Madonna album rankings (UPDATED to include 'Madame X')

[Cerro de Casa]

In chronological order:


Madonna
Like A Virgin
True Blue
Like A Prayer
Erotica
Bedtime Stories
Ray Of Light
Music
American Life
Confessions On A Dance Floor
Hard Candy
MDNA
Rebel Heart
Madame X

 

[Cerro de Casa]

I tend not to include I'M BREATHLESS but I know that some do.

Up until around American Life (I believe) her press releases included it as a studio album.

The current press releases refer to Madame X as her 14th studio album which to my mind means that as of 2019 I'm Breathless is not considered to be a studio album.

ANYWAY..

 

[Ellie]

Madonna
Like A Virgin
True Blue
Like A Prayer
Erotica
Bedtime Stories
Ray Of Light
Music
American Life
Confessions On A Dance Floor
Hard Candy
MDNA
Rebel Heart
Madame X

Genuinely thought that was your ranking and thought it looked similarly in line with mine! (taking away the last two as I have not heard them)

Oh dear.

 

[Cerro de Casa]

Genuinely thought that was your ranking and thought it looked similarly in line with mine! (taking away the last two as I have not heard them)

Oh dear.

LOL

I'll edit the post to reflect THE CHRONO order...

 

[lolly]

This is simply inserting it into the ranking from the pre-Madame X thread and it looks about right, without thinking too much if things have jostled about a bit.

1 Like A Prayer
2 Ray Of Light

3 Erotica
4 Madonna
5 True Blue
6 Music

7 Confessions On A Dance Floor
8 Madame X
9 Bedtime Stories

(I'm Breathless)
10 Like A Virgin
11 American Life

12 Rebel Heart
13 MDNA
14 Hard Candy

 

[Cerro de Casa]

1. Like A Prayer
2. Ray Of Light
3. Music
4. Erotica
5. Confessions On A Dance Floor
6. Madame X
7. American Life
8. Bedtime Stories
9. True Blue
10. Madonna
11. Like A Virgin
12. Rebel Heart
13. MDNA
14. Hard Candy

 

[OutSynk]

I'm sorry but I don't fuck with much before Ray of Light unless it's Justify My Love or a Hung Up remix of Lucky Star or some other SELECT tracks.

1 Confessions On A Dance Floor
2 American Life
3 Music
4 Ray Of Light
5 Hard Candy
6 Madame X
7 Rebel Heart
8 MDNA

 

[RS]

01. Ray of Light
02. Music
03. Like a Prayer
04. Erotica
05. Bedtime Stories
06. Confessions on a Dancefloor
07. True Blue
08. Madonna
09. American Life
10. Like a Virgin
(I’m Breathless)

11. Hard Candy
12. Madame X
13. Rebel Heart
14. MDNA

 

[Cerro de Casa]

I'm sorry but I don't fuck with much before Ray of Light unless it's Justify My Love or a Hung Up remix of Lucky Star or some other SELECT tracks.

1 Confessions On A Dance Floor
2 American Life
3 Music
4 Ray Of Light
5 Hard Candy
6 Madame X
7 Rebel Heart
8 MDNA

'Oh.'

 

[HeLikedTurner]

Like A Prayer
Confessions On A Dance Floor
True Blue
Ray Of Light
Music
Madame X
Erotica
Bedtime Stories
American Life
Like A Virgin
Madonna
Hard Candy
MDNA
Rebel Heart

 

[BoysForSeles]

I know it’s a post generator but it’s far too early for me to do this. I’m just glad she attempted a creative body of work again.

