madonna 2008 tour

Sticky & Sweet Tour

Tour poster.

Tour schedule

The Sticky & Sweet Tour, her first under the 360° deal with Live Nation, kicked off in Cardiff on Aug. 23, 2008. After tour legs in Europe, North America and South America , Madonna announced another tour leg for the summer of 2009 with mostly territories in Europe that she had never visited before. In total, she performed 85 shows in 31 different countries. The tour grossed no less than $ 407,7 million with a sale of more than 3,5 million tickets. It broke the record, previously held by  Confessions Tour , for  Highest Grossing Tour  for a female artist.

→ Check out the full tour schedule here

Tour setlist

The tour, which was described as a 'rock driven dancetastic journey' , promoted her 11th studio album Hard Candy . The title of the tour referred to a lyric from Candy Shop - which opened the show - and the candy theme of the album. For the 2009 tour leg, Madonna replaced a few tracks on the setlist and also included a tribute to Michael Jackson , who passed away a week before the start of the summer tour.

→ Check out the full setlist here

Tour diary & reviews

Throughout the tour, we kept a tour diary with specific details for each show: Europe (2008) - North America - South America - Europe (2009)

We also saved some press reviews to give you an idea how the show was received by critics: Europe (2008) - North America - Europe (2009)

Tour crew & collaborators

While several band members, dancers and collaborators from the Confessions Tour were back on board, Madonna further extended her team of dancers and choreographers. Costumes were designed by Arianne Phillips, Givenchy, Dolce & Gabbana, Jeremy Scott and Tom Ford .

→ Check out the full crew here

Tour recording

To date, the Sticky & Sweet Tour ranks as the highest-grossing tour by a female artist , and as the 5th highest-grossing tour of all time. This record is recognised by Guinness World Records.

• Share full article

Advertisement

Supported by

Arts, Briefly

Madonna’s Tour Was No. 1

Compiled by Dave Itzkoff

• Dec. 31, 2008

A bit of good news on which Madonna , below, can end her year: the soon-to-be-single pop star’s Sticky & Sweet tour was the highest-grossing musical tour of North America in 2008, the concert industry magazine Pollstar said. The Madonna concerts grossed $105.3 million in North America, according to Pollstar. In second place was her Canadian competitor Celine Dion , whose tour grossed $94 million this year, and third place was claimed by the Eagles , whose tour promoting the album “Long Road Out of Eden” grossed $73.4 million. The list was rounded out by Kenny Chesney ($72.2 million), Bon Jovi ($70.4 million), Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band ($69.3 million), Neil Diamond ($59.8 million), Rascal Flatts ($55.8 million), the Police ($48 million) and Tina Turner ($47.7 million).

Find the Right Soundtrack for You

Trying to expand your musical horizons take a listen to something new..

Shania Twain  is now a Glastonbury “legend.”

Hear Towa Bird’ s bouncy revenge rock and 10 more new songs.

At 100, the intergalactic jazz hero Marshall Allen  is still on a mission.

Omar Apollo’s new album is a Critic’s Pick. Read the review .

5 minutes that will make you love Wayne Shorter .

Join us on Social

Photos (L-R): Bob Riha Jr/WireImage, Ron Davis/Getty Images, Paul Natkin/Getty Images, Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for dcp

Songbook: How Madonna Became The Queen Of Pop & Reinvention, From Her 'Boy Toy' Era To The Celebration Tour

As Madonna fans eagerly await the start of her highly anticipated The Celebration Tour, take a look back at the icon's four-decade legacy that changed pop music forever.

Seconds after making her television debut on American Bandstand in early 1984, Madonna announced her plans to "rule the world."

Nearly 40 years later, she's done just that: Selling 300 million albums worldwide, Madonna is one of the best-selling artists of all time. Her 14 studio albums have spawned 12 No. 1s and 63 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and she earned a spot in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2008. But just her nickname alone proves she achieved her goal: the Queen of Pop.

Madonna's legacy is more than her music, too. The seven-time GRAMMY-winner has empowered several generations to own their sexuality and call their own shots; she dared to be different and bending the rules on and off stage, particularly with the merging of sexual freedom and religion. Her fearlessness helped open doors for individuality in pop music and beyond, becoming a star that didn't just rule the world — she changed culture.

As Madonna's self-titled debut LP turns 40 on July 27, GRAMMY.com is revisiting the most groundbreaking, exhilarating, and gasp-worthy moments of her extraordinary career.

Listen to GRAMMY.com's official Songbook: An Essential Guide To Madonna playlist on Spotify above and on Amazon Music , Apple Music and Pandora .

The '80s Reign

"Everybody" and "Burning Up," the first two singles off Madonna's 1983 eponymous solo debut, were instantaneous dance hits but failed to crack the Hot 100. Rooted in disco, "Holiday" not only became Madonna's first Hot 100 entry at No. 16, but it also topped the Dance Club Songs chart — her first of 50, a record no other artist holds to this day . It also spawned even bigger hits "Lucky Star" and "Borderline," which reached No. 4 and No. 10 on the Hot 100, respectively.

As "Borderline" climbed the charts, Madonna enlisted the legendary Nile Rogers to craft what would become the best-selling album of her career: Like a Virgin .

Selling over 21 million copies worldwide, 1984's Like a Virgin proved Madonna wasn't just another flash in the pan with a long string of hits, including "Material Girl," "Dress You Up," and her first chart-topper, "Like a Virgin." But her sexual assertiveness is what made the era truly iconic. The sepia-toned album cover featured the then 26-year-old wearing a corset wedding dress, accessorized with lace gloves and a hard-to-miss "Boy Toy" belt buckle.

"The photo was a statement of independence, if you wanna be a virgin, you are welcome. But if you wanna be a whore, it's your f—ing right to be so," Madonna reportedly said about the album's brow-raising imagery. Around this time, droves of "Madonna wannabes" copied her look, which incorporated jelly bracelets, rosaries, crucifixes, lace tights, and giant bow headbands — solidifying her as a fashion icon. (Earlier this year, Like a Virgin was added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.")

Fresh off tying the knot with then-husband Sean Penn in 1986, Madonna's True Blue featured her first image makeover and veered away from the bubblegum-pop sound she was known for. Lead single "Live to Tell" displayed artistic growth as she seemingly confronts a painful past. ("I have a tale to tell/ Sometimes it gets so hard to hide it well," she sings in the ballad's opening verse.)

In addition, True Blue found Madonna experimenting with new musical styles, including classical ("Papa Don't Preach," which shined a light on teen pregnancy), Latin ("La Isla Bonita"), and doo-wop ("True Blue"). Still, dance-pop is at forefront of "Open Your Heart," as well as sexual innuendos in the accompanying video, which shows the singer performing as an exotic dancer at a peep show.

By the time 1989's Like a Prayer arrived, Madonna had earned the title of "First Lady of Pop,"  holding her own alongside male counterparts Michael Jackson and Prince . Leading up to the album's release, Madonna was battling a lot behind the scenes — she and Sean Penn filed for divorce two months prior, she reached the age her mother was when she died, and she was struggling with her Catholic upbringing.

In turn, the 11-track LP is considered the first of Madonna's projects to feature deeply personal lyrics and themes, particularly on tracks like "Till Death Do Us Part," "Promise to Try," "Oh Father," and "Keep It Together," the latter of which features Prince on guitar. On the flip side, "Cherish" and feminist anthem "Express Yourself" serve as bright spots on Like a Prayer .

The title track earned Madonna her seventh Hot 100 chart-topper, but it's most synonymous with its accompanying video. The clip depicts a number of controversial images, including Madonna singing in front of burning crosses, which cost the entertainer her Pepsi sponsorship contract (more on that later). "Like a Prayer" set the tone for Madonna's "Justify My Love" and "Erotica" videos, which caused their own controversies for their boundary-pushing imagery.

The Shock Factor

It's impossible to revisit Madonna's catalog without reliving some of the performer's most jaw-dropping moments. From going on a profanity-filled rant on the Late Show with David Letterman in 1994 to kissing Britney Spears and Christinia Aguilera at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna is no stranger to shocking the world.

Only a year into her extraordinary career, Madonna stole the show at MTV's inaugural Video Music Awards . Donning a bridal gown reminiscent to the one she wore on the Like a Virgin album cover, the then 26-year-old unintentionally exposed her underwear while reaching for one of her heels that fell off as she made her way down from a 17-foot wedding cake. After the performance, Madonna was told by her manager that her career was over — but instead, it ended up catapulting her into superstardom.

To close out the '80s decade, Madonna was named Pepsi's spokesperson, but her $5 million sponsorship was revoked when the "Like a Prayer" video premiered a couple months later. The groundbreaking visuals depict racism against an interracial couple, stigmata, and Madonna herself kissing a Black saint — but its most provocative scene appears midway when Madonna sings in front of Ku Klux Klan-style burning crosses. 

Unsurprisingly, it was largely seen as blasphemous by the Christian community, with the pope calling for Italy to boycott the singer. Though the controversial video cost Madonna her Pepsi deal, it paved the way for artists to merge religion with their art to make a bold statement — seemingly inspiring the videos Lady Gaga 's "Judas," Lil Nas X 's "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)," and Sam Smith and Kim Petras ' "Unholy." (In the same vein, part of Madonna's 2006's Confessions Tour was condemned due to performing "Live to Tell" on a mirrored cross while wearing a crown of thorns, simulating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.)

Perhaps one of her most scandalous moments, though, belongs to the media frenzy and brilliance that was the "Justify My Love" video. Co-written with Lenny Kravitz , the song itself is raunchy enough to raise a few eyebrows, but still relatively tame by today's standards. "I want to run naked in a rainstorm/ Make love in a train cross-country," she coos over a Public Enemy -sampled drum beat.

Themes of nudity, sadomasochism, bisexuality, and androgyny run throughout the Jean-Baptiste Mondino-directed video, which Madonna defended as a "celebration of sex" after it was banned from MTV. Seizing the moment, Madonna released it as a video single, selling over a million copies at $9.98 — proof that Madonna could flip any potential career disaster into a shrewd business move.

Madonna: Truth or Dare premiered a mere six months later and received mostly positive reviews — though certain scenes sparked backlash, including Madonna performing fellatio on a glass bottle. The documentary chronicled the singer's 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour, but it's often hailed for championing the LGBTQIA+ community since it shows Madonna and her dancers attending a Pride parade and gay men casually discussing sex.

What followed next in Madonna's career was not for the faint-hearted: 1992's Erotica album examines every aspect of sexuality, from S&M and oral sex to the awareness of the AIDS epidemic. 

Madonna's alter-ego named Dita takes center stage on lead single "Erotica," one of her most distinctive yet forgotten singles. "My name is Dita/ I'll be your mistress tonight," she declares over a slinky groove with hip-hop and Middle Eastern influences. The racy track and its follow-up single "Deeper and Deeper" claimed the No. 3 and No. 7 spots on the Hot 100, respectively, but the remaining Erotica -era singles didn't chart as high. "Bad Girl," which also appeared in the 1993 film Body of Evidence , peaked at No. 36 while "Fever" and "Bye Bye Baby" completely missed the Hot 100.

Gems like "Rain," "Words," "Waiting," and "In This Life" get buried in the controversy that surrounded the LP, but its impact still reigns three decades later, inspiring more female artists to flaunt their sexuality unapologetically; Beyoncé 's "Partition," Christina Aguilera 's "Not Myself Tonight," and Rihanna 's "S&M" serve as a prime examples.

The Blockbuster Hits

Madonna's acting chops weren't always well received by audiences, but her soundtrack hits came out swinging every time.

Originally recorded for 1985's Vision Quest film, "Crazy for You" marks Madonna's first time releasing a ballad as a single — flaunting her vocal abilities while appealing to more mature audiences. In addition to earning Madonna her second Hot 100 chart-topper, she picked up her first-ever GRAMMY nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

A couple months later, "Into the Groove" appeared in the comedy Desperately Seeking Susan , which co-stars Madonna in the titular role and marks her film debut. Backed by synthesizers and drum machines, the song itself showcases Madonna at the height of her popularity, making it that much more special to listen to. Ironically, though, the infectious track never saw the Hot 100; it was ineligible to chart due to her label's decision to not officially release it as a single, out of fear it could overshadow "Crazy For You."

While Madonna's performance in the screwball comedy Who's That Girl was panned by critics, she scored No. 1 and No. 2 hits with "Who's That Girl" and "Causing a Commotion," respectively.

Madonna's acting aspirations continued throughout the decade. Despite starring in back-to-back box office disaster bombs, including Shanghai Surprise , she tried her hand at acting again in 1990 with Dick Tracy . Not only was the Oscar-winning film the box office comeback Madonna needed, but it birthed "Vogue," one of the most iconic dance tunes to ever grace airwaves — despite never appearing in the film.

Topping the charts in over 30 countries, "Vogue" shined a light on a flamboyant style of dance stemming from Harlem's 1960s ballroom community led by Black and Latino gay men. From the spoken section (in which Madonna shouts out "Golden Age" Hollywood stars like Marlon Brando and Bette Davis) to the accompanying black-and-white video where Madonna debuts the now-legendary Jean Paul Gaultier cone bra , everything about "Vogue" is iconic and a cultural moment many artists can only dream of.

Madonna's film soundtrack success continued with 1992's A League of Their Own , 1996's Evita , and 1999's Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me . All three films' soundtracks demonstrate Madonna's constant willingness to push herself beyond her own artistic boundaries. On the operatic "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "You Must Love Me" from Evita,  which earned her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, Madonna explores musical theater as her voice reaches new heights. Meanwhile, the GRAMMY-winning "Beautiful Stranger" revisits 1960s psychedelic pop, hence the Austin Powers theme. Back by a live string arrangement, the melancholy "This Used to Be My Playground" off A League of Their Own is a testament to Madonna's many hats.

