This fun Billboard list of Madonna's 40 biggest Hot 100 hits popped up on social media the other day and I'm obsessing over it like I'm 15. I'm not entirely sure how it works -- I'd always heard "Take a Bow" was her "biggest" single -- but the column saying "adjusted points" explains what makes this list slightly different.
Of note: "Take a Bow" was on the Hot 100 the longest (a whopping 30 weeks) while "Rescue Me" was her shortest (just eight weeks). If you had asked me to rattle off what I thought were her 10 biggest hits, this list sounds about right. (As much as I adore "Live to Tell," I love that even after all these years, "Crazy for You" is still such a popular ballad, because it takes me back to high school.)
"Papa Don't Preach" is still my least favorite of her biggies, although I've come to appreciate it a bit over the years, especially when Roger did a gender-flipped cover on "American Dad."
Also a tad disappointing to not see "Beautiful Stranger" on the list -- apparently it wasn't officially released in the U.S., only charting because of airplay -- which is far and away better than several of these, most notably "Hanky Panky," "Oh Father" and the dreaded "La Isla Bonita." (Not even sure why that one sticks in my craw the way it does, along with another fan favorite: "Human Nature"!) The advent of the "airplay only" chart and death of the single were the beginning of the end of Billboard charts for me, and "Beautiful Stranger" might have been the canary in the coal mine … all of which is to say it should have been No. 1 and is a million times better than all 150 of Drake’s No. 1 “hits.”
Knowing how Madonna allegedly feels about "Causing a Commotion" makes its placement at No. 14 sort of amusing. And since I'm just riffing, I'll add that if it were up to me, "Borderline" would be Top 10. (That it was my brother Bill's favorite Madonna song only adds to my love of it.) And "Angel," "Ray of Light," "Cherish" and its fraternal twin, "True Blue," would also all have been even more popular than they were.
Please share your picks and pans in the comments!
See my ranking of Madonna's albums HERE.
UPDATE: I was just pointed to Billboard's "Chart History" feature, which puts "Borderline" at the top. (Is my brother Bill editing from that newsroom in the sky?) The rankings seem to use total number of weeks on the Hot 100 as the only criteria, which technically would make it a tie with "Take a Bow" ... but I can take yes for an answer!
I'm always surprised that "Rain" didn't do better. It's easily one of my favorite Madonna tracks.
ReplyDelete@Randy: Totally agree.
ReplyDeleteI'll always be a sucker for the dancier tracks on the early albums, and kind of falling out of fandom (and back in a couple of times) when American Life came out. After that, there would be one or two songs here and there that I really liked. I liked all of I'm Breathless (even Hanky Panky), and have to put Vogue, Express Yourself and Deeper and Deeper as my favorites. I'm a year or two older than you, which is around the perfect age to have been for her best stuff.
ReplyDeleteWhere’s “Into the Groove”? As far as I’m concerned, it’s #1.
ReplyDelete@Tom Z: I agree it's her best. I guess because it was never a 45 -- only a 12-inch -- in the U.S., it doesn't qualify. Big bummer at the time and even now!
ReplyDeleteI remember back in the day calling in to the radio station and requesting Into The Groove, yet the DJ would ultimately only ever play Angel, like there was some rule preventing him from giving Into the Groove airplay.
ReplyDeleteSaw this linked on Greg's blog and I had to comment. If you read the fine print, Billboard uses a weighted inverted point system (basically #1 gets the most points, #100 gets the least) but then multiplies those points from 1.6 to 2 times if the song charted prior to 1992 and reduces points by up to 25% for songs that charted after 2011. It's designed to reward older songs over newer songs.
ReplyDeleteIf you do the actual math (I did) and give every Madonna song points from 1-100 (for ranking #100 to #1 respectively) for each week the song ranked on the Billboard Hot 100 with no adjustments made for bias, then "Take A Bow" is easily Madonna's biggest hit.