 

[.org]

Like A Prayer
True Blue
MDNA
Music
Like A Virgin
Ray Of Light
Madame X
American Life
Madonna
Rebel Heart
Erotica
Confessions On A Dance Floor
Bedtime Stories
Hard Candy

 

[Cécile]

Erotica - musically on a par with ROL for me, but the aesthetic of the era makes it stand out a bit more.
Ray Of Light
Confessions On a Dance Floor
Music
Like a Prayer
American Life
Madame X
Madonna
Bedtime Stories
True Blue
Hard Candy
Rebel Heart - overproduced for the sake of it. Devil Pray is such a mess, so is the cheap Fruity Loops/casio production of Inside Out and the distortion in Rebel Heart (song).
MDNA - almost her worse but still has the career high Falling Free on it.
Like A Virgin - I have zero interest in this album and I never seek it out.

 

[Cerro de Casa]

I've always had an odd relationship with Like A Virgin. It's like I WANT to love it but I just CAN'T. I quite like a LOT of it though..

 

[Cerro de Casa]

Hard Candy has 'surpassed' MDNA now for me in taking the dubious honour of being my least favourite album of hers. For all its "basic"ness and shockingly disengaged nature after such a long period of absence, I still prefer MDNA nowadays to what I now consider to be truly the one horrific presence in her canon that is Hard Candy. Some of the songs are good but that production has aged really poorly and I just find the entire premise of it so smugly calculated and sterile..

 

[Sheena]

1. Like a Prayer
2. Ray of Light
3. Erotica
4. Madonna
5. Bedtime Stories
6. Music
7. Confessions on a Dancefloor
8. Like a Virgin
9. Madame X
10. American Life
11.True Blue
12.I’m Breathless
13.Rebel Heart
14.Hard Candy
15.MDNA

 

[Sheena]

I'm sorry but I don't fuck with much before Ray of Light unless it's Justify My Love or a Hung Up remix of Lucky Star or some other SELECT tracks.

What a BIZARRE and PERVERSE position to take

 

[OutSynk]

What a BIZARRE and PERVERSE position to take

I mean...it’s not that I haven’t listened to any of her albums before Ray of Light I just don’t care for much of it. Queen of electronica is where it’s at for me and who I grew up with.

 

[Cerro de Casa]

Erotica should be part of the formative development of any self respecting homosexual.

 

[Cécile]

I've always had an odd relationship with Like A Virgin. It's like I WANT to love it but I just CAN'T. I quite like a LOT of it though..

The first three albums are all pure pop, but somehow Madonna and True Blue are much more mature and timeless than the second. I feel that half of Like a Virgin could be by anyone? Material Girl and Like a Virgin are of course THE Madonna songs for Karen from HR, but I'd happily never hear them again.

I bought the picture disc of Madonna in Lucky Records last week and oh my does it still go off!

 

[Sheena]

Like a Virgin’s two big hitters are not what the album is really about though. For me, the other two singles are by far the strongest things on there (and right up there from her entire career to be honest) and Pretender and (in particular) Stay are both great.

It still makes me kind of annoyed that she only bothered making two proper videos for LAV. For an artist so obsessed with the visual art form, her 1985 output was kinda shite...

 

[HeLikedTurner]

Like A Virgin has a few gems in addition to the title track and Material Girl, namely Dress You Up, Angel and Over and Over. Tack on Into The Groove and that's already pretty magnificent.

 

[POP!]

What a BIZARRE and PERVERSE position to take

IKR.

OutSynk's next comment: "I don't fuck much with anything pre-Damita Jo aside from the occasional spin of "Black Cat"

 

[POP!]

For how massive of a force she was in 1985, "Angel", "Dress You Up" and "Gambler" (obviously the last is not actually on the album) are some of her most underrated singles of the decade. On the WHOLE, I prefer True Blue.

 

[Dr Lecter]

Erotica
Like a Prayer
Madonna
Ray of Light
Bedtime Stories
Like a Virgin
True Blue
Confessions On a Dancefloor
Music
Madame X
American Life
Hard Candy
Rebel Heart




MDNA

 

[Dr Lecter]

Or thereabouts

 

[OutSynk]

IKR.

OutSynk's next comment: "I don't fuck much with anything pre-Damita Jo aside from the occasional spin of "Black Cat"

What’s a “Black Cat” precious?