Though met with mixed reviews at the time of its early aughts release, "Die Another Day" is now considered quintessential Madonna and one of the highest charting James Bond songs in the U.S. At a whopping $6 million, its accompanying video remains the second most expensive, just behind Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson 's 1995 "Scream" video.

The Reinvention Periods

By late 1994, Madonna dialed down her sexed-up image following the release of back-to-back sexually explicit projects, including the controversial coffee table Sex book that featured softcore pornographic images of Madonna herself — along with Big Daddy Kane , Vanilla Ice , Naomi Campbell, and other famous faces.

For Bedtime Stories , she tapped R&B hitmakers like Babyface and Dallas Austin as she explored themes of love and romance versus the sexual freedom heard on 1992's Erotica . Radio-friendly singles "Take a Bow" and "Secret" marked a new musical direction for Madonna that paid off: both showcased some of her finest vocal performances and received glowing reviews from music critics. 

But the entertainer's rebellious nature reappears on the criminally underrated "Human Nature" — an answer to the backlash she faced for her hyper-sexualized persona from two years earlier. "Did I say something wrong?/ Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex/ Did I stay too long?/ Oops, I didn't know I couldn't speak my mind," she sings on the song's bridge before declaring "I'm not sorry."

After enjoying the success of starring in Evita and becoming a first-time mother, 1998's Ray of Light marked Madonna's longest gap in between studio albums at the time — but the wait was well worth it.

Hailed as her magnum opus and her greatest reinvention, Ray of Light saw Madonna at her most creative due to motherhood and her spiritual awakening, as she experimented with techno-pop, electronica, trip hop, Middle Eastern sounds, and mysticism. With each song, the then 39-year-old transforms from Material Girl to Madonna the Artist, as evidenced on the title track, "Frozen," "Drowned World/Substitute for Love," "Nothing Really Matters," "Shanti/Ashtangi," and "The Power of Goodbye." She takes the theme of self-reflection a step further with songs like "Swim," "Mer Girl," and "Little Star," the latter of which is dedicated to her first-born child, Lourdes Leon.

Ray of Light boasts the biggest first-week sales by any female artist at the time of its release — an impressive feat given that the late '90s music scene was dominated by a sea of younger artists, including Backstreet Boys , Lauryn Hill , and Jay-Z . The 13-track LP earned Madonna three more GRAMMYs at the 1999 ceremony: Best Pop Album, as well as Best Dance Recording and Best Short Form Music Video for "Ray of Light."

With the arrival of 2000's Music , Madonna embarked on yet another transformation. In the new millennium, fans were introduced to Madonna the Cowgirl. While the title track sounded like a callback to her earlier dance hits like "Everybody," "Holiday" and "Into the Groove," follow-up single "Don't Tell Me" is notable as the pop icon's first time incorporating country stylings into her artistry.

The album's final single "What It Feels Like for a Girl," which calls out the double standards women face in society, only peaked at No. 23 on the Hot 100, but it remains a fan favorite and still holds its relevance today thanks to its feminist theme. Receiving four GRAMMY nominations across 2001 and 2002, Music 's commercial success defied the music industry's limits on aging female entertainers — an issue Madonna is still confronting head-on today.

In 2003, following the 9/11 tragedy amid the Iraq war, Madonna felt moved to put out the politically driven American Life . It was a complete departure in both subject matter and sound, which leaned heavily toward "folktronica," a blend of folk and electronica music. "I'd like to express my extreme point of view/ I'm not a Christian and I'm not a Jew," she raps on the title track.

While Madonna's attempt to make a socially conscious record didn't produce the same payoff as other politically charged songs at the time (including Black Eyed Peas ' "Where Is The Love?" and Green Day 's "American Idiot"), the 11-track LP, if nothing else, displayed her willingness to take creative risks even two decades into her career.

The Dance Floor Classics

While Madonna got her start in New York City's club scene, her dance reign went into overdrive with the 1987 arrival of You Can Dance — which contains new track "Spotlight" plus a handful of remixed tracks off her first three studio albums. For You Can Dance , Madonna enlisted veteran DJs, including John "Jellybean" Benitez and Shep Pettibone. At a time when remixes were still uncharted territory, the club-ready LP remains the second best-selling remix album of all time and is considered the first album by a mainstream artist to be solely dedicated to the art of the remix.

While dance music lies at the core of Madonna's discography, her work shifted toward more of an adult-oriented sound after You Can Dance , beginning with 1989's Like a Prayer . After nearly two decades of musical experimentation, Madonna returned to her dance roots in a big way with 2005's Confessions on a Dance Floor . 

The album's lead single "Hung Up" — built around a prominent sample of ABBA 's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" — smashed records when it skyrocketed to No. 1 in 41 countries . Its follow-up singles "Sorry," "Get Together," and "Jump" fared better internationally, but the LP's commercial success kicked off the 21st century's disco revival that later influenced the likes of Dua Lipa 's Future Nostalgia and Lizzo 's "About Damn Time."

In 2007, Confessions on a Dance Floor won a GRAMMY for Best Electronic/Dance Album, and its accompanying Confessions Tour took home another GRAMMY for Best Long Form Music Video the following year.

With contributions from Justin Timberlake , Timbaland , Pharrell Williams , and Nate "Danja" Hills , 2008's Hard Candy is one of Madonna's lowest-selling albums, despite housing the massive hit "4 Minutes" (a collaboration with Timberlake), which reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. "4 Minutes" also earned Madonna her 37th top 10 single, making her the artist with the most top 10 entries at the time. Other standout tracks from Hard Candy include "Give It 2 Me," "She's Not Me," "Devil Wouldn't Recognize You," and "Miles Away," the latter of which was inspired by her then-husband Guy Ritchie.

The Legacy Continues

Around the time when Madonna was crafting her 2011 directorial debut W.E. , she was laying down the foundation for her twelfth studio album MDNA , which arrived the following year.

Out of the four singles released, "Give Me All Your Luvin'" (featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A. ) is the only song to enter the Hot 100, though "Girl Gone Wild" and "Turn Up the Radio" became her 42nd and 43rd No. 1 dance hits. The guitar-led ballad "Masterpiece," which also appears on W.E.' s soundtrack, won for Best Original Song at the 2012 Golden Globes. 

Despite not being released as a single, "Gang Bang" quickly emerged as a fan favorite while receiving criticism from those who said it glorified violence. Inspired by Quentin Tarantino's films, the aggressive song's lyrics depict a woman who murders an ex-lover: "And I'm going straight to hell/ And I got a lot of friends there/ And if I see that b— in hell/ I'm gonna shoot him in the head again/ 'Cause I want to see him die," she sneers on the bridge.

Madonna's next two LPs, 2015's Rebel Heart and 2019's Madame X , didn't generate any massive hits, though Rebel Heart 's "Living for Love" and "B— I'm Madonna" are the most recognizable. The latter's accompanying video features cameos from Beyoncé, Katy Perry , and Miley Cyrus , to name a few. Both albums, however, spawned an additional six No. 1 dance hits for Madonna. With a whopping 50 No. 1s on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, Madonna cemented her status as the dancing queen.

At the top of 2023, Madonna announced her upcoming Celebration Tour to commemorate her 40th anniversary since her debut. With 45 stops spanning from Detroit and Los Angeles to Amsterdam and Barcelona, the Celebration Tour was scheduled for a July 15 kickoff before getting postponed after the 64-year-old superstar's recent health scare.

As the tour name suggests, Madonna is ready to honor the hit-filled legacy she's built. "I am excited to explore as many songs as possible, in hopes to give my fans the show they have been waiting for," she said at the time of announcing the tour, which is her first dedicated to her greatest hits. When the megastar makes her glorious return to the stage later this year, she'll remind the world of her relentless spirit — the same one that made her a North Star for nearly every female entertainer on the charts today regardless of genre.

Madonna has supported gay rights, pushed sexual freedom, implemented religious imagery, and reshaped feminism at a time when it wasn't trendy to do so. All the while, she never has apologized for her "rebel heart" — solidifying her legacy as the true Queen of Pop.

Songbook: How Janet Jackson's Fearlessness & Creative Prowess Shifted The Landscape Of Pop Music

Photo: Danin Jacquay

Meet Scene Queen, The "Chaotic Mess" Cleaning Up The Alternative Scene

"I'm cool taking sticks and stones thrown my way if it means that 10 years down the line there's gonna be another girl that tries to do what I do and gets zero flak for it," Scene Queen says of her take-no-prisoners album, 'Hot Singles In Your Area.'

"F*** the scene, I’m the queen!" Scene Queen announces early on her debut album, Hot Singles in Your Area . Delivered in a snarky sing-song , the exclamation serves as something of a mission statement for everything the singer has set out to accomplish with her winking metal-pop persona.   

On Hot Singles (out June 28 via Hopeless Records), the artist calls out the bad behavior that’s run rampant in the alternative music scene for decades. From the insidious grooming of teen fans ("Headline spot goes to the abuser/ Half my idols are f— ing losers," she sings on blistering lead single "18+"), to the blatant discrimination experienced by female artists in the genre (opener "BDSM"), and date rape drugs and sexual assault ("Whips and Chains") — Scene Queen takes unflinching aim.

Born Hannah Collins, Scene Queen isn’t out to destroy the genre she grew up loving as a Warped Tour-obsessed teenager in suburban Ohio. Instead, she’s using her perspective as a queer female artist and knack for razor-sharp songwriting to make the scene safer, more accountable and, ultimately, more inclusive.  

Featuring high-octane collaborations with the likes of The Ready Set ("POV"), WARGASM ("Girls Gone Wild") and 6arelyhuman ("Stuck"), Hot Singles in Your Area is also an unabashed pleasure ride that introduces listeners to Scene Queen’s unique brand of sexual freedom, self-love, queer pride and self-deprecating humor.

"My fans know that I'm playing into the joke of it a lot," Collins says from her home in L.A. "But a lot of people still don't understand it."

Ahead of her album release, Scene Queen opened up exclusively to GRAMMY.com about finding her voice in the metal space, the pop icons who inspired her persona (from Britney Spears to Paris Hilton, Dolly Parton , and Jessica Simpson), standing up to misogynists, homophobes and haters, and more.

How does it feel to be on the verge of finally releasing your debut album?

Really exciting! But also terrifying in a way. With [2022 EPs] Bimbocore Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 , I feel like I told the story of, "Who is Scene Queen? What is this project?" Like, she's very loud and out there and opinionated, and in your face and whatever.   

But this record touches on everything in my life that happened for me to become this version of myself — why I needed to become Scene Queen. I made a whole record about being independent and reclaiming my power and sticking up for myself and sticking up for people in the scene…In a weird way, I'm making jokes this entire album, but it’s a vulnerable album in the sense that I'm revealing a lot via the lens of humor.

How did the Scene Queen persona come about?

I grew up in the alternative space. Like, I went to a million Warped Tours and all of that stuff. I was at shows in Cleveland, like, every weekend during high school. I've been listening to bands like Hawthorne Heights and stuff since I was 8 or 9 years old. So when I was 18, I moved out to L.A. from Ohio, and that was around the time that all of these bands started dropping members left and right because they were finally getting called out for, like, predatory behavior or what have you — just being, generally, not great people.   

Coming into adulthood, you start looking at things through a different lens, like, Oh , that was a weird interaction or Oh , I feel weird that they let me do that at 16 years old . It really felt like, as a woman, the scene wasn't a safe space for me anymore. Then suddenly, during COVID, the only thing I wanted to listen to was, like, super alternative music.  

TikTok introduced me to a lot of bands like The Home Team, that were combining pop-punk with, like, R&B — I always loved that experimental stuff. And I was listening to a ton of BABYMETAL and WARGASM, experimental metal-pop stuff. But I told myself the only way I would come back into the alternative space was if I did it on the terms of what I wished I’d had in the scene growing up.

So now I operate my entire persona as this elevated version of myself because I feel like people need that. Scene Queen is like a superpower for me in a way — she helps in my day-to-day life as Hannah , too .

What makes the Y2K era such a key element of the Scene Queen aesthetic?

Growing up in that time, super hyper-feminine women were often vilified, especially in rock music. If you were super girly at a show, people would assume that you were there to sleep with the band. Like, you weren't as worthy of being there as a man. When I was in high school, I actively chose to dress in mostly all black because I just didn't think I would be taken seriously.

So I wanted to pull that whole era into it and just be like, I'm actively going against everything I grew up with and what the scene told me was acceptable. And now I'm gonna be the antithesis of what any of the people that were misogynistic — or also just underestimated me — would want from me. And now I make the choice every day to irritate those people. [Grins.]  

Growing up, were there female artists you looked up to in the scene?

I just came off of a tour with PVRIS, and [Lynn Gunn] was one of the first queer people I ever knew of within the scene. Which is so crazy to think of back then, that I only had one example of that. She was just, like, openly queer and didn't feel the need to... I don't know, she didn't come out to anyone, she just always existed that way and people didn't criticize her for it. It was the first time that I saw that and was like, Oh, maybe I would be able to do that someday ."

But behind the scenes, she was on the receiving end of so much misogyny, because men didn't think they could get something out of her, 'cause they knew that she was a lesbian and whatever. She was enduring 10 years of misogyny and homophobia so that someone like me could come around 10 years later and be this voice in the scene.

