive" right after the backlash. Had it failed with the public and industry, and things could had been over. Secret and Take A Bow just enjoyed the ride.
Human Nature - Probably a controversial entry since this wasn't a hit back in the day, but such fact only adds to its importance as the underdog single that resumes Madonna's relationship with the media and society and is one that every now and then she brings up in setlists. At the time, Human Nature was more than necessary to close the Dita' chapter.
Don't Cry For Me Argentina - For the metamorphosis that it brought, more in the public/media perception than in Madonna herself.
Ray Of Light - It embraces the earth mother vibe better than Frozen. It was her first dance hit since Deeper And Deeper, so it was very welcomed. The look, the eletronic, the coolness of it all worked perfectly and gave her a new life (that helped Music's sucess).
American Life - Pandora's Box Part II. From this single on, there would be more downs than ups in her career. She never really recovered from its harm.
Hung Up - Important in the sense that, despite pop stars limited shelf life (and after falling from an horse), she could still have a global hit in her late 40's (4 Minutes and Give Me All Your Luvin' were sucessfull but mostly thanks to featurings and payola). The video have her last recognizable look and kinda marks the end of MTV as we known. Bitch I'm Madonna may be a hit online, but I believe that's because its video's cameos; the song's popularity is all smoke and mirrors.

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‘Holiday’ - The first hit

‘Like a Virgin’ - The first controversial song & the first US #1

‘Material Girl’ - The nickname

‘Into the Groove’ - The first UK #1

‘Live to Tell’ - The first single off her more mature era

‘La Isla Bonita’ - One of her most signature songs

‘Like a Prayer’ - One of the best songs ever recorded & one of the most controversial videos

‘Express Yourself’ - The ultimate “girl power†song

‘Vogue’ - Again one of the most signature songs, so iconic

‘Justify My Love’ - The beginning of the “sex†era

‘Rain’ - My favorite 😛😛

‘Take a Bow’ - Her biggest ballad in the US

‘Frozen’ - The herald of the “new†Madonna and again one of the best songs ever recorded

‘Music’ - One of her biggest singles, the single that made her one of the few artists who scored #1 singles in three decades in a row in the US, her latest US #1 single

‘American Life’ - One of her most controversial singles

‘Hung Up’ - Her most successful single and the manifestation of her comeback

‘4 Minutes’ - Her latest UK #1 single

‘Bitch I’m Madonna’ - The shittiest single ever

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I'd go with:

 

1. Holiday

2. Like A Virgin

3. Material Girl

4. Papa Don't Preach

5. Like A Prayer

6. Express Yourself

7. Justify My Love

8. Take A Bow

9. Frozen

11. Music

12. Hung Up

13 4 Minutes

14 GMAYL (I know, I know, but despite maybe the featuring and paying radios, it was the Super Bowl single and my friends remember it and the chorus very well despite not knowing Madonna really)

15 B*tch I'm Madonna

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Holiday - Introduce The one and only Queen of Pop Madonna to whole world.

 

Like a Virgin -  this Iconic title still catch all generation's attention.

 

material girl - Same as LAV

 

Crazy for you - People shocked by Madonna also can sing beautiful ballad!

 

true blue - well this song is not one of favorite song from her singles but This Music video open up about New look Madonna era. Cut her hair and looks like classic silver screen movie star. I still remember people's shocking face when they watch her new hairstyle and new look.

 

papa don't preach - still got the message. and still push the button. Yes I'm gonna keep my baby!! oh wait a sec.. by the way I'm a teenager. wink wink.

 

live to tell - what an iconic song!

 

Like a prayer - what an Iconic video. still controversial.

 

Express yourself - such a empowering song. and such an Iconic video! Perfection.

 

Vogue - timeless song and video. Perfection

 

Justify my love - Madonna is a Genius. still got it. and what an unique song!

 

Erotica - still has shock value. far far ahead of time. one of unique song from pop history. timeless song.

 

Take a bow - what a masterpiece of music video! and prove again she is not just dance singer.

 

you must love me - She is golden glove award winning actress. 

 

Frozen - open up about new era and new look. good bye Blond ambition era.

 

Ray of Light - Grammy award winning singer.

 

Music - power.

 

Don't tell me - I still remember a lot of american famous TV drama show use this song as one of their ost.

 

American Life - good bye america.

 

Hung Up - The Queen is still on top

 

4Minutes - Madonna save the world.

 

Give me all your luvin - Thank god she made good video again.

 

Bitch I'm Madonna - love it or hate it you can't get over Madonna. And that's the Madonna! Do not forget it bitch!

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Borderline

Like a Virgin

Crazy for You

Into the Groove

Live to Tell

Papa Don't Preach 

Open Your Heart

Who's That Girl

Like a Prayer

Express Yourself

Vogue

Justify My Love

This Used to Be My Playground

Take a Bow

Frozen

Ray of Light

Beautiful Stranger

Music

Hung Up

4 Minutes

 

I should definitely add Holiday, Material Girl, and Don't Tell Me cause those are songs many people immediately relate to Madonna.

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  • 4 months later...

The most important ones are the ones that instantly come to mind when thinking of Madonna, by fans and non fans alike. Sadly, with the exception of maybe Hung Up, post-90s songs would be unlikely to get much of mention.

Holiday, Like a Virgin, Material Girl, Like a Prayer and Vogue would be the ones having the biggest historical impact on her career and legacy.

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Yeah, I think the songs that people in general can identify her with are the important singles of her career.  Furthermore, the fans seem to be more personally attached to songs that aren't always easily identified as Madonna songs or remembered. Here are my picks:

Holiday

Material Girl

Like A Virgin

Into The Groove

Crazy For You

La Isla Bonita

Like A Prayer

Express Yourself

Vogue

Take A Bow

Ray of Light

Music

Hung Up

4 Minutes

 

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  • 5 months later...

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