 

[RS]

Hard Candy has 'surpassed' MDNA now for me in taking the dubious honour of being my least favourite album of hers. For all its "basic"ness and shockingly disengaged nature after such a long period of absence, I still prefer MDNA nowadays to what I now consider to be truly the one horrific presence in her canon that is Hard Candy. Some of the songs are good but that production has aged really poorly and I just find the entire premise of it so smugly calculated and sterile..

I think Hard Candy was far more damaging than MDNA. By the time MDNA came out we kind of knew what to expect.

 

[Sheena]

I think Hard Candy was far more damaging than MDNA. By the time MDNA came out we kind of knew what to expect.

Absolutely right. Hard Candy may have been a “hit” but it’s certainly her biggest embarrassment too.

 

[Cerro de Casa]

I think Hard Candy was far more damaging than MDNA. By the time MDNA came out we kind of knew what to expect.

Oh absolutely.

Which is partly why I "hate" it more than MDNA!!

 

[lolly]

I agree about Hard Candy being more damaging, but think it's a little unfair to say we knew what to expect for MDNA. Or at least she'd had missteps before to allow us to hope she could turn it around.

 

[HeLikedTurner]

I agree about Hard Candy being more damaging, but think it's a little unfair to say we knew what to expect for MDNA. Or at least she'd had missteps before to allow us to hope she could turn it around.

Yeah, I remember being convinced that Hard Candy's poor reception would result in a fantastic follow-up. Little did I know what was coming. After MDNA I was even more convinced an incredible album would surely be around the corner, then Rebel Shart arrived.

It was after that I completely lost faith in her.

 

[RS]

I agree about Hard Candy being more damaging, but think it's a little unfair to say we knew what to expect for MDNA. Or at least she'd had missteps before to allow us to hope she could turn it around.

Of course, but between Hard Candy and MDNA there were also embarrassements like Revolver.

 

[Phoenix]

Where’s Evita?

 

[lolly]

Of course, but between Hard Candy and MDNA there were also embarrassements like Revolver.

Yes, that's a fair point I hadn't considered.

 

[Cerro de Casa]

Where’s Evita?

Not a studio album and even if I were to count it, it would be significantly below everything she's done. It's her worst record by far. I hate most of the songs and that awful production.

 

[HeLikedTurner]

Not a studio album and even if I were to count it, it would be significantly below everything she's done. It's her worst record by far. I hate most of the songs and that awful production.

Oh wow, serously? I could not agree less. It's absolutely stunning. It's one of the all-time greatest musicals, and she and Banderas did an incredible job. It's one of my favourite albums of all-time.

Do you hate musicals or something?

 

[Cerro de Casa]

I don't hate musicals at all but I do hate most of Evita. It's not just that it's literally the same 4-5 songs over and over and over again, it's also those awful prog-rock arrangements and the claustrophobic production.

They really should have allowed her to tinker with it when she asked to 'help out' writing "You Must Love Me" but the two of them were too precious about it. I'm sure she didn't want to rock the boat now that she had finally landed the role so was happy to relent but really this soundtrack is some of the worst recorded music of her entire career.

 

[HeLikedTurner]

I don't hate musicals at all but I do hate most of Evita. It's not just that it's literally the same 4-5 songs over and over and over again, it's also those awful prog-rock arrangements and the claustrophobic production.

They really should have allowed her to tinker with it when she asked to 'help out' writing "You Must Love Me" but the two of them were too precious about it. I'm sure she didn't want to rock the boat now that she had finally landed the role so was happy to relent but really this soundtrack is some of the worst recorded music of her entire career.

Again, I just disagree spectacularly with literally every word of that. I'm utterly flabbergasted. Evita is absolutely breathtaking. The prog-rock arrangements aren't cool, but they aren't meant to be. It jarred with me at first, but I quickly loved it. I adore every single song on it. I absolutely *can't* with your opinion, but there you go.

 

[HeLikedTurner]

The very idea that Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice would need Madonna to "tinker" with their music.

Fuck. I just can't.