Best Madonna Albums

The Top Ten
1 Ray of Light

"Frozen" alone could make "Ray of Light" stand out as her very best, fusing classical music with world music drums and strings, and low key ambient electronic beats. In this project, she channeled everything from her life in the past few years, her spiritual journey, her Asian studies, and on top of giving birth to her daughter, and incorporated all of these experiences into a gorgeous album. Not only was it her biggest departure from her norm, but it is also credited with bringing electronic music into the mainstream. It brilliantly combines her pop and dance music past with new age electronic and computer-generated samples, in the absence of any live bands for the album's recording sessions, which actually produced an album wise beyond its years. Well done, Madonna.

2 Like a Prayer

This is her second best album, with Ray of Light being first.

This album was the best album of the 80s for me. Yes, other huge albums came from that era, but this was number one.

Reasons for this:

- Packed with hits
- Songs that were not released were still amazing
- It's personal
- It's emotional
- So many different feelings
- Many ways to interpret and it's serious

Love this album and I love Madonna.

I think it was underrated! The controversy from videos helped singles but I don't feel she needed the controversy. This could have been her best seller.

3 Madonna

This album is a dance masterpiece. The story, the songs, the beats, her unique voice, and the unreleased singles are amazing. Eight songs that I will never forget. I love all twelve of her albums but this will always be my favorite Madonna album and my favorite album of all time. I can listen to this album every day.

Fresh, edgy, and youthful, it's full of optimism and an 80s vibe that holds the test of time. It's a Madonna that is wide-eyed sans gimmicks that seem to mark many of her albums that followed. It's an album that defined 80s female pop music and broke ground for many others to follow.

4 Confessions on a Dance Floor

Confession, what an album. I was around 16 when this came out, and I was just like, Oh my gosh, who is this? This was the time I fell in love with Madonna. I was used to her other hits but was not a fan so far. The Confession Tour just confirmed my opinion: this lady is just awesome, and music couldn't be more perfect than this.

Marvelous music experience. All of the songs are linked together by their beautiful mutual sound, therefore no pauses between songs exist. Whilst listening to the whole record, it feels like a stunning music show. One of my 3 favourite albums of the Queen of Pop: Ray of Light and Bedtime Stories being the other ones.

5 True Blue

Dear God, I heartily praise that you created Madonna, the best album ever. I think this was the revelation for Madonna and also the album which makes other male and female artists fear this diva. They knew this lady was fierce. I do think Michael Jackson regretted the fact that he rejected La Isla Bonita, because this is considered as one of Madonna's signature songs.

This album makes me a Madonna fan. I just searched "Papa Don't Preach" on iTunes and after that, I recognized there are many songs that I knew like "La Isla Bonita" or "Open Your Heart". My favourite song is "White Heat". I don't know why many people did not like it.

6 Erotica

This is her only true concept album. I don't think there's been any other time in her career where her objective has been achieved so fully. Her book, her image, her style, and the music all came together seamlessly. I wish mainstream pop music was still encompassing this quality.

When this album was released in the early '90s, I was captivated by the artistry of its CD cover design, but nothing could prepare me for what lay inside. 12 years later, I considered this to be Madonna's greatest and most creative work of art (Ray of Light number 2 while Like a Prayer is number 3 in my list). This CD was pure genius.

7 Music

This has to be her best. I like all her albums, but this one just stands out so much. It's a more mature version of Ray of Light, and it's just incredible. She fuses three genres together (dance, electronic, and acoustic) to make the best album of her career. Every song is awesome, but I'd have to say Impressive Instant, I Deserve It, Nobody's Perfect, Don't Tell Me, Paradise, and Gone are the best on this album.

This album includes the massive dance/club track Music, and some other songs include interesting electronic beats mixed in with some acoustics. My personal favorites are I Deserve It, Amazing, and Gone. Paradise (Not for Me) & Nobody's Perfect are also very cool.

8 Bedtime Stories

I love to sit with a cigarette, a good book, or a Wattpad story on my balcony and just listen to the charming songs of this album. One of my personal favourites, along with masterpieces such as Kylie's Impossible Princess, Cher's Living Proof, and Lana's Paradise.

This is CLEARLY Madonna's best album. Just listen to those sexy beats, those emotive cooings, and dark reflections on life. On Bedtime Stories, Madonna challenges herself as an artist to create a brooding masterpiece.

This isn't her best, but it's a very mature album. For anyone born in the 90s like me, this is a great album for our decade. I listen to this album all the time, so anyone who doesn't have it should get it.

9 American Life

Madonna's American Life was a genuinely heartfelt album. Most reviewers commented that the lyrics were too simple and it was not the best. Every single song on this album has a personal meaning to not only her but me as well. The best songs are X-Static Process, Intervention, Nothing Fails, and Nobody Knows Me. I feel this album wasn't given the chance it deserved.