So it's cool that I'm getting recognition, but the only reason that I'm able to do this now is because so many women just took extreme hate and terrible things behind the scenes before me. And I still get massive flak for it now. The end goal of all of this, and I think if you ask any woman, they'll tell you the same thing: I'm cool taking sticks and stones thrown my way if it means that 10 years down the line there's gonna be another girl that tries to do what I do and gets zero flak for it. Someday I hope we get there.  

What other female artists helped inspire your Scene Queen persona?    

So there's two different versions of this answer. On the pop side, I'm so obsessed with 2000s pop princesses and also just pop icons in the sense of, like, that bimbo aesthetic. I allude a lot to Britney Spears in my music. Also Paris Hilton. Dolly P arton. Jessica Simpson. Women that, like, knew how they were perceived by the media and played into it, but were so the other way. 

Like if you've ever seen the Paris Hilton documentary [2020’s This Is Paris ], she talks about how she put on this voice and everything, because people were just gonna assume that she was dumb anyway. So she completely capitalized on that and was like, "That's fine, I'll take your money and make my career successful. If you're already gonna assume negatively about me, then that's my superpower." Those people really inspired me, and that's very much the aesthetic drive behind my project.  

In the alternative space, there are bands that I grew up with that I was also super into like We Are the In Crowd, VersaEmerge , In This Moment. So there's a lot of women that have helped create the Scene Queen project without knowing.

How much of the album is autobiographical?

It tells the whole tale of coming [to L.A.] and getting my foot in the door, the music industry experience of it all. No one talks about having this second coming of age in your twenties and thirties where you're actually figuring out who you are. I was one of those people that didn't come out, or didn't even fully process that I was queer, until I was in my twenties.

I was just so scared about it 'cause I grew up in a small conservative town. And then I came here and was just like, I need to work in music so bad that I don't even want to think about dating! [Eventually,] I realized I spent all this time trying to be independent and confident. And now I'm going into the dating world.  

Some days you feel like an absolute sex god and the next morning you wake up, and you're on a first date and you have word vomit, and you don't know how to interact with people . So you get a song like "Oral Fixation" where it's just about having absolutely no game when you're dating for the first time. The record really tells the whole story of becoming all of this chaotic mess that is Scene Queen, which is both making fun of itself and hypersexual, and this, and this, and this.  

Read more: 15 LGBTQIA+ Artists Performing At 2024 Summer Festivals  

You play around so much on the album by mixing really serious topics with a sense of humor. How do you balance that in your songwriting?  

I always come into a session with the baseline idea of subject matter and title. This album was a lot easier because it's a concept album in a sense, and I thought of all these [explicit] categories that I could've used… Take "Oral Fixation," for example. That was the first song I wrote for Hot Singles other than the title track. I realized I could write it about word vomit and, like, choking on something, instead. Or, like, the last song of the record is called "Climax" because it's the high point of the record, but it’s actually a really wholesome song.

And then "BDSM" means "Beat Down Slut Metal," but also "Big Dumb Stupid Men." I decided to make that the opening track because I was getting all of these comments that were like, "Scene Queen's a man hater!" for criticizing anything men do in any capacity. This was after my song " Pink Push-Up Bra ," which is so specifically about sexual assault that I was like, "OK, of I can't even criticize people that sexually assault women as being bad, then sure, I’ll put it as the first track." 

What was your motivation behind the hypersexualization in some of the songs?  

I think people don't understand that you can be fully confident with yourself and your sexuality and think you're a good person, and worthy of love and worthy of sexual pleasure, while also not taking yourself too seriously. You can still make fun of yourself but also know your self-worth.

As much as I make these self-deprecating jokes, at the end of the day I refuse to be treated poorly. And I think that comes across in all the songs about sexual pleasure and sexuality. You learn at a young age — especially if you've been closeted for a long time — [the feeling of] I robbed myself of so much joy for so long. I deserve to get off for something. [Laughs.] I deserve a little bit of joy in my life. So I tried to write that.  

"M.I. L.F " is obviously a raunchy, very sexual song. But that song came from spending a summer in Nashville, and I was always just like, "Tennessee: conservative." But there's this huge population of people who have stayed or moved to Tennessee; who grew up listening to country music but then shied away from it because their beliefs no longer resonated with the [genre's] subject matter. So I wanted to have a song for those people who are like, "Yeah, I still wanna go chug a beer and jump off a boat on a lake, but also, I am pro-gay marriage and whatever."

I wrote a song that I knew the people who were country elitists, that would never like me anyway, would be horrified by. And the way I did that was via very explicit lyrics and the most sexual content ever. But it ends up being one of the rowdiest songs in my live set, because so many people truly do want to just put a hat on and do a line dance. They just don't want to be judged when they do it, you know?

So it ended up being this weird statement that I didn't necessarily fully think it would be, but it's one of my favorite parts of my set now. Having that little hoedown for the hoes every week is really fun for me.

I actually just attended this charity event at Stonewall for this organization called Inclusion Tennessee , where I learned that Nashville is the largest city in the country without its own LGBTQ center. Queer people in those types of communities are still fighting constantly for resources and inclusion and acceptance.

It is so wild, too, 'cause there's this discussion around Chappell Roan making that statement at Gov Ball about not performing at the White House, and then going to play in Charlotte, where North Carolina obviously has conservative views as a whole. There are so many pockets of queer communities that are actively seeking out someone that will advocate for them and give them a voice, and I think it is so cool. It's such a privilege to get to be one of those people now.  

This summer, you’ll be co-headlining idobi Radio’s Summer School Tour . What are you looking forward to about that?

That tour, in and of itself, is so cool and exciting for me. Because one, it has the rotating co-headliners, which emphasizes the importance of music discovery. You have to show up at the beginning of the day to see who you want to see. Anyone that grew up with Warped Tour obviously is going to be stoked to have something like that.

But also, there are so many queer people and women and people of color on that tour. The lineup is so diverse and I feel like if that tour had existed in the 2010s and 2000s and ‘90s even, that never would've happened. So the fact that the initial launch looks that way makes me so hopeful for the future of it.  

OK, last two questions: What’s the most memorable Warped Tour set you ever saw? And what are your top 3 "Bimbo" pop songs?  

Most memorable Warped Tour set: I'd probably say the first time I ever crowd-surfed . I think I was, like, 13, it was to the band Sleeping with Sirens, and that was just the pinnacle of, like, " I love alternative music! "

Then as far as the "Bimbo" pop songs, hmm...I have to say " I’m a Slave 4 U " just because that Britney Spears music video is so iconic — the dancing, all of it. We gotta do a Paris Hilton song. It was hard to be in a mall food court in the late 2000s and not be humming " Stars Are Blind ." Yeah, soundtrack to my youth, for sure. And then " 9 to 5 " by Dolly Parton even though that’s country, not pop. Like, how do you not want to trot out there to [sings] , "Hopped out of bed and I stumbled to the kitchen..."? It just gets the bimbo vibes going.

Listen To GRAMMY.com's 2024 Pride Month Playlist Of Rising LGBTQIA+ Artists  

Photo: The Chosunilbo JNS/Imazins via Getty Images

New Music Friday: Listen To New Songs From LISA From Blackpink, Lil Nas X, Kelsea Ballerini, MC Lyte & More

Hot summer days require even hotter tunes. Here are some fresh-out-the-oven songs and albums by Hiatus Kaiyote, Lucky Daye, Headie One, Kaitlin Butts, and more.

We’ve been feeling the heat for a minute now, but summer is finally, officially, upon us.

What do you have on deck to soundtrack it? Perhaps you’re checking out Camila Cabello ’s fourth offering, C,XOXO . Or Jxdn’s expectations-bucking new album, When the Music Stops . And there are so many other worthy candidates for your playlist — from Lupe Fiasco ’s Samurai to Omar Apollo ’s God Said No .

No matter where your stylistic compass points, this Friday release day has got something for you. As you gather your sunscreen and shades, let’s breeze through a cross-section of what’s out there.

LISA — "Rockstar"

K-pop loves its solo releases , showcasing how the various members of a group can shine individually while combining with ecstatic chemistry. Enter LISA, one-fourth of Korean titans BLACKPINK , who's already turned heads with her 2021 debut album, Lalisa .

"Rockstar" is another swing outside her main gig, featuring serrated chiptune production and LISA's commanding rap flow. The gritty, urban, futuristic video is a visual treat, and the chorus's boast of "Lisa, can you teach me Japanese?" is a multilingual flex — as well as a maddeningly unshakeable earworm.

Lil Nas X — "Here We Go!" (from the Netflix film 'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F')

"So excited to release the best song of all time this friday!," Lil Nas X proclaimed on Instagram . (And on a Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack, no less!)

"Here We Go!" comes at an inflection point for the "J Christ" singer: "sorry I've been so scared with my art lately," he added in the same post. "I'm coming around to myself again. I will make you guys very proud."

This pro forma banger certainly inspires pride: tenacious lines like "I'm livin' and livin' I wanna die/ They tryna get even/ I'm beatin' the odds" will get under your skin. As for Beverly Hill Cop: Axel F , the Eddie Murphy joint will whiz to your screen July 3 via Netflix.

Lucky Daye — 'Algorithm'

Lucky Daye picked up a win for Best Progressive Album at the 2022 GRAMMYs , for Table for Two . After a slew of nominations for work with Beyoncé and Mary J. Blige , he's investigating the Algorithm.

The single "HERicane" was just a teaser, with songs like "Blame," featuring Teddy Swims; "Paralyzed," featuring RAYE;" and "Diamonds in Teal" expanding on and honing his soul-funk-R&B vision.

"Don't know pickin' sides/ 'Cause I'm rollin' in desire," he dreamily sings in the gently roiling "Diamonds in Teal." "I don't know which lie's true/ Or maybe I do, or maybe I'm you." It's a suitable mission statement wrapped in a stealthily seductive package.

Hiatus Kaiyote — 'Love Heart Cheat Code'

A jazzy, soulful, psychedelic band of Aussies, Hiatus Kaiyote has been wowing audiences for more than a decade. Whether through sampling or features, they've crossed paths with Drake , Anderson .Paak , and Beyoncé and Jay-Z .

Love Heart Cheat Code builds brilliantly on their last three albums: their 2012 debut Tawk Tomahawk , 2015's Choose Your Weapon, and 2021's Mood Valiant . Tracks like "Telescope," "Everything's Beautiful," and "Make Friends" are burbling brooks of atmosphere, groove and vibe.

Boulevards — 'Carolina Funk: Barn Burner on Tobacco Road'

Any fans of deep, pungent funk grooves should investigate Boulevards immediately. The project of mastermind Jamil Rashad, their new album Carolina Funk: Barn Burner on Tobacco Road tips its hat to yesterday's funk with a contemporary twist, bringing a refreshing spin on the well-trod template of syncopated basslines and stabbing horns.

Across highlights like "Do It Like a Maniac Part 1&2" and "Run & Move," Boulevards shows — once again — that few can nail this gritty sound quite like Rashad and crew.

Headie One — 'The Last One'

British drill-inflected MC Headie One first made a splash overseas with his 2023 debut album, Strength to Strength . Less than a year later, he's returning with The Last One .

Back in 2022, he hinted at the existence of his sophomore album in his non-album track "50s" — "The fans calling for 'Martin's Sofa'/ It might be the first single from my second," he rapped. 

Helmed by that single, The Last One features Potter Payper, Stormzy , Fridayy , Skrillex , and more. The album is a leap forward in terms of production, scale and exploration.

Katlin Butts — 'Roadrunner!'

Any theater kid worth their salt knows at least a few bars from the musical "Oklahoma!"; country sensation Kaitlyn Butts has just unfolded it into an entire album.

"It's a love story but there's also a murder and a little bit of an acid-trippy feel to it at times; it's set in the same place where I come from," she said in a statement, noting she saw "Oklahoma!" with her parents every summer during childhood. "Once I got the idea for this album," she continued, "I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before, and it turned into something that completely encompasses who I am and what I love." 

A laugh riot as well as a colorful, openhearted statement, Roadrunner! does the old Rodgers and Hammerstein chestnut good.

Read more: 5 Female Artists Creating The Future Of Country Music: Jaime Wyatt, Miko Marks & More

Amaarae — 'roses are red, tears are blue — Fountain Baby Extended Play'

Futurist Afropopper Amaarae made a gigantic splash with her second album, 2023's Fountain Baby — even Pitchfork gave it their coveted Best New Music designation.

That lush, enveloping album just got an expansion pack: roses are red, tears are blue — A Fountain Baby Extended Play is a continuation of its predecessor with six new songs. The oceanic "wanted," featuring Naomi Sharon, is a highlight, as is a remix of "Disguise" with 6LACK.

"Ooh, I'll be wanted/ I've been wanted," a pitch-shifted Sharon sings near the end, as if turning over the phrase. "Wanted" is one way to describe Amaraae's position in the music landscape.

Learn more: Meet The Latest Wave Of Rising Afrobeats Stars: AMAARAE, BNXN, Oladapo & More

MC Lyte — "King King" (feat. Queen Latifah)

The 50th anniversary of hip-hop may have come and gone, but hip-hop is forever. Today, legendary hip-hop pioneers MC Lyte and Queen Latifah continue to bear the flame of the genre as an elevating force with "King King," a conscious, uplifting offering.

"This is dedicated to all the kings and all the soon to be kings/ We're counting on you/ We love  you/ This is for you, you and you and you," MC Lyte begins, while Latifah holds it down on the chorus with "This your crown hold it/ Even if it all falls down show it/ You know the world is watching now I know you get tired from keepin' it all together/ We need you."