Rank Track Debut Final Peak Peak Wks Total Wks Points
1 Take A Bow 12/17/94 07/08/95 1 7 30 2606
2 I'll Remember 04/02/94 09/24/94 2 4 26 2203
3 Music 08/12/00 01/20/01 1 4 24 2101
4 Secret 10/08/94 03/04/95 3 1 22 1841
5 Vogue 04/14/90 09/22/90 1 3 24 1660
6 Don't Tell Me 12/09/00 04/28/01 4 2 21 1654
7 Borderline 03/10/84 09/29/84 10 1 30 1641
8 Frozen 03/21/98 08/01/98 2 1 20 1588
9 4 Minutes 04/05/08 08/16/08 3 2 20 1558
10 Crazy For You 03/02/85 07/20/85 1 1 21 1519
11 This Used To Be My Playground 07/04/92 11/14/92 1 1 20 1476
12 Like A Virgin 11/17/84 03/23/85 1 6 19 1451
13 You'll See 12/09/95 04/20/96 6 1 20 1442
14 Hung Up 11/05/05 03/18/06 7 2 20 1359
15 Live To Tell 04/12/86 08/09/86 1 1 18 1328
16 Papa Don't Preach 06/28/86 10/25/86 1 2 18 1313
17 Ray Of Light 07/11/98 11/21/98 5 1 20 1291
18 Rain 07/24/93 12/04/93 14 1 20 1290
19 Open Your Heart 12/06/86 04/04/87 1 1 18 1288
20 You Must Love Me 11/16/96 03/29/97 18 2 20 1273
21 Justify My Love 11/17/90 03/02/91 1 2 16 1248
22 Deeper And Deeper 12/05/92 03/27/93 7 1 17 1209
23 Material Girl 02/09/85 06/01/85 2 2 17 1204
24 Like A Prayer 03/18/89 07/01/89 1 3 16 1202
25 Angel 04/27/85 08/17/85 5 1 17 1182
26 La Isla Bonita 03/21/87 07/11/87 4 3 17 1174
27 Causing A Commotion 09/12/87 01/09/88 2 3 18 1155
28 Who's That Girl 07/11/87 10/24/87 1 1 16 1154
29 True Blue 10/04/86 01/17/87 3 3 16 1142
30 Holiday 10/29/83 03/17/84 16 2 21 1139
31 Lucky Star 08/25/84 12/08/84 4 1 16 1134
32 The Power Of Good-Bye 10/17/98 02/20/99 11 1 19 1128
33 Express Yourself 06/03/89 09/16/89 2 2 16 1110
34 Cherish 08/19/89 11/25/89 2 2 15 1092
35 Dress You Up 08/17/85 11/30/85 5 1 16 1073
36 Erotica 10/17/92 02/13/93 3 1 18 1064
37 Die Another Day 10/19/02 02/08/03 8 2 17 1052
38 Beautiful Stranger 06/12/99 10/16/99 19 1 19 952
39 Keep It Together 02/03/90 04/28/90 8 1 13 901
40 Don't Cry For Me Argentina 02/22/97 06/07/97 8 1 16 811
41 Oh Father 11/11/89 02/03/90 20 1 13 781
42 Hanky Panky 06/30/90 09/08/90 10 1 11 656
43 Human Nature 06/24/95 09/30/95 46 3 15 608
44 Rescue Me 03/02/91 04/20/91 9 1 8 566
45 Me Against The Music 10/25/03 01/17/04 35 1 13 546
46 American Pie 02/19/00 04/15/00 29 2 9 522
47 What It Feels Like For A Girl 05/05/01 07/07/01 23 3 10 501
48 Bad Girl 02/20/93 05/01/93 36 1 11 460
49 Give Me All Your Luvin' 02/18/12 04/14/12 10 1 6 313
50 American Life 04/05/03 05/24/03 37 1 8 260
51 Bedtime Story 04/22/95 06/03/95 42 1 7 216
52 Sorry 03/11/06 04/15/06 58 1 6 151
53 Love Don't Live Here Anymore 04/20/96 06/08/96 78 1 8 114
54 Give It 2 Me 05/17/08 05/17/08 57 1 1 44
55 Celebration 08/22/09 08/22/09 71 1 1 30
56 Bitch I'm Madonna 07/04/15 07/11/15 84 1 2 23
57 Nothing Really Matters 05/01/99 05/08/99 93 1 2 10