The album contains some slower moments, such as the haunting Falling Free and the Golden Globe-winning Masterpiece, but it is a going-out record through and through. Benny Benassi was drafted in for tracks such as the second single, Girl Gone Wild, and I’m Addicted, while Martin Solveig offered the pop groove Turn Up The Radio and lead single Give Me All Your Luvin (featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A.), which made the US Top 10 after Madonna’s majestic Super Bowl XLVI halftime show. Blending pop and EDM, MDNA (with its controversial title offering no respite for those misguided in judgement who still expect Madonna to play along conventional lines) offers a crash-course in early 2010s radio-hit construction. There’s a frenetic pace to MDNA which is indicative of Madonna’s enormous workload at this time – balancing directorial duties on her first feature film, W.E., a new label venture and the increasingly 360-degree demands of promotion and interactivity essential for 21st-century stars. Madonna has made something of a name for herself with soundtrack projects, including Evita (her version of Don’t Cry For Me Argentina is the most successful in the world) The Next Best Thing, with her cover of American Pie and Who’s That Girl, which includes four Madonna originals, including the transatlantic chart-topping title track.
The Sondheim tracks are terrific, with Sooner Or Later picking up an Oscar for Best Song. The frankly ludicrous I’m Going Bananas sits alongside hit single Hanky Panky and the refined torch ballad Something To Remember, co-written with Madonna’s longtime writing partner Patrick Leonard.
Whether Vogue, by far the album’s biggest success, was really inspired by the movie or whether it simply fit the project is up to the listener, but there’s no doubting the surprising range of the material on this uncategorisable entry among the best Madonna albums. Studio project or soundtrack? It wasn’t entirely clear then – or now! This 1990 release features three songs by the late Stephen Sondheim used in the film Dick Tracy, and a further seven “inspired” by the Warren Beatty hit, in which Madonna also starred. Lead single Living For Love continued Madonna’s run at the top of the US Dance charts, while Bitch, I’m Madonna saw her reunite with Nicki Minaj for further stateside impact. An early leak of some of the album’s tracks threatened to scupper her usually carefully orchestrated release campaign, but Rebel Heart still peaked at No.2 on both sides of the Atlantic. Madonna’s 13th studio album saw her work with a merry-go-round of contemporary songwriting talent, such as producer Diplo and the late Avicii, resulting in solid songs, among them the accomplished ballad Ghosttown and the riffy Devil Pray. Listen to the best of Madonna here, and check out our run-down of the best Madonna albums, below. Job done, then! Here we rank the best Madonna albums in order to deliver the verdict on her greatest-ever work.
Across 14 studio albums, countless soundtracks and one iconic compilation – the latter of which is among the planet’s biggest-ever sellers – Madonna’s lengthy discography has delivered it all: out-there experimentation, zeitgeist-defining pop and, yes, the occasional left turn that has raised eyebrows and served to provoke even further reaction. The “Queen Of Pop” has battled critics and routinely conquered the chart competition for close to four decades, and there still seems little sign of any creative slowdown.