During Women's History Month in March, MC Lyte released "Woman," the first single from her upcoming album, featuring hip-hop icons Salt (of Salt 'N Pepa), Big Daddy Kane , and R&B singer Raheem DeVaughn . MC Lyte's first new album in nearly a decade drops this summer; keep your eyes and ears peeled.

Learn more: 9 Teen Girls Who Built Hip-Hop: Roxanne Shante, J.J. Fadd, Angie Martinez & More

Latest News & Exclusive Videos

Watch Girl Ultra Share Her Cherished Fender Guitar

Celebrating 30 Years Of Essence Fest: How New Orleans & Multi-Generational, Diasporic Talent Create The "Super Bowl Of Culture"

Watch Tiera Kennedy Perform "I Ain’t A Cowgirl"

Celebrating Missy Elliott: How The Icon Changed The Sound, Look & Language Of Hip-Hop

Photo: Karwai Tang/WireImage

Camila Cabello's Sonic Evolution To 'C, XOXO': How She Went From Pop Princess To Club Star

With her fourth album, 'C, XOXO,' Camila Cabello introduces a new sound inspired by the sweaty dance floors of the Miami club scene. Here's a breakdown of the musical shape-shifting that's led the star to her hyperpop venture.

When Camila Cabello unleashed the singles "I LUV IT" and "HE KNOWS" from her highly anticipated fourth album C, XOXO this past spring , it was obvious that the pop superstar had completely flipped her previous sound on its head. Decidedly hyper-pop, the album is tailor-made for the club, with Cabello saying it's all sonically dedicated to the late-night culture of her home city of Miami.  

While her new sonic direction might be a bit jarring for those who were fans of her previous bubblegum flavors or Latin-inspired tracks, it's not entirely surprising that she's trying something new with this album. Since her 2016 departure from the girl group Fifth Harmony , the singer has been known to take musical chances when it comes to her career. Now, she adds frenetic club tracks to the list. 

From the innocence of her breakthrough to a more grown-up sound and every detour in between, this is how Camila Cabello's artistic voice has evolved through the years.  

Reality Show Breakout: Classic Covers

It may seem hard to believe now, but there was a time when Cabello was just another singing talent vying for her big break when she attended a cattle call audition for "The X Factor."  Cabello's interest in performing actually came as a shock to her parents. "She was so shy, so shy," her mother Sinuhe told the New York Times in 2018 . "We didn't even think music was a possibility for her."

Oddly enough, her successful audition with Aretha Franklin 's soul classic "Chain of Fools" never even aired (the show reportedly couldn't get the rights to the song). Nevertheless, you know the rest: she was grouped together with Ally Brooke, Normani , Dinah Jane, and Lauren Jauregui, and Fifth Harmony was born. The group quickly became known for powerhouse vocals on covers ranging from Elie Goulding's "Anything Could Happen, "  to Cabello belting out solo while performing The Beatles classic "Let It Be" during their stint on the show; the quintet ultimately placed third.  

Girl Group Launching Pad: Party-Friendly Anthems

As part of Fifth Harmony, Cabello's initial sound was decidedly pop-dance songs, perfect for a high school prom — a fitting style for the then teenage star. Songs like their dynamic debut single "Miss Movin' On", the playfully sexy "Work From Home," and horn-tinged "Worth It" cemented them as bona fide pop breakouts. But eventually, Cabello realized that her and her group mates were drifting apart.   

"I started distancing myself from the group vision," she admitted to the Call Me Daddy podcast earlier this year. "It felt like you know they were still really passionate and into that and so, I was just like, 'I'm not happy here anymore, it doesn't feel aligned.'"

With that, Cabello shocked fans when she departed the group in December 2016. "Fifth Harmony wasn't the maximum expression of me individually," she told Seventeen a couple months after her surprise departure, alluding to her shift to more personal songs. "My fans are really going to know me from the music I'm writing. My goal is to be brave and open up my soul."

Solo Stardom: Personal Pop Confections

By the time Cabello's self-titled debut studio album was released in 2018, it was apparent that leaving the group that made her a star would pay off. Her initial forays into solo stardom came in the form of collaborations, first in 2015 with eventual on-and-off flame Shawn Mendes on "I Know What You Did Last Summer," and then with Machine Gun Kelly for 2016's Pop Airplay-topping (and Fastball sampling) "Bad Things." But her 2017 collab hinted that she was destined to be a superstar: "Havana."

Featuring Young Thug , the salsa-inspired song earned Cabello her first No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It also marked a difference from her former bubblegum sound, and proved the Cuba-born star could successfully bridge the gap between mainstream success and her own story. Meanwhile, the single "Never Be The Same" (for which she recruited Frank Dukes , known for his work with Lorde and Post Malone ) proved she could embody a more adult pop sound. 

"I feel like the best way to come up with something new and different is just to be the you - est you possible," Cabello told the New York Time s when the album was released. "If you pull from all the different little parts of yourself, nobody can replicate that."   

Cabello also embodied these hallmarks for her sophomore album, Romance , which featured a heartfelt ode to her dad, "First Man," and several songs inspired by her, well, romance with Mendes. That included "Señorita," which actually featured Mendes; the song quickly became Spotify's biggest streaming song of the summer of 2019. And with a sultry Latin flair, " Señorita " offered another nod to her roots — and the sounds that would soon be the focus of her music.  

Sonic Trip Down South: Latin Roots

With the success of songs like "Havana" and " Señorita " in mind, Cabello made her junior album a full-on salute to her Cuban heritage in the form of Familia . Each track is decidedly Spanglish, from lead single "Bam Bam ," an inspired collaboration with Ed Sheeran (who featured her on his own Latin-inspired track, "South of the Border," in 2019), to "Hasta los Dientes ,"which featured the Argneitian star María Becerra.   

"This [album] has been finding my way back," she explained to GRAMMY.com at the time. "A big part of that is my roots, and my heritage. I want to spend the most time in Latin America and in Mexico because it just makes me feel like myself."   

According to the star, the album bolstered her confidence; in turn, it helped her fully feel free to express herself. "There's no walls of any of that other, like, ego stuff up. So that's why [ Familia ] was the most fun experience, and what I think is my best work so far."  

Read More: How Camila Cabello Found Herself With 'Familia,' An Album That Ties Together Her Latin Roots And "An Unfiltered Me"

Latest Chapter: Hyperpop Diversion

With the first single from her fourth project, "I LUV IT" (featuring Playboy Carti ), it was obvious Cabello was about to embark on yet another complete reconstruction of her sound. The song served as a tantalizing hint that the singer's next album, C, XOXO , ventured in a hyperpop direction. In reality, it's a concept album based on long, late, wild, and sometimes melancholy nights in Miami. Second single, "HE KNOWS" with Lil Nas X , marked further proof.  

"We wanted to see how we could take these cadences that have a certain swagger and contrast it with beautiful music and pretty chords and lush guitar," Cabello told PAPER Magazine of her latest process earlier this year. But while not every song exhibits that oft-discussed Charli XCX -influenced hyperpop sound, her aforementioned lead singles arguably do."We were mixing and matching to find something new and inspiring. If it's a sweet melody, let's make the music scary. If she has a rap flow, let's make the music acoustic."   

The album's tracks also develop with an ominous aura. "Pretty When You Cry," for example, sounds like it's sung while sitting on a sidewalk outside the club one late night with mascara streaking; in the distance the listener hears the warped, low echoes of an inspired sample of Pitbull's "Hotel Room Service." As a result, the music is the starkest contrast yet from her bubblegum past — further proof that Cabello's penchant for genre-swapping has turned into a singular aspect of her superstar career.  

Photo: Ross Marino/Getty Images

7 Reasons Why Prince's 'Purple Rain' Is One Of Music’s Most Influential Albums

In honor of the 40th anniversary of 'Purple Rain,' dig into the ways Prince's magnum opus didn't just solidify him as an icon — it changed the music industry and culture at large.

"I strive for originality in my music," Prince declared in a 1985 interview with MTV. "That was, and will always be the case."   

It was this determination to do things his own inimitable way that birthed the decade's most audacious superstar project: Purple Rain .   

Prior to the album's June 25, 1984 release, Prince had scored some mainstream hits — including "1999" and "Little Red Corvette" — but hadn't fully blossomed into the prolific, world-conquering musical hero he's now immortalized as. Nor did he have acting experience. Yet, Prince somehow managed to convince his management and label into financing a big-screen hybrid of romance, drama and musical accompanied by an equally ambitious pop soundtrack.    

It was an inherently risky career strategy that could have derailed the Purple One's remarkable rise to greatness in one fell swoop. Instead, Purple Rain enjoyed blockbuster success at both the box office and on the charts, with the film grossing more than $68 million worldwide and the album topping the Billboard 200 for a remarkable 24 weeks.    

Initially conceived as a double album featuring protege girl group Apollonia 6 and funk rock associates the Time, the Purple Rain OST worked as an entirely separate entity, too. In fact, it had already sold 2.5 million copies in the States before the movie hit theaters , largely thanks to the immediacy of lead single "When Doves Cry," Prince's first ever Billboard Hot 100 No. 1.    

And a full 40 years on from its release, Purple Rain 's diverse range of power ballads, hard rockers and party anthems still possess the power to stun, whether the phrase "You have to purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka" is familiar or not. Here's a look at why the GRAMMY-winning record — and 2010 GRAMMY Hall of Fame inductee — is regarded as such a trailblazer.

It Hopped Genres Like No Album Before

While the streaming age has encouraged artists and listeners to embrace multiple genres, back in the 1980s, "stay in your lane" was the common mindset. Of course, a musician as versatile and innovative as Prince was never going to adhere to such a restriction.    

The Purple One had already melded pop, soul, R&B, and dance to perfection on predecessor 1999 . But on his magnum opus, the star took his sonic adventurism even further, flirting with neo-psychedelia, heavy metal and gospel on nine tracks which completely eschewed any form of predictability. Even its most mainstream number refused to play by the rules: despite its inherent funkiness, "When Doves Cry" is a rare chart-topper without any bass!   

As you'd expect from such a virtuoso, Prince mastered every musical diversion taken. And the album's 25 million sales worldwide proved that audiences were more than happy to go along for the ride. 

It Championed Female Talent On And Behind The Stage

Although the likes of Jill Jones, Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman had contributed to previous Prince albums, Purple Rain was the first time the Purple One pushed his female musical proteges to the forefront. On "Take Me With U," he shares lead vocals with one of his most famous, Apollonia. On its accompanying tour, he invited Sheila E. to be his opening act. And in something of a rarity even still today, two of the soundtrack's engineers, Susan Rogers and Peggy McCreary, were women.    

Melvoin and Coleman would go on to become artists in their own right as Wendy and Lisa, of course. And Prince would also help to radically transform Sheena Easton from a demure balladeer into a pop vixen; compose hits by the Bangles ("Manic Monday"), Martika ("Love Thy Will Be Done"), and Sinead O'Connor ("Nothing Compares 2 U"); and provide career launchpads for Bria Valente and 3RDEYEGIRL.

It Broke Numerous Records

As well as pushing all kinds of boundaries, Purple Rain also broke all kinds of records, including one at the music industry's most prestigious night of the year. At the 1985 GRAMMY Awards, Prince became the first Black artist ever to win Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, beating the likes of the Cars , Genesis , Van Halen , and Yes in the process. Purple Rain also picked up Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media at the same ceremony, and was nominated in the night's most coveted Category, Album Of The Year.  

Another impressive feat was the one that had only previously been achieved by the Beatles and Elvis Presley . With the same-named movie also hitting the top of the box office chart, Prince became only the third artist in history to score a No. 1 album, film and song in the same calendar year.

It Changed How Albums Were Sold

Although it seems positively chaste compared to the likes of "WAP," "Anaconda," and "My Neck, My Back (Lick It)," Purple Rain 's tale of a "sex fiend" who enjoys pleasuring herself in hotel lobbies was deemed so provocative at the time of release that it inadvertently instigated a political taskforce.  

Appalled by the sexual lyrical content of "Darling Nikki," a track she caught her 11-year-old daughter Karenna listening to, future Second Lady Tipper Gore decided to set up the Parents Music Resource Centre with three other "Washington Wives." The organization subsequently persuaded the record industry and retailers to issue any album containing child-unfriendly material with Parental Advisory stickers. (Another Prince-penned hit, Sheena Easton's "Sugar Walls," was also included alongside "Darling Nikki" in the "Filthy 15" list of songs the PMRC deemed to be the most offensive examples.)

It Paved The Way For The Pop Star Film

Prince was the first pop superstar from the 1980s holy trinity to bridge the gap between Hollywood and MTV, with Purple Rain arriving eight months before Madonna 's star turn in Desperately Seeking Susan and four years before Michael Jackson 's fantastical anthology Moonwalker . And it spawned a whole host of similar vanity projects, too.    

You can trace the roots of everything from Mariah Carey 's Glitter to Eminem 's 8 Mile back to the tale of a troubled musical prodigy — nicknamed The Kid — who finds solace from his abusive home life at Minneapolis' hottest night spot. And while the acting and screenplay were never going to trouble the Academy Awards (as lead actress Apollonia predicted, however, it did pick up Best Score), Purple Rain 's spellbinding onstage performances captures the euphoria of live music better than any other concert film, fictional or real. 

It Helped Redefine Masculinity in Pop

"I'm not a woman, I'm not a man/ I am something that you'll never understand," Prince sings on Purple Rain 's biggest dance floor number "I Would Die 4 U" — one of many occasions in both the album and film that challenged notions of masculinity, gender and sexuality even stronger than the Purple One had before.    

