American singer and songwriter
Madonna has recorded songs for fourteen
studio albums, five
compilation albums, three
soundtrack albums, six
live albums and two
remix albums. She has provided background vocals for songs recorded by other artists, as well as being featured on other artists' tracks.
After being associated with music bands like Breakfast Club and Emmy, Madonna signed with Sire Records (an auxiliary label of Warner Bros. Records) in 1982 and released her self-titled debut album the following year. She is the sole writer of most of the songs on the album. Madonna was followed by Like a Virgin (1984) and True Blue (1986). From then on she released a series of successful albums, including the Grammy Award winners Ray of Light (1998) and Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005). Madonna has collaborated with a number of songwriters throughout her career, with many of the songs reaching number one on the record charts around the world, including "Like a Virgin", "La Isla Bonita", "Like a Prayer", "Vogue", "Take a Bow", "Frozen", "Music", "Hung Up", and "4 Minutes".
Madonna has also recorded songs for film soundtracks, starting in 1985 with the release of "Crazy for You" and "Gambler", both of which she sang as a club singer cameo in the film Vision Quest (1985). She followed it with songs for her major film roles like Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) as well as Who's That Girl (1987). For the 1990 film Dick Tracy, Madonna collaborated with composer Stephen Sondheim to record solo music and duets with actors Warren Beatty and Mandy Patinkin. Madonna recorded her versions of musical numbers composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for the 1996 film Evita, along with actors Antonio Banderas and Jonathan Pryce. Her most recent song recorded for a film was "Masterpiece", for her directorial venture W.E.
Other musical endeavors from Madonna includes poems she recorded for albums, like "Bittersweet" by the Persian poet Rumi, read for contemporary spiritualist Deepak Chopra's album, A Gift Of Love: Music inspired by the Love Poems of Rumi (1998). She also recorded "If You Forget Me" by Pablo Neruda, for the soundtrack of the 1994 film, Il Postino: The Postman. Madonna's recorded music encompasses providing background vocals for other artists like Patrick Hernandez, John Benitez, Nick Kamen, Nick Scotti and Donna De Lory. She has collaborated with singers and musicians including Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, Annie Lennox, Nicki Minaj, M.I.A., Justin Timberlake and Timbaland.
Songs
Tom Kelly wrote "Like a Virgin" with Billy Steinberg.
Prince appeared on "Love Song" from Like a Prayer.
Actor Mandy Patinkin recorded songs with Madonna for the soundtrack album, I'm Breathless.
Stephen Sondheim wrote two songs on I'm Breathless: "Sooner or Later" and "What Can You Loose".
Lenny Kravitz was one of the co-writers on "Justify My Love". He was sued by Ingrid Chavez because her work on the song was uncredited. The matter was settled out-of-court with Chavez gaining a co-writer credit.
"Fever" features uncredited lyrics by singer Peggy Lee.
Madonna recorded background vocals for Donna De Lory's debut single, "Just a Dream".
Babyface co-wrote "Forbidden Love", "Inside of Me" and "Take a Bow" from Bedtime Stories.
Björk co-wrote the track "Bedtime Story" from Bedtime Stories.
Madonna read the poem "If You Forget Me" by Pablo Neruda over music for the soundtrack of the 1994 film, Il Postino: The Postman.
Madonna recorded a cover version of the Marvin Gaye song "I Want You" with English trip-hop group, Massive Attack
Actor Antonio Banderas recorded songs with Madonna for the soundtrack album, Evita.
Actor Jonathan Pryce recorded songs with Madonna for the soundtrack album, Evita.
Madonna read the poem "Bittersweet" by Rumi for spiritualist Deepak Chopra's (pictured) album, A Gift Of Love: Music inspired by the Love Poems of Rumi.
Madonna duetted with Ricky Martin on the song "Be Careful (Cuidado con mi Corazón), from his fifth studio album, Ricky Martin.
Madonna co-wrote four songs with her brother-in-law, Joe Henry, including "Don't Tell Me" from Music.
Guy Sigsworth co-wrote "What It Feels Like for a Girl" from Music and "Nothing Fails" from American Life.
Rapper Missy Elliott appeared on the "Into the Hollywood Groove" remix, which appeared on the Remixed & Revisited album. Both Madonna and Missy Elliott appeared as featured artists on "Levitating" (The Blessed Madonna Remix) by Dua Lipa.
Madonna appeared as a featured artist on Britney Spears' song "Me Against the Music" from Spears' fourth studio album, In the Zone.
A sample from the song "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" by Swedish pop group ABBA was used in Madonna's song "Hung Up" from Confessions on a Dance Floor.
Justin Timberlake was featured on the songs "4 Minutes" and "Dance 2Night" from Hard Candy.
Timbaland also appeared as featured artist on "4 Minutes" and co-write many songs on Hard Candy.
Rapper Lil Wayne collