The Best Madonna Non-Top Ten AT40 single

Descending order:

Holiday
Bad Girl
Oh Father
What It Feels Like For a Girl
The Power of Goodbye
Rain

Voting "Bad Girl" but would take the first four over the following seven without a single second thought.

“Holiday” is my favorite Madonna song.

Love half of these:

1) "Beautiful Stranger," 2) "Holiday," 3) "Oh Father," 4) "What It Feels Like for a Girl," 5) "Bad Girl"

This is clearly Holiday but I am likely voting What It Feels… or The Power of Goodbye because neither of those songs should get 0 votes

oops I missed "Beautiful Stranger."

Time has not softened my stance on "Beautiful Stranger"

That post-Evita vocal tic of making unexpected syllables vibrate ("beautiful strange-errrrrr") irritates me more now.

"Holiday" for me

the only decision here is choosing which american pie to vote for

You must love both

Voting "Bad Girl" but would take the first four over the following seven without a single second thought.

― fair but so uncool beliefs here (Eric H.), Friday, April 21, 2023 9:01 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Voting "Oh Father," but same.

“Holiday,” but I remember being struck by how interesting a single “Oh Father” was; it’s gotta be one of my faves of her post-1985 singles.

"Oh Father," which also has one of David Fincher's best-looking videos.

Also I didn't realize Ryuichi Sakamoto made a cameo in "Rain"'s video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15kWlTrpt5k

1. Bad Girl
2. Holiday
3. Oh Father
4. Rain
5. What It Feels Like For A Girl

What it Feels Like For a Girl, top ten Madge for me

I wanted to vote for "Bedtime Story" or "Get Together", but I guess they weren't Top 40 ?

The latter didn't even chart here.

i know i'm on thin ice posting in a madonna thread, but can someone please explain why "american pie" is there twice?

(also i like "hanky panky")

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMTg3ODY5ODI1NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTgwMTkxNTYxMTE@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_.jpg

https://cms.giggster.com/guide/directus/assets/6f5ba226-1511-4d11-bab8-5ac06ebaeebb?fit=cover&width=400&quality=80

https://scale.coolshop-cdn.com/product-media.coolshop-cdn.com/235ZA9/ee6478174fb746d69a2a2f3a45927842.jpg/f/american-pie-presents-girls-rules-dvd.jpg

American Pie: What It Feels Like For A Girl

Bad Girl has aged well

"Holiday" is great and will almost certainly sweep this, as it should; "Rain" is tremendous; "Bad Girl" is good; all the rest...whoof.

Voted “Beautiful Stranger” but could just as easily flipped for “Rain”

BTW, all of these together make a pretty great mix if you sequence it right

It is amazing that "Holiday" never gets off, and I wonder how it sounded to ILXors in their teens and twenties in 1983

Er, never gets old

It sounded fresh. I may have thought it was related to breakdancing but it was so light and bouncy and pop.

I first heard it on KROQ here in LA. It kinda fit in with what they were playing that year but stood out in a block of big UK new wave production numbers. I turned 18 in 1983 and bought my first car - it sounded really good on the shit OEM car radios then.

holiday in 1983 hit me as vaguely new wavey (i think! it was a long time ago!) club pop that was a little bubblier and a little catchier than everything around it. or maybe a lot catchier: the eight-note ecstasy of "it would be, it would be so nice" knocked me off my feet almost immediately, i remember that. it took some time and some repeats and probably a few followup singles and albums for me to realize exactly how much it had knocked me off my feet, and how much else was going on beyond that hook. one of my favorite singles by anyone ever.

holiday in 1983 hit me as vaguely new wavey (i think! it was a long time ago!) club pop that was a little bubblier and a little catchier than everything around it. or maybe a lot catchier: the eight-note ecstasy of "it would be, it would be so nice" knocked me off my feet almost immediately, i remember that. it took some time and some repeats and probably a few followup singles and albums for me to realize exactly how much it had knocked me off my feet, and how much else was going on beyond that hook. one of my favorite singles by anyone ever.

(it would post, it would post so twice, it appears.)

The Madonna singles that came out when I was in high school - which was all of them up to “Live to Tell” - will always mean more to me than the subsequent ones, i.e.“Papa Don’t Preach” forward. But I’ve spoken to younger people who also feel it’s the first two Madonna albums that are undeniable and the rest are iffy. I’m sure there’s good stuff in the later ones, but that’s not my Madonna, as it were.

“Holiday” I thought was sweet and not all that interesting, but then the three-hit punch of “Burnin Up”, “Borderline” and “Lucky Star” blew my head off and the self title was the only record I wanted to play for about a month. Still towers over the rest for me.

I also thought "Holiday" was a fun, but a bit anonymous dance single at first. It was the first one I heard by her and the video was very low budget. Then "Lucky Star" and "Borderline" came out and I thought they were much stronger.
It's funny because with time I think "Holiday" might have become the strongest of the three. But they're all really great.

I’ll admit too, it wasn’t like I heard “Holiday” and thought “This is our next superstar!” I had to hear “Borderline” and “Lucky Star” to get the Madonna phenomenon.

I am v stupid for voting before I even saw What It Feels Like for a Girl - my favourite Madge single - was there.

"American Pie" is the only of these to reach No. 1 in the UK. A noble if still unsuccessful attempt to salvage a terrible song.

whats AT40?

Oh Father oh yeah.

American Top 40 xpost

Beautiful Stranger such a jam

but probably not what most people come to Madonna for

it’s also the best Madonna-at-40 single - either that or “The Power Of Goodbye”.

but I voted for Madonna-at-25. “Holiday” is just too good.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

been revisiting these and happy with my Bad Girl vote but just want it on record that the Above & Beyond Mix of WIFLFAG is a banger and what I always think of when I think of that track

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

LOL

One vote for “Rain” is pretty ridiculous

First place was a done deal from the word go

Evita sucks, but if I had to pick one song for a compilation, it would definitely be "You Must Love Me." Not a great song or anything, but written to order for the film, it does seem perfect in the way it simultaneously reflects Madonna the pop star and the title role itself.

"American Pie" just sucks.

haha, fully expected Holiday to win (my unquestioning vote) but that was a blowout

in terms of the poll the winner was clear but I'd have put Rain up above anything else on the list

wish i coukd give american pie negative votes

shocking fact: three people voted against the music

"The Look Of Love" came up in a conversation with Ms. T the other day. I didn't know the song well - it was only released as a single in Europe so technically outside the scope of this thread, but whoa - totally forgotten killer 80s Madonna ballad. This live version is great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF2TcC1geCg

The "all the books I've read..." is poignant.