Indeed, although the early '80s was unarguably a boom period for white British pop stars outside the heteronormative norm, it was rarer to find artists of color so willing to embrace such fluidity. Prince, however, had no problem — whether sporting his now-iconic dandy- ish , ruffled white shirt and flamboyant purple jacket combo, or unleashing his impressive array of diva-like shrieks and screams on "Computer Blue" and "The Beautiful Ones." André 3000 , Lil Nas X and Frank Ocean are just a few of the contemporary names who have since felt comfortable enough to express themselves in similarly transgressive fashion. 

It Added To The Great American Songbook

From the apocalyptic rockabilly of "Let's Go Crazy" ("We're all excited/ But we don't know why/ Maybe it's 'cause / We're all gonna die") and messianic new wave of "I Would Die 4 U," to the experimental rock of "Computer Blue" and self-fulfilling prophecy of "Baby, I'm A Star," Purple Rain delights at every musical turn. But it's the title track that continues to resonate the most.   

Following Prince's untimely death in 2016, it was "Purple Rain" — not "1999," not "Kiss," not "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" — that many fans gravitated toward first. Initially conceived as a country duet with Stevie Nicks , the epic power ballad was described by Prince as pertaining "to the end of the world and being with the one you love and letting your faith/ God guide you through the purple rain."   

The superstar acts every inch the preacher on the emotional tour-de-force. And as the final song that Prince ever performed live — on the Atlanta leg of his Piano & A Microphone tour, a week before his untimely passing — closed the curtains on a truly revolutionary career.    

GRAMMY Rewind: Lizzo Thanks Prince For His Influence After "About Damn Time" Wins Record Of The Year In 2023  

• 1 Songbook: How Madonna Became The Queen Of Pop & Reinvention, From Her 'Boy Toy' Era To The Celebration Tour
• 2 Meet Scene Queen, The "Chaotic Mess" Cleaning Up The Alternative Scene
• 3 New Music Friday: Listen To New Songs From LISA From Blackpink, Lil Nas X, Kelsea Ballerini, MC Lyte & More
• 4 Camila Cabello's Sonic Evolution To 'C, XOXO': How She Went From Pop Princess To Club Star
• 5 7 Reasons Why Prince's 'Purple Rain' Is One Of Music’s Most Influential Albums

• Share on Tumblr

Madonna Announced Fall 2008 Tour Dates

Madonna is once again set to "turn the world into a giant dancefloor" with her next tour "Sticky and Sweet" beginning August 28 at the Berlin Olympiastadion. Her tour stretches from Europe to cities all over the US and Canada, as well as Mexico City, through late November. Madonna joined the pop music stage in 1984. Over the years, Madonna has been reinventing herself and is a persona in her own right. Madonna has many talents as a music artist, actor and fashion trendsetter. Madonna's hits include 'Vogue', 'Like A Prayer', 'Holiday', 'Lucky Star', 'Like A Virgin' and just many, many more. Madonna has wrapped 11 multi-platinum albums with more than 200 million records. "Like a Virgin" was one of her earliest and hottest albums which took her to the top of the charts. An icon in music history, Madonna has managed to stay in the limelight for the last two decades.

Madonna 2008 US/Canada Tour Dates 9/7/2008 - Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery 9/9/2008 - Seattle, WA - Moore Theatre 9/10/2008 - Portland, OR - Newmark Theatre 9/12/2008 - Lake Tahoe, NV - Harrah's Casino 9/13/2008 - San Francisco - Palace of Fine Arts 9/14/2008 - Los Angeles, CA - Royce Hall 9/16/2008 - San Diego, CA - Humphreys 9/18/2008 - Phoenix, AZ - The Orpheum Theatre 9/19/2008 - Anaheim, CA - The Grove of Anaheim 9/20/2008 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint 9/22/2008 - Salt Lake City, UT - Depot 9/24/2008 - Denver, CO - Opera House 9/26/2008 - Tulsa, OK - Brady Theatre 9/28/2008 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre 9/29/2008 - St Louis, MO - Pageant 10/1/2008 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues 10/2/2008 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues 10/4/2008 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theatre 10/5/2008 - Indianapolis, IN - Eygptian Theatre 10/7/2008 - Hamilton, ON - Hamilton Place Theatre 10/8/2008 - Toronto, ON - Music Hall 10/10/2008 - Reading, PA - Sovereign PAC 10/11/2008 - Atlantic City, NJ - Xanadu Theatre @ Trump Casino 10/12/2008 - Lebanon, NH - The Lebanon Opera House 10/14/2008 - Northampton, MA - Calvin Theatre 10/15/2008 - Ridgefield, CT - Ridgefield Play House 10/17/2008 - Boston, MA - Berklee Performing Arts 10/18/2008 - Glenside, PA - Keswick Theater 10/19/2008 - New York, NY - Nokia Live

MORE CONCERT NEWS

• Twiztid Heralded Fall 2016 Tour
• Bonnie Raitt Mapped Out 2016 Tour
• Ciara Announced Spring 2016 Tour Dates
• Rihanna is Touring Through North America and Europe in 2016 to Support New Album
• Wolf Alice Unveiled 2016 U.S. Tour
• Alessia Cara Announces Headlining 2016 North American Tour
• Madeon Mapped Out Winter 2016 U.S. Tour
• Dixie Chicks Heralded Summer/Fall 2016 North American Tour
• Oh Wonder Announced Winter 2016 North American Tour
• Lamb of God Plotted out 2016 Tour with Anthrax

CONCERTS IN CITIES

• Indianapolis
• Jacksonville
• Los Angeles
• New York City
• Philadelphia
• San Antonio
• San Francisco

CONCERTS BY GENRE

• Alternative
• Children / Family
• Country / Folk
• Festival / Tour
• Hard Rock / Metal
• Jazz / Blues
• Las Vegas Shows
• R&B / Soul
• Rap / Hip Hop
• Techno / Electronic
• 50s/60s Era

TOP CONCERTS

• Joan Jett And The Blackhearts
• Motley Crue
• The Killers
• My Chemical Romance
• The Fever 333
• Jenny Lewis
• Kenny Chesney
• Eric Church
• Florida Georgia Line

NEWS BY MONTH

• November 2015
• October 2015
• September 2015
• August 2015
• News Archive |
• Concert Tickets |
• Submit News |
• Directory |
• Advertise |

• FINALLY ENOUGH LOVE
• RAY OF LIGHT
• RAISING MALAWI
• Sign up Log in

Madonna Confirms Fall 2008 Tour!

Madonna confirmed that she would go on tour this fall during an interview with Ryan Seacrest this morning. The interview is available for streaming from KiisFM's website. Just click here .

Tour dates and cities to be announced soon so stay tuned!

Latest Stories

News archives.

• February(1)
• December(1)
• September(2)
• February(2)
• September(1)
• September(12)
• October(14)
• November(5)
• November(1)
• February(3)
• September(3)
• November(2)
• December(7)
• September(18)
• October(11)
• November(3)
• January(11)
• February(24)
• September(6)
• November(6)
• December(4)
• February(6)
• December(9)
• January(10)
• November(4)
• February(12)
• February(9)
• September(4)
• February(4)
• December(2)
• January(17)
• February(20)
• November(7)
• December(3)
• January(13)
• February(8)
• October(23)
• November(14)
• December(15)
• November(28)
• December(11)
• February(18)

• Terms and Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
• Concert Tickets

Madonna’s 50 Greatest Songs

By Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Our list of the Madonna ‘s 50 greatest songs is a fitting tribute to the 2008 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, whose gift to songwriting is matched only by her skill for finding the right partners to unlock her creativity: Prince, William Orbit, Diplo, Justin Timberlake and more. The stories behind Madonna’s songs reveal the evolution of the only artist in the world who’s equally at home in the club, in the church and on the catwalk; there are psychosexual dramas, disco reveries, tear-jerking ballads and pop songs that unite the globe – all by an artist who has never risked making the same album twice. “I don’t think about my old stuff,” she told Rolling Stone in 2015. “I just move forward.” Madonna is as restless as she is relentlessly imaginative – and we just can’t look away.

“Die Another Day” (from ‘Die Another Day,’ 2002)

Madonna made a cameo as Pierce Brosnan's saucy fencing instructor in the James Bond flick Die Another Day and recorded its theme song. Madonna and Mirwais brought in French composer Michel Colombier after MGM execs told them to make their demo more in line with the Bond vibe. Colombier went in a "film-score-esque" direction. "Sixty real strings, played live, became audio files in his computer," said Colombier, "chopped like pieces of fabric." It was the biggest Bond theme in ages.

“Act of Contrition” (from ‘Like a Prayer,’ 1989)


The final song on "Like a Prayer" is the perfect way to cap off one of the most Catholic albums ever. Over a searing (uncredited) Prince solo and a backward tape loop of the Andraé Crouch Choir's performance on "Like a Prayer," Madonna recites the Roman Catholic prayer of confession and repentance – which just happened to be in her head at the time. "That was totally conceived of in the studio," she said. "I just started fooling around. Whatever was in my head. It's totally unedited."

“Me Against the Music” (from ‘In the Zone,’ 2003)

Madonna and Britney Spears made history when they kissed at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. But they did more that night than merely swap spit: Spears played the Queen of Pop a new song from her upcoming LP, In the Zone , and Madonna offered to make it a duet. Cowritten by The-Dream and Tricky Stewart, "Me Against the Music" is a propulsive ode to dance-floor revelation with a beloved music video in which the singers tussle and taunt each other with impressive gymnastic moves.

“Bedtime Story” (from ‘Bedtime Stories,’ 1994)

Icelandic pop innovator Björk has long been a Madonna fan. "I'm not going to get into the things she's done for women," Björk told Rolling Stone in 1994. "You'd fall asleep, there are so many." She wasn't sure how to approach her contribution to Bedtime Stories : "I couldn't really picture me doing a song that would suit her. But on second thought, I decided… to write the things I've always wanted to hear her say." What emerged was an atmospheric, house-tinged exploration of feelings so powerful they transcend language – "Traveling, leaving logic and reason," Madonna sings. It helped pave the way for future EDM experiments.

“Papa Don’t Preach” (from ‘True Blue,’ 1986)

"Papa Don't Preach" was the only song on True Blue that Madonna didn't have a significant hand in writing. "When I first heard this song, I thought it was silly," she told The New York Times . "But then I thought, 'Wait a minute, this song is really about a girl…[who] has a very close relationship with her father and wants to maintain that closeness.' To me, it's a celebration of life." Though conservatives tried to grasp onto the song as a pro-life anthem, Madonna was clear it was all about a woman's autonomy. "Ronald Reagan is one papa who shouldn't preach," she told Rolling Stone in 1987. 

“This Used to Be My Playground” (from ‘Barcelona Gold,’ 1992)

Madonna co-starred with Tom Hanks and Rosie O'Donnell in the baseball movie A League of Their Own and penned this darkly sentimental song for its soundtrack. She threw it together in two frenzied days toward the end of the sessions for 1992's Erotica – coming up with the melody by humming over computer-generated chords and rewriting a string arrangement while an orchestra waited patiently in the studio. The song became a huge hit, breaking her tie with Whitney Houston to become the female singer with the most Number One singles at the time.

“Hollywood” (from ‘American Life,’ 2003)

After a pair of well-received albums (1998's Ray of Light and 2000's Music ), 2003's American Life was an artistic and commercial disappointment. Still, nobody could deny the power of "Hollywood," where an acoustic-guitar riff locks into a strict beat as Madonna sings about the pleasures and pains of America's dreamiest city. "Hollywood," Madonna mused on the set of the song's video, is "the city of dreams, the city of distraction, the city of superficiality. It's the place to go get distracted from what's really important in life. And you can lose your memory… You can lose  everything. You can lose yourself."

“Ghosttown” (from ‘Rebel Heart,’ 2015)

This lush standout from Rebel Heart is about sticking with a partner after civilization has fallen apart. "At the end of the day, if we run out of oil and we don't have electricity and we don't have all the modern conveniences, and we have no phones and computers, all we're going to have is each other," Madonna said. "That song's about recognizing that." She wrote the track in three days with a team that included Sean Douglas (the son of actor Michael Keaton), whose work on the 2014 Jason Derulo hit "Talk Dirty" had caught Madonna's ear. "I basically checked it off my life bucket list," Douglas said.

“Bad Girl” (from ‘Erotica,’ 1992)

"Bad Girl" is a somber, guilt-ridden ballad sung from the perspective of a woman pursuing a series of unsatisfying one-night stands: "Drunk by six/ Kissing someone else's lips," she sings. "I'm not happy when I act this way." Cowriter and producer Shep Pettibone later recalled how amazed he was at Madonna's ability to write and record quickly: "Madonna has an incredible mind. She locks the melody into her head and memorizes the words immediately. Madonna's stories were getting a lot more serious and intense, driving the creative direction of the songs into deeply personal territory."

“Everybody” (from ‘Madonna,’ 1983)

When Madonna handed her friend Mark Kamins her cheaply recorded four-song demo one night at New York’s Danceteria, one song immediately grabbed him. “She brought [‘Everybody’] up to the booth,” Kamins recalled. “I listened to it, played it and got a great reaction.” The song ended up getting her a contract with Sire Records. As Sire president Seymour Stein remembered, “I was in the hospital, hooked up to a penicillin drip. I listened to ‘Everybody,’ and I loved it. It was a deal for three singles and an option for albums afterward. I would have gone down to the bank and withdrawn my own money to sign her if I had to.”

