Artist · chart history · #120 in indie & aaa artist polls
Madonna
Solo artist Bay City United States “Queen of Pop”
Madonna is an artist from Bay City. Madonna has 76 chart appearances on 34 radio countdowns from 13 stations on RockLists, spanning 1984–2026. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Like a Prayer”, which appears on 15 lists with a best position of #23. In total the artist has topped 1 countdown. The station that charted Madonna most often is WFPK (Louisville, KY), with 16 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1990.
Madonna was born in Michigan in 1958 and hit New York in 1978 to be a dancer, then banged around the rock bands Breakfast Club and Emmy on drums, guitar and vocals before her self-titled 1983 debut, with "Lucky Star", made her a star. Like a Virgin followed in 1984, and True Blue in 1986 brought "Papa Don't Preach" and "La Isla Bonita", pop records with a club pulse and a knack for provocation.
Nobody has worked the art of reinvention harder. She took on sex, religion and politics in her songs and videos and drew both applause and outrage for it, and Like a Prayer, in 1989, was her boldest statement yet. "Vogue" and "Justify My Love" came next, then Ray of Light's electronic shimmer in 1998, Music in 2000 and the disco rush of "Hung Up" from Confessions on a Dance Floor in 2005.
She also took to the screen in Desperately Seeking Susan, Dick Tracy and Evita, winning a Golden Globe for playing Eva Peron, and she ran her own company, Maverick, with its own record label. The tally speaks for itself: twelve number-one singles on the Hot 100, ten number-one albums, seven Grammys, and a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the moment she became eligible.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by Madonna on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Like a Prayer | 15 | #23 | – | – | |
| 2 | Vogue | 7 | #44 | – | 1990 | |
| 3 | Like a Virgin | 4 | #41 | – | 1984 | |
| 4 | Material Girl | 3 | #6 | – | – | |
| 5 | Ray of Light | 5 | #80 | – | – | |
| 6 | Into The Groove | 5 | #80 | – | – | |
| 7 | Papa Don't Preach | 3 | #1 | 1 | 1986 | |
| 8 | Music | 4 | #87 | – | 2000 | |
| 9 | Holiday | 4 | #128 | – | – | |
| 10 | Express Yourself | 3 | #184 | – | – | |
| 11 | Crazy For You | 2 | #272 | – | – | |
| 12 | Beautiful Stranger | 2 | #67 | – | 1999 | |
| 13 | Borderline | 2 | #323 | – | – | |
| 14 | Justify My Love | 2 | #53 | – | 1990 | |
| 15 | Lucky Star | 1 | #248 | – | – | |
| 16 | Live To Tell | 2 | #30 | – | 1986 | |
| 17 | La Isla Bonita | 1 | #15 | – | 1987 | |
| 18 | Frozen | 2 | #296 | – | – | |
| 19 | Hung Up | 1 | #470 | – | – | |
| 20 | Who's That Girl | 1 | #17 | – | 1987 | |
| 21 | Don't Tell Me | 1 | #323 | – | – | |
| 22 | Take A Bow | 1 | #372 | – | – | |
| 23 | Causing a Commotion | 1 | #778 | – | – | |
| 24 | True Blue | 1 | #28 | – | 1986 | |
| 25 | I'll Remember | 1 | #452 | – | – | |
| 26 | Burning Up | 1 | #864 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
Year-end chart timeline
Combined year-end countdown points per year. Taller bars mean more songs placing higher across more stations.
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