A massively underrated album by Madonna, although there are one or two lesser tracks, the rest of the album is amazing. It takes a little while to get used to and then, wow!

"American Life" takes risks and surprisingly, works better than her general pop/dance style. Actually, Madonna's best work is out of the dance genre with "Ray of Light", "Bedtime Stories", and "American Life" being my favorite of all her albums - or the only ones I'd buy.

I wasn't a Madonna fan but decided to preview her songs on iTunes. This little gem shone through! And now I have a new respect for her.

10 Like a Virgin

I certainly think this is by far her best and most sexy album (but could that be because I was a teenage lad when it was released?). Still love Madonna now, and Lady Gaga will agree Madge set the trend for her success.

This is the most successful and best album of all her albums. I also love the first album as well. This is also when she looked beautiful, the best in her life, I think.

This album was huge! I know she has made many great albums, but I really would have thought this would be number 1. I personally would rate this number 2, just barely ahead of True Blue. Without a doubt, Madonna, the first album, was the best. I'm a big, rough and tumble kind of a guy and I'm sure many people would be surprised to know, I wore the grooves out of that record listening to it after school on my brother's record player.

The Contenders
11 MDNA

It is difficult for me to pick a favorite, but I might have to choose MDNA. I think this is the Madonna album with which I have directly connected the most. I feel like its brilliance is being severely underrated. I have a feeling that this album, just like American Life and Erotica, do not receive their due credit at the time of release, and then years later people finally catch up and realize what a masterpiece it was.

I have never been disappointed with a Madonna album, but this one might just take the crown. It was brilliant as a "break-up" album, as it covers all the different stages of a break-up: anger, sadness, revenge, newfound freedom, regret, reflection, new loves/crushes, independence, etc. Brilliant in the way she was able to do that.

12 Hard Candy

Hard Candy is a great album, it's one of my favourite albums. The problem why people dislike this album is because of the producers, but for me, it was a great move because Madonna has always revolutionized her music and this was a great masterpiece.

Her latest, and her best! I do not have any of Madonna's albums, (bar Celebration) but heard songs from this album and I quite liked the songs. I love 4 Minutes because it's featuring Justin Timberlake. It's a good album!

I really love this album and listen to it very often. The producers, Timbaland, Timberlake, Kanye, and Pharrell, did a very good job. I just love it. I would probably put this album in the top 5.

13 Rebel Heart

It might not be a cohesive album totally, but Madonna really tries various styles in this album, and many songs really stood out in the pop music scene nowadays. Living for Love is an empowering song. Ghosttown could be her best ballad in a decade. The emotions behind the song Joan of Arc could make your tears fall down while listening to it. Borrowed Time is a song which shares a beautiful message about love. The title track reviews her rebellious life so far and actually has the potential to be a hit. Ghosttown and Illuminati make me think of the messy world we live in right now. Body Shop and Holy Water remind me of her Erotica era. Joan of Arc, Wash All Over Me, and Messiah make me think of her Like a Prayer era. It certainly has a few fillers like S.E.X., but it's overall a strong effort from her.

In conclusion, as for musical direction, I think it's her best since Confessions on a Dance Floor. However, as for the concept of the album, it's REALLY her best since the iconic Ray of Light.

14 I'm Breathless

Madonna fans underrate this beautiful and creative album. Not every pop artist would be as great as Madge on jazz territory. It was a new Madonna with a fresh and unique sound. "I'm Breathless" includes many awesome tracks - "Hanky Panky," "Sooner or Later," "I'm Going Bananas," "Cry Baby," "Back in Business," pop superhit "Vogue," etc.

This album is underrated. This album proves that Madonna is a versatile singer. I love the concept and character of "Madonna showgirl personality with Broadway vocals."

15 Something to Remember

One of the best Madonna albums of the 90s. Nice collection of her powerful ballads plus only here you can find such tracks like "You'll See", "This Used to Be My Playground", "I Want You", and "I'll Remember". Even the album cover is so great. A Must Have Album!

What's there to say? A meaningful record, made of ballads from her previous albums, although she's also recorded some new ones for this occasion. A true virtue.

The best compilation album of all time. Such beautiful and meaningful ballads... There's no other artist in music like Madonna.

16 Madame X

Are you serious? Madame X is easily one of her greatest works. The way she mixes different genres and beats is so exciting. Its concept is great. Yes, modern-day people hate listening to the TRUTH. They prefer brainless music from puppets like Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, Britney, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj...
Madonna made REAL music with this album. BRAVO!

It's her best album since Confessions. We have to be honest.

17 You Can Dance
18 The Immaculate Collection
19 Evita
20 Celebration
21 Miles Away
22 Who's That Girl
23 I'm Going To Tell You a Secret
24 Maximum Madonna
25 The Confessions Tour
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