“La Isla Bonita” (from ‘True Blue,’ 1986)

"La Isla Bonita" was unlike anything Madonna had recorded before, a Latin-tinged uptempo ballad complete with Spanish guitar, Cuban percussion and lyrics that explored dreams of exotic San Pedro. Madonna wrote the song with Patrick Leonard and Bruce Gaitsch. "She's very good at finding a lyrical theme that fits the mood of the music," Leonard recalled. He originally penned "La Isla Bonita" for Michael Jackson (whom he'd previously worked with on the Jacksons' Victory tour and album). But Jackson didn't like the title, so Leonard tried it out on Madonna, who tailored the lyrics to fit her own idea of "the beauty and mystery of Latin American people." "I don't know where that came from," she told Rolling Stone years later, in reference to the song's specific imagery. "I don't know where San Pedro is. At that point, I wasn't a person who went on holidays to beautiful islands. I may have been on the way to the studio and seen an exit ramp for San Pedro." The video, in which she played a flamenco dancer, was one of her most theatrical Eighties clips, and its drama has impacted many of her inheritors – Lady Gaga famously ripped it off for  her 2009 hit "Alejandro."

“Bitch I’m Madonna” (from ‘Rebel Heart,’ 2015)

Thirteen albums into her career, Madonna issued the ultimate kiss-off: a frantic, grinding jam stocked with tempo changes and attitude for days. Many songs on 2015's Rebel Heart react to ageism and sexism in the music industry. "Women, when they reach a certain age, have accepted that they're not allowed to behave a certain way," she told Rolling Stone . "But I never follow the rules. I never did, and I'm not going to start." Diplo produced the track and Nicki Minaj contributed a biting rap. "It's a back-and-forth until she gets it right," Madonna said of teaming with  Minaj. "It's a total collaboration."

“Keep It Together” (from ‘Like a Prayer,’ 1989)

"Family is everything. Family comes first," Madonna once said. "It's not what I expected it to be, but nothing ever is." 1989's Like a Prayer had heavy meditations on this theme like "Promise to Try" and "Oh Father." This more upbeat track recalls Sly and the Family Stone's "Family Affair" and Sister Sledge's "We Are Family," with Madonna singing, "Brothers and sisters hold the key… Don't forget that your family is gold." She called "Keep It Together" a tribute to Sly, adding, "The overall emotional context of the album is drawn from what I was going through when I was growing up – and I'm still growing up."

“Deeper and Deeper” (from ‘Erotica,’ 1992)

"Deeper and Deeper" is a house-flavored track complete with a reference to Madonna's soon-to-be dance-floor classic "Vogue" – "Let your body move to the music," she sings. "We got to that point, and we're like, 'What the hell. Let's have fun with it,'" producer Shep Pettibone recalled. Pettibone, who also produced "Vogue," wasn't as excited about Madonna's request to throw in a flamenco guitar solo midway through the track but acquiesced to the woman in charge: "I didn't like the idea of taking a Philly house song and putting 'La Isla Bonita' in the middle of it. But that's what she wanted, so that's what she got."

“Hanky Panky” (from ‘I’m Breathless,’ 1990)

On her Blond Ambition Tour in 1990, Madonna said of "Hanky Panky," "You may not know this song, but you know the pleasures of a good spanking." She based this jazzy ode to the rough stuff on a line from Breathless Mahoney, the character she played in the film Dick Tracy ("You don't know if you want to hit me or kiss me"). "Some girls, they like candy, and others, they like to grind," she sang. "I'll settle for the back of your hand somewhere on my behind." For Madonna, the concept was tongue-in-cheek. When some people took her seriously, she shot back, "Try it and I'll knock your fucking head off."

“Lucky Star” (from ‘Madonna,’ 1983)

With its shimmery synth intro and an inspired double-entendre about a lover's "heavenly body," "Lucky Star" makes for the perfect opening track on Madonna's first album. She originally wrote the tune for Mark Kamins – the New York club DJ who produced her first single, "Everybody" – in the hope he'd play it in his sets at Danceteria. After recording an R&B-leaning demo with Reggie Lucas, she turned to Jellybean Benitez for guidance. He in turn polished it off with a funky, jittering guitar line. After MTV put the song's video in rotation, hair ribbons and cut-off gloves became a must-have teenage fashion.

“4 Minutes” (from ‘Hard Candy,’ 2008)

Madonna’s 2008 album Hard Candy  saw her return to the sexually charged pop of her earlier days. After years of working with producers from the world of dance music, she collaborated with R&B and hip-hop stars like Timbaland, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West. “They’re good,” she said, “and I like their shit.” The album’s raucous, Timbaland-helmed lead single paired her alongside Justin Timberlake for a marching-band-led throwdown with an insistent “tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock” refrain. “It’s kind of a funny paradox, like we’re saying, ‘We’re running out of time – people, wake up,'” Madonna said. “‘But if we are going to save the world, can we please have a good time while we’re doing it?'” The singer was focused on raising awareness for children in Malawi, and she clicked with Timberlake when the two started sessions by “talking about something we cared about.” The result: a track that’s half protest song, half party. “I like his phrasing when he writes music,” Madonna said of Timberlake. “I like his approach. He’s playful but at the same time really professional.” Said Timberlake of working with Madonna, “We went down into the valleys together and we came out on top of mountains.”

“True Blue” (from ‘True Blue,’ 1986)


From its quaint shuffle rhythm and its twinkling chimes to its charming video, "True Blue" found Madonna sounding blissfully smitten. At the time, she was. The singer had married Sean Penn the year before, and she named this girl-group-steeped song (and the album it appeared on) after a favorite expression of Penn's. By the end of the Eighties, Madonna would both divorce Penn and stop performing the song in concert, but she still looked back at it fondly; in 1998, when an interviewer asked her what the words "true blue" reminded her of, she answered, "Romance."

“I Deserve It” (from ‘Music,’ 2000)


According to Madonna, "I Deserve It" is a love song, but a lonely one. The curiously earnest Music track couples searching lyrics with acoustic strumming and increasingly dissonant keyboards. "The juxtaposition of the acoustic guitar and then that synth siren sound, to me, that strange combination makes it a little bit uncomfortable," she said. But what makes the tune a standout is Madonna's vocals, which producer Mirwais chose to leave unsullied by digital processing. "At first, I was disturbed because I hadn't done that in a long time," Madonna said. "But then I  started to see the purity of it."

“Gambler” (from ‘Vision Quest,’ 1985)

Madonna recorded two songs for the 1985 flick Vision Quest – "Crazy for You" and this urgent-sounding dance track. She'd written the song herself and recorded it with Jellybean Benitez around the time her debut album was being released. The song's assertive feel jelled well with the movie's theme, especially the story of its hard-to-get heroine (played by Linda Fiorentino). "'The Gambler' is really the girl's point of view, because she's, like, an unstoppable person," Madonna said. "She doesn't really need this guy." Offscreen, it became a Virgin Tour staple despite never being released as a single.

“Take a Bow” (from ‘Bedtime Stories,’ 1994)

Madonna ended Bedtime Stories in grand style with this Shakespeare-quoting ballad, in which she tells a no-good lover, "Take a bow, the night is over/The masquerade is getting older." Madonna wrote the song with Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, then on a roll thanks to R&B hits by TLC and Toni Braxton. "She came to me for lush ballads, so that's where we went," Edmonds recalled years later. "I wasn't so much thinking about the charts. I think I was more in awe of the fact that I was working with Madonna. It was initially surreal. Then you get to know the person a little bit and you can calm down."

“Frozen” (from ‘Ray of Light,’ 1998
)

Cold and cinematic, the electro-inflected ballad "Frozen" was designed to express Madonna's feelings of "retaliation, revenge, hate [and] regret." She had drawn inspiration from the 1990 Debra Winger movie The Sheltering Sky , about a couple attempting to save their marriage during a difficult trip in North Africa. The film informed both the song's love-under-pressure theme and its Moroccan-influenced beats. As she wrote it, Madonna became so entranced that her original demo stretched to 10 minutes. In the video, filmed in California's Mojave Desert, she strove to portray the "embodiment of female angst."

“Cherish” (from ‘Like a Prayer,’ 1989)

"Cherish" is one of Madonna's most optimistic love songs, a tune about a romance inspired by Romeo and Juliet's. By her own account, it came from a pure place. "[I wrote it] in a superhyper-positive state of mind that I knew was not going to last," she said. The tune itself had staying power, making it to Number Two, thanks in part to a sleek, playful video directed by fashion photographer Herb Ritts. The success of "Cherish" surprised Madonna. "The songs that I think are the most retarded songs I've written, like 'Cherish'… end up being the biggest hits,"  she once said.

“Don’t Tell Me” (from ‘Music,’ 2000)

Madonna surprised listeners with this twangy take on electro pop. But the song originated in another genre entirely. "Don't Tell Me" began as a tango written by her brother-in-law, singer-songwriter Joe Henry, that Madonna and French producer Mirwais reworked during sessions in London for Music . The singer says she was initially drawn in by "the sentiment of it, the defiance, the attitude of it – 'Don't tell me to stop,'" she said. "Just loved that." In talking about the differences between his version and hers, Henry said, "I realized that, you know, groove is everything."

“Beautiful Stranger” (from ‘The Spy Who Shagged Me,’ 1999)

In 1993, Madonna told actor Mike Myers, "We should do a remake of Some Like It Hot , only with you and Garth playing the Tony Curtis/Jack Lemmon parts. Sharon Stone should play the Marilyn Monroe part, and I'm gonna play the bandleader." That never came to pass. But Madonna did end up recording a hit for the soundtrack to 1999's Austin Powers sequel, The Spy Who Shagged Me . Madonna and producer William Orbit married the electronica of Ray of Light and Sixties psych-pop. Introducing the video on the U.K. show Top of the Pops , she gave the song a sim ple review: "It's groovy, baby."

“Where’s the Party” (from ‘True Blue,’ 1986)

“I want to free my soul,” Madonna sang on “Where’s the Party,” an ode to weekend good times that recalled the energetic escapism of “Everybody” and “Holiday.” It might’ve seemed a little like a light afterthought on True Blue , amid ambitious songs like “Papa Don’t Preach” and “La Isla Bonita.” But it had a deeper meaning, serving as a veiled response to her mean-spirited press coverage. Speaking with The New York Times around the release of True Blue , she called the song “my ultimate reminder to myself that I want to enjoy life and not let the press get to me, because  every once in a while it does.”

“Physical Attraction” (from ‘Madonna,’ 1983)

This flirty early track offered a subtle suggestion of the more provocative statements she had in store. "Physical Attraction" was the killer B-side to "Burning Up," a Number Three dance hit that promised huge potential for Sire Records' new signee. "Reggie [Lucas] wrote two of the songs: 'Borderline' and 'Physical Attraction,'" recalled Sire's Michael Rosenblatt. "The rest were Madonna songs." Lucas summed up the freedom of those early sessions: "There was no committee rendering judgment from on high," he said, "because she was brand new and frankly nobody cared about her that much."

“Who’s That Girl” (from ‘Who’s That Girl,’ 1987)

When Madonna needed music for her third movie, tentatively titled Slammer , she quickly came up with a hit. “I had this chorus,” co-writer Patrick Leonard recalled. “She went in the back room with a cassette of that. I worked out the rest of the parts and she finished the melody and the lyrics. She said, ‘We’ll call it “Who’s That Girl,” and I think that’s a better title than Slammer , so we’ll change the title of the movie, too.'” Loosely based around her character in Who’s That Girl (“feisty femme” Nikki Finn), the song is a bright dance-popper that fared much better than the lacklus ter film it was tied to.

“Holiday” (from ‘Madonna,’ 1983)

Madonna was nearing the final stages of production on her debut album when Sire Records A&R rep Michael Rosenblatt decided it needed one more surefire pop song. "Something much more uptempo," he recalled. "I needed to get more money to finish the record. So [Sire president] Seymour [Stein] said, 'Take her down to L.A., have her meet the executives at Warner Bros.' Once she got out to L.A., everybody started buzzing." After securing the $10,000 he needed to finance the new track, Rosenblatt returned to New York, where he met with Madonna's co-producers Jellybean Benitez and Reggie Lucas, telling them, "Whoever comes up with an uptempo dance song gets to produce it." Three days later, Benitez brought him "Holiday." Written by Curtis Hudson and Lisa Stevens of the group Pure Energy, and revamped by Benitez and Madonna (who played cowbell on it), "Holiday" was first released as the B-side to a 12-inch version of "Lucky Star," serviced to club DJs. It would soon become Madonna's first Top 20 single. "I knew that as soon as DJs saw John 'Jellybean' Benitez on the 'Holiday' side, that was it," Benitez recalled, "be cause DJs stick together."

“Human Nature” (from ‘Bedtime Stories,’ 1994)

"The song is basically saying, 'Don't put me in a box, don't pin me down, don't tell me what I can and can't say,'" Madonna said of this pointed response to conservative scolds. "It's about breaking out of restraints." The lyrics directly take on the media firestorm Madonna started with her Erotica album and tour and her 1992 photo book, Sex . "Did I say something wrong?/Oops, I didn't know I couldn't talk about sex," she sings matter-of-factly. Musically, the song is a foray into hip-hop and R&B, sampling a jazzy beat from Main Source and biting some vocal phrasing from A Tribe Called Quest's "Electric Relaxation."

“Drowned World/ Substitute for Love” (from ‘Ray of Light,’ 1998)

Between 1994’s Bedtime Stories and 1998’s Ray of Light , Madonna became a mother, giving birth to her daughter Lourdes. She addressed that life-changing moment on Ray of Light ‘s opening track, a ballad exploring epiphanies about fame and family. “I got pregnant, and the whole idea of giving birth and being responsible for another life put me in a different place,” she said in 1998. “People have been obsessed with the idea that I am always reinventing myself, [but] I’d rather think that I’m slowly revealing myself.”

“What It Feels Like for a Girl” (from ‘Music’, 2000)

Guy Ritchie's violent video for this woozy track was Madonna's second clip to be banned by MTV. The song opens with a clip of singer-actress Charlotte Gainsbourg's meditation on gender from the 1993 film The Cement Garden , making Madonna's point crystal-clear. "Our generation has been encouraged to grab life by the balls, be superindependent," Madonna said in 2001, "and I realized that smart, sassy girls who accomplish a lot are really frightening to men… That's also what that song is about: swallowing that bitter pill."

“Angel” (from ‘Like a Virgin,’ 1984)

“I think it’s important to call angels to you to protect you,” Madonna once said. “That’s part of the ritualistic moment. The calling of angels.” That side of Madonna’s Catholicism came out on the third single from Like a Virgin , an ode to a heavenly love “full of wonder and surprise” complete with the sound of her giggling voice on the intro. “Angel” began as a demo written with Stephen Bray. When it was released, Madonna chose not to shoot a video for the song (probably because so many of her other videos were still in heavy rotation at the time), but Sire Records created one by stitching together bits of existing clips

“Justify My Love” (from ‘The Immaculate Collection,’ 1990)

With its spare, submerged groove (based around a Public Enemy sample) and breathless vocal, "Justify My Love" is one of Madonna's most understated hits. The song was written by Lenny Kravitz and Prince-collaborator Ingrid Chavez, who culled most of the original lyrics from a love letter she wrote (but didn't mail) to Kravitz. When MTV banned its dreamy, erotic video, Madonna went on Nightline to explain her intentions. "We're dealing with sexual fantasies," she said. "And being truthful and honest with our partner, and these feelings exist. I'm just dealing with the truth here."

“Open Your Heart” (from ‘True Blue,’ 1986)

"Open Your Heart" was originally a rock tune called "Follow Your Heart" by songwriters Gardner Cole and Peter Rafelson, who intended the song to be recorded by Cyndi Lauper. The Temptations were also in the running to cut the track. "The original didn't fit what Madonna was doing at the time," Cole recalled. But Madonna and Patrick Leonard flipped the arrangement, added a bass line and turned it into a quintessential clipped-beat Eighties dance-pop jam. Hooked to a stunning peep-show-themed video, "Open Your Heart" became Madonna's third Number One single off True Blue .

“Dress You Up” (from ‘Like a Virgin,’ 1984)


The PG-rated fifth hit off of Like a Virgin is a snappy love pledge that might be Nile Rodgers' funkiest production on the album, was mystifyingly flagged, alongside W.A.S.P.'s "Animal (Fuck Like a Beast)," in 1985 by the media watchdog group Parents Music Resource Center in its "Filthy Fifteen." The song became a style anthem for a generation of young Madonna wannabe's. You can see them in the song's video – a live performance from The Virgin Tour – a pop army in lace gloves and shades. As Rodgers wrote in his memoir: "In a low-res world, she was high-definition hyperrealism."

“Promise to Try” (from ‘Like a Prayer,’ 1989)


A piano ballad with a lush string backdrop, Madonna's great tearjerker was written (with help from wingman Patrick Leonard) about her mother, Madonna Fortin Ciccone, who died of breast cancer when her daughter was five years old. "Little girl don't you forget her face/Laughing away your tears/When she was the one who felt all the pain," Madge sings, channeling multiple voices. "It's my father talking to me," she said in 1989, and "it's me talking to me." The song soundtracks Madonna's visit to her mom's grave in Truth or Dare , and remains her most vulnerable emoting on record.

“Material Girl” (from ‘Like a Virgin,’ 1984)

Madonna didn’t write the song and in time didn’t feel it represented her (“I am not a materialistic person…[things] are not mandatory for my happiness,” she told Rolling Stone in 2009). But she liked its gawky swagger, which, combined with producer Nile Rodgers’ clipped, New Wave robo-funk sheen, equaled another major chart hit. “I didn’t think ‘Like a Virgin’ was going to be the song that did it for us,” recalled Rodgers. “I thought it was going to be ‘Material Girl.’ ‘Material Girl’ to me was cool, and to this day what do people call Madonna? They call her the Material Girl. They don’t call her the Virgin.”

“Express Yourself” (from ‘Like a Prayer,’ 1989)

Madonna's great girl-power anthem springboards off the Staple Singers' 1971 "Respect Yourself" into Eighties dancepop heaven. Madonna urges ladies to be more assertive with their men ("If you don't say what you want, then you're not going to get it," she testified). It hit Number Two in the U.S., and resulted in the most expensive music video ever made at the time, directed by a young David Fincher. It's a song so iconic, Lady Gaga basically reupholstered it for "Born This Way." "When I heard [it] on the radio… I said, 'That sounds very familiar,'" Madonna quipped. And no surprise, it sounded just as grand.

“Crazy for You” (from ‘Vision Quest’, 1985)

Madonna's second Number One single was a carbonated ballad with propulsive production by Jellybean Benitez. To some, it was a surprise: Upon hearing she'd be recording it, the song's co-writer John Bettis' response was, "Excuse me? Madonna? Really? Can she sing a song like that?" The single was the highlight of the film Vision Quest , soundtracking high school wrestler Matthew Modine falling for art-girl Linda Fiorentino in a perfect reflection of mainstream America falling for arty-underground club kid Madonna Louise Ciccone. The movie even features Madge belting it out in her first screen appearance.

“Burning Up” (from ‘Madonna’, 1983)

Part of a four-song one fateful New York night, this club banger was re-recorded with producer Reggie Lucas and then remixed by Eighties club genius Jellybean Benitez. The upshot is a freestyle electro-jam spiked with horndog rock guitar. "Burning Up" came with a steamy-stylish video in which Madonna writhes in a short skirt and crucifix earrings on a dark suburban road, and ended up scaling the dance charts. "I knew she was gonna be big," Benitez said. "That her album could go gold. I never thought it could go six-times platinum."

“Music” (from ‘Music’, 2000)

After years spent making albums that bridged boundaries of race, gender and sexual orientation, Madonna finally wrote a tune explicitly devoted to the democratizing power of music itself. But her inspiration for this glitchy disco throwdown didn't come from her early days in New York's wild club scene – it emerged at a Sting concert where fans were well-behaved until the musician played old Police hits. "Everyone was practically holding hands… I mean, it really moved me," she told Rolling Ston e in 2000. "And I thought, 'That's what music does to people.'" The track, propelled by French dance music producer Mirwais' pounding beat, was a Number One smash, and its video (featuring a little-known Sacha Baron Cohen) showed Madonna skillfully uniting the bourgeoisie and the rebel, even as she was five-and-a-half months pregnant.

“Ray of Light” (from ‘Ray of Light,’ 1998)

Before William Orbit and Madonna began collaborating on her 1998 album, Ray of Light , the producer mailed over a DAT with 13 songs, including an interpolation of Clive Maldoon and Dave Curtiss' Seventies psych-folk epic "Sepheryn." Madonna adjusted the lyrics to capture more of a sense of "wonderment," the feeling of "looking at the world finally with your eyes open… A ray of light to me is hope. We are zooming forward, but that doesn't mean you can lose touch with the spiritual side of things." Sonically, the song was more than just a leap into futuristic electronica – its complex breakbeats, clanging guitars and grooved-out organs were topped with Madonna's most powerfully sung vocals to date, the result of vocal training she'd done for her role in the 1996 movie Evita . "I learned how to sing in a way that I never did before, so it really influenced my songwriting," she said. Said Orbit of working on Ray of Light , "Madonna's production involvement was a major factor in this record, and it's something that shouldn't be overlooked."

“Live to Tell” (from ‘True Blue,’ 1986)

"Live to Tell" introduced a new side of Madonna – a moody, confessional ballad, with an unconventional structure and a haunting lyric about a woman living with traumatic secrets she has to hide. "Live to Tell" was unlike anything else she'd written; she composed the lyrics to co-writer Patrick Leonard's track quickly and recorded the vocal in one take. The unorthodox song seemed like commercial suicide when it was released as the lead single from True Blue . But all her risks were validated when it became her third Number One hit. Fans had different interpretations of the chorus: "Hope I live to tell the secret I have learned/ Till then it will burn inside of me." Was it about a breakup? Some kind of sexual abuse? But Madonna wasn't telling. "I could say that 'Live to Tell' was about my childhood, my relationship with my parents, my father and my stepmother. But maybe not. It could be about something in an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel or a story that I heard once. It's true, but it's not necessarily autobiographical."

“Hung Up” (from ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor,’ 2005)

"My first album was a total aerobics record," Madonna declared in 1985. "I make records with aerobics in mind." Twenty years later, she was still on top of the aerobics-disco game – "Hung Up" remains one of her most seductive and surprising hits, a pure-energy workout coming long after the point where most people had begun expecting her to coast. Like the rest of her 2005 album, Confessions on a Dance Floor , "Hung Up" was recorded in the two-room London apartment of producer Stuart Price, reviving the stripped-down electro-sleaze momentum of her earliest records. For the coup de grâce, "Hung Up" samples a long-forgotten synth hook from deep in the ABBA catalog – their 1979 Eurodisco cashin, "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)." Her voice gets looped until she sounds like an out-of-breath party commando. "Time goes by so slowly," Madonna chants over the spedup ticking-clock sound effects – but the whole song is a dance-floor time warp.

“Like a Virgin” (from ‘Like a Virgin,’ 1984)


Even if the word "virgin" is the only sexual reference in the lyrics, "Like a Virgin" still sounds saturated in lust – it's all in the way Madonna sings it over that Nile Rodgers funk throb. The song was written by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly, who were told they might have to change the title to get it recorded. But Madonna loved it. ("They're so geeky, they're cool," she said of the lyrics.) She gave "Like a Virgin" a memorable debut at the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, a moment as indelible as the Beatles on Ed Sullivan – the song is forever linked with the image of Madonna, in a wedding gown, brazenly humping the stage. "I was surprised with how people reacted to 'Like a Virgin,'" Madonna told Rolling Stone in 1987, perhaps a tad disingenuously. "Because when I did the song, to me, I was singing about how something made me feel a certain way – brand-new and fresh – and everyone else interpreted it as, 'I don't want to be a virgin anymore. Fuck my brains out!' That's not what I sang at all."

“Borderline” (from ‘Madonna,’ 1983)

In March 1984, Madonna went with producer Nile Rodgers to see Duran Duran at Madison Square Garden, where she sat in the audience unrecognized. A few months later, she was headlining. "Borderline" was the reason why – the breakthrough hit propelled her from urban-radio contender to pop queen. She made "Borderline" with R&B writer-producer Reggie Lucas while she was apartment-sitting for artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Lucas, a jazz cat who played guitar on Miles Davis' Dark Magus, wasn't fazed by Madonna's boho-punk style. "She wasn't the weirdest person I'd ever met, you know?" he said. "I'd worked with Sun Ra! So after hanging out with the Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Madonna didn't seem particularly avant-garde." "Borderline" mixed up various styles of downtown cool to become Madonna's first Top 10 hit, and its video (an interracial love story filmed in Los Angeles) offered MTV viewers a key lesson in early-Madonna style. For a nightly highlight of her 2008 tour, Madonna picked up an electric guitar to crash out a punk rock version.

“Vogue” (from ‘I’m Breathless,’ 1990)


When the late Lauren Bacall died in 2014, it was a sad day for Madonna fans – Bacall was the last surviving star name-checked in "Vogue." The 1990 smash is Madonna's most audacious manifesto, a roll call of old-school Hollywood glam with lavish house beats that went to Number One in over a dozen countries. She celebrates the politics of dancing, where anyone can become a star just by striking a pose, because "beauty's where you find it." "Vogue" pays tribute to New York's gay ball culture (later famed around the world via the classic 1991 documentary Paris Is Burning ). As she told Rolling Stone years later, "I was going to Sound Factory and checking out these dancers who were all doing this new style of dancing called 'voguing.' And Shep Pettibone, who co-produced 'Vogue' with me, used to DJ there." She didn't soft-pedal the political provocation of such an explicitly pro-queer song in the Reagan-Bush "Silence = Death" years – that autumn she turned "Vogue" into a Rock the Vote ad, with new lyrics: "Dr. King, Malcolm X, freedom of speech is as good as sex."

“Into the Groove” (Non-album single, 1985)


"Into the Groove" is the streetwise beatbox anthem Madonna kept trying to write when she was down and out in New York, the days when she squatted and ate out of garbage cans. As she explained in 1985, "It was the garbage can in the Music Building on Eighth Avenue, where I lived with Steve Bray, the guy I write songs with. He's Useful Male #2 or #3, depending on which article you read." Madonna and Bray – the ex-drummer in her punk band – knocked off "Into the Groove" as an eight-track demo. (Bray later said he came up with the "rib cage" and "skeleton" of the music, with Madonna writing lyrics and adding her own touches – in this case, the song's bridge.) Her movie Desperately Seeking Susan used it for the scene where Madonna hits Danceteria, but then it unexpectedly blew up on the radio. It still sounds like a low-budget demo – those breakbeats, the desperate edge in her voice when she drones, "Now I know you're mine" – but that raw power is what makes it her definitive you-can-dance track. "Into the Groove" has ruled the radio ever since.

“Like a Prayer” (from ‘Like a Prayer,’ 1989)

Ever since her early days, Madonna has been obsessed with the taboo connection between sex and spirituality. She tapped into that idea for her greatest song, the 1989 gospel-disco smash "Like a Prayer." When Madonna testifies, "I'm down on my knees/I wanna take you there," she could be singing about praying or oral sex or – most likely – both. As she told Rolling Stone at the time, "I pray when I'm in trouble or when I'm happy. When I feel any kind of extreme." It wouldn't be Madonna's style to drop such a personal song without a huge scandal to go with it. But even by her standards, "Like a Prayer" stirred up some controversy. The song debuted as a soft-drink ad – except the entire ad campaign was instantly torpedoed once the world got a look at the video. It's a cleavage-and-blasphemy cocktail where Madonna visits a Catholic church, has hot sex with a black-saint statue, dances in front of burning crosses and experiences stigmata. Yet somehow, the video is nowhere near as shocking as the song itself – all of Madonna's musical and emotional extremes, packed into five roof-shaking minutes.

German City Temporarily Renames Itself to Welcome Taylor Swift

• A Real Honor
• By Emily Zemler

This Kinky Queer Rapper Became a Star Overnight. Clueless Republicans Helped

• By Miles Klee

Justin Timberlake's Mugshot Is Now a Work of Art in Hamptons Gallery

Zach bryan, bruce springsteen smooth off the hard edges on new song 'sandpaper'.

• Bryan and the Boss
• By Jon Blistein

Kesha Takes a Pop 'Joyride' as a Free Woman With New Single

• She's Mother
• By Tomás Mier

Most Popular

The ho-hum box office of kevin costner’s ‘horizon’ carries a message: don’t turn movies into television, eddie murphy says elvis presley, michael jackson and prince all serve as "cautionary tales" for him, nicole kidman & keith urban’s daughter sunday is apparently going by a different name, florida's ron desantis says 'sexual' festival caused him to veto $32 m. in arts grants, you might also like, ‘sound of hope: the story of possum trot’ review: inspirational drama looks to faith as a healing force for foster care, shiseido, max mara to ink fragrance license, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, ‘outer range’ canceled at amazon after 2 seasons, nwsl’s wave deny allegations of abusive workplace under jill ellis.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

Verify it's you

Please log in.

Madonna Scores Highest-Grossing Tour of 2024 So Far as Live Music Growth Settles Down

By Steven J. Horowitz

Steven J. Horowitz

Senior Music Writer

• Lucky Daye on His New Album ‘Algorithm,’ Working With Bruno Mars and Saving a Woman’s Life With Raye 22 hours ago
• Heart Postpones Tour Following Lead Singer Ann Wilson’s Cancer Diagnosis 2 days ago
• Childish Gambino Announces Release Date for Final Album ‘Bando Stone & The New World,’ Releases First Single ‘Lithonia’ 2 days ago

Madonna has the highest-grossing worldwide tour of 2024 thus far, according to Pollstar’s mid-year report , thanks to the success of her “Celebration Tour.” With average ticket prices of $208.85, the pop icon had an average gross of $2,794,007 with 13,378 average tickets sold, making for a total of 856,247 in ticket sales across 34 reported shows out of 65 dates.

Related Stories

With a data licensing framework in play, rights holders can embrace ai , ‘ghost cat anzu’ review: made with rotoscope techniques, unusual anime plays like a sardonic relative to ‘spirited away’, popular on variety.

Not all promoters or tours report their numbers, or all of their numbers, to Pollstar, which was acquired by Irving Azoff and Tim Lieweke’s Oak View Group in 2017, but its statistics certainly reveal a large number of trends.

Bad Bunny trails closely behind Madonna with $174.6 million from his “Most Wanted Tour,” while Luis Miguel follows him with $169.4 million, U2 ranks at No. 4 with $135 million from the band’s Sphere residency and Karol G rounds out the top five with $111 million. The top 10 continues with Bruno Mars ($102 million), Coldplay ($100 million), Seventeen ($74 million), Eagles ($69 million) and Nicki Minaj ($66 million).

On a macro scale, overall global gross in 2024 topped $3 billion for the first time, up from $2.83 billion in 2023. Last year had exponential growth over 2022, which touted a global gross of $1.87 billion. Average gross in 2024 was slightly down from last year, with $1.37 million versus $1.47 million, while ticket sales remained nearly the same (24.1 million in 2024 versus 24.3 million in 2023). Average ticket prices increased from $116 to $127 year over year, even though average tickets sold per show dipped from 12,655 to 10,767.

In North America, Bad Bunny topped the total gross tally with $174.6 million. Madonna sits behind him with $148 million, followed by U2 ($135 million), Luis Miguel ($100 million) and Eagles ($69 million). Overall gross in the region totaled $2.33 billion, a boost of 18.7 percent over last year’s $1.96 billion. Total tickets sold was up 17.6 million compared to 2023’s 16.32 million, while average number of tickets sold dipped from 2023’s 9,071 to 8,252.

The report comes amid a year of strong ticket sales contrasted by reports of major artists canceling their tours. In the past few months, the Black Keys nixed their international arena tour , while Jennifer Lopez followed suit in the wake of rebranding her tour from focusing on her new album to a greatest hits show.

More from Variety

Boris becker, arnaud tournant and caroline kluft lead paris olympics 2024 coverage for warner bros. discovery eurosport, live music blues: are black keys, jennifer lopez just the beginning, lana del rey and quavo snuggle up in the countryside for new ‘tough’ music video, alec baldwin wanted to ride a horse, but ‘rust’ safety adviser said no: ‘there was a bit of yelling’, summer movie season testing 3d cinema’s recoverability, paramount stock rises on new skydance merger offer, more from our brands, justin timberlake’s mugshot is now a work of art in hamptons gallery, santa monica is getting gussied up with new luxury hotels. here’s everything we know., lebron james returning to lakers on 2-year deal with player option, the best loofahs and body scrubbers, according to dermatologists, nathan’s famous hot dog eating contest 2024: how to watch the competition online, verify it's you, please log in.

• Statistics Stats
• You are here:
• December 20, 2008 Setlist

Madonna Setlist at Estádio do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil

• Edit setlist songs
• Edit venue & date
• Edit set times
• Add to festival
• Report setlist

Tour: Sticky & Sweet Tour Tour statistics Add setlist

• Song played from tape The Sweet Machine ( video intro with samples of "Manipulated Living" by Michael Andrews, "4 Minutes" and "Give It 2 Me" ) Play Video
• Candy Shop Play Video
• Beat Goes On ( with samples of "And the Beat Goes On" by The Whispers ) Play Video
• Human Nature ( with samples of "Gimme More" by Britney Spears ) Play Video
• Vogue ( with samples of "Give It to Me" by Timbaland and "4 Minutes" ) Play Video
• Song played from tape Die Another Day ( video interlude; with samples from "Planet Rock" and "Looking for the Perfect Beat" by Afrika Bambaa ) Play Video
• Into the Groove Play Video
• Heartbeat Play Video
• Borderline Play Video
• She's Not Me Play Video
• Music ( with samples of "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" by Indeep and "Put Your Hands of 4 Detroit" by Fedde ) Play Video
• Song played from tape Rain / Here Comes the Rain Again ( video interlude; with samples of "Here Comes the Rain Again" by Eurythmics ) Play Video
• Devil Wouldn't Recognize You Play Video
• Spanish Lesson Play Video
• Miles Away Play Video
• La Isla Bonita ( with snippets of "Pala Tute" by Gogol Bordello ) Play Video
• Song played from tape Me darava / Doli doli ( performed by the Kolpakov Trio ) Play Video
• You Must Love Me ( Andrew Lloyd Webber  cover) Play Video
• Song played from tape Get Stupid ( video interlude; with samples of "Give It 2 Me", "4 Minutes", "Voices" and "Beat Goes On" ) Play Video
• 4 Minutes Play Video
• Like a Prayer ( with samples of "Feels Like Home" by Meck ) Play Video
• Ray of Light Play Video
• Express Yourself ( A capella ) Play Video
• Hung Up ( with samples of "4 Minutes" and "A New Level" by Pantera ) Play Video
• Give It 2 Me Play Video

Edits and Comments

19 activities (last edit by event_monkey , 26 Dec 2023, 19:03 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• Beat Goes On
• Devil Wouldn't Recognize You
• Give It 2 Me
• She's Not Me
• Spanish Lesson
• Express Yourself
• Like a Prayer
• Human Nature
• Into the Groove
• Ray of Light
• La Isla Bonita
• You Must Love Me by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Complete Album stats

More from this Artist

• More Setlists
• Artist Statistics
• Add setlist

Related News

Setlist History: Madonna Kicks Off Who's That Girl Tour in 1989

1.6 Million Brazilians Amass for Madonna's Final Celebration Stop

5 Memorable Madonna Moments of her LA Celebration Tour Shows

Madonna Tour-Debuts "Express Yourself" in Boston

Estádio do morumbi.

• Madonna This Setlist Add time Add time
• Paul Oakenfold Add time Add time

Madonna Gig Timeline

• Dec 15 2008 Estádio do Maracanã Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Add time Add time
• Dec 18 2008 Estádio do Morumbi São Paulo, Brazil Add time Add time
• Dec 20 2008 Estádio do Morumbi This Setlist São Paulo, Brazil Add time Add time
• Dec 21 2008 Estádio do Morumbi São Paulo, Brazil Add time Add time
• Jul 04 2009 The O2 Arena London, England Add time Add time

62 people were there

• andersonoyama
• carlitomonteiro
• cathyschoene
• fabioarmani
• fb:530046535
• flaviadurante
• fpellegrinir
• gcarnicelli
• ImAlineAlmeida
• marina_yoshie
• maripaulino_
• maritramontina
• Mirianeschmidt
• pablomiyazawa
• pedroh_freitas
• rafaelmariano
• rafaelmarinelli
• safiraprado
• santana_jonas
• viniciusjunges

Share or embed this setlist

Use this setlist for your event review and get all updates automatically!

<div style="text-align: center;" class="setlistImage"><a href="https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/madonna/2008/estadio-do-morumbi-sao-paulo-brazil-53d6ff09.html" title="Madonna Setlist Estádio do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil 2008, Sticky &amp; Sweet Tour" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.setlist.fm/widgets/setlist-image-v1?id=53d6ff09" alt="Madonna Setlist Estádio do Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil 2008, Sticky &amp; Sweet Tour" style="border: 0;" /></a> <div><a href="https://www.setlist.fm/edit?setlist=53d6ff09&amp;step=song">Edit this setlist</a> | <a href="https://www.setlist.fm/setlists/madonna-bd6bdbe.html">More Madonna setlists</a></div></div>

Last.fm Event Review

[url=https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/madonna/2008/estadio-do-morumbi-sao-paulo-brazil-53d6ff09.html][img]https://www.setlist.fm/widgets/setlist-image-v1?id=53d6ff09[/img][/url] [url=https://www.setlist.fm/edit?setlist=53d6ff09&amp;step=song]Edit this setlist[/url] | [url=https://www.setlist.fm/setlists/madonna-bd6bdbe.html]More Madonna setlists[/url]

Tour Update

Marquee memories: pond.

• Jul 2, 2024
• Jul 1, 2024
• Jun 30, 2024
• Jun 29, 2024
• Jun 28, 2024
• Jun 27, 2024
• FAQ | Help | About
• Terms of Service
• Ad Choices | Privacy Policy
• Feature requests
• Songtexte.com

• Manage Account

The Weeknd Becomes First Canadian Artist With 7 Diamond Certified Singles

Additionally, his "Popular" collaboration with Playboi Carti and Madonna went platinum.

• Share on Facebook
• Share to Flipboard
• Share on Pinterest
• + additional share options added
• Share on Reddit
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on Whats App
• Send an Email
• Print this article
• Post a Comment
• Share on Tumblr

The Weeknd has become the first Canadian artist to achieve seven diamond certified singles, following the RIAA ‘s certification of “Save Your Tears” and “Die For You.” He’s also the fourth overall artist to score seven or more diamond tracks, which marks at least 10 million equivalent units sold.

Trending on Billboard

Madonna, the Weeknd & Playboi Carti Live the Lush Life in ‘Popular’ Video

The song peaked at No. 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 14 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs . With “Popular,” Madonna joined the elite company of artists who have earned Hot 100-charting hits in five distinct decades. Madonna’s most recently released song to reach platinum status was the Justin Timberlake collab “4 Minutes,” which was released in 2008 and certified platinum in June of that year. Also this week, Madonna’s 1986 “Papa Don’t Preach” single was certified platinum.

“We had a different version of this song prior, so I’ve had these vocals for a while and I’ve kind of worked around it and then kind of kept it in the tuck. But now, it was time. And it felt right,” the “Blinding Lights” hitmaker (real name Abel Tesfaye) told Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe in an interview last June. “[Madonna is] the ultimate co-sign for this song, for this album, and for this TV show.”

Tesfaye is one of three artists to have produced seven diamond singles throughout his career alongside Rihanna and Post Malone, the latter of whom holds the record for the most diamond certified singles with nine.

Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox

Want to know what everyone in the music business is talking about?

Get in the know on.

Billboard is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Billboard Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

optional screen reader

Charts expand charts menu.

• Billboard Hot 100™
• Billboard 200™
• Hits Of The World™
• TikTok Billboard Top 50
• Songs Of The Summer
• Song Breaker
• Year-End Charts
• Decade-End Charts

Music Expand music menu

• R&B/Hip-Hop

Videos Expand videos menu

Culture expand culture menu, media expand media menu, business expand business menu.

• Business News
• Record Labels
• View All Pro

Pro Tools Expand pro-tools menu

• Songwriters & Producers
• Artist Index
• Royalty Calculator
• Market Watch
• Industry Events Calendar

Billboard Español Expand billboard-espanol menu

• Cultura y Entretenimiento

Get Up Anthems by Tres Expand get-up-anthems-by-tres menu

Honda music expand honda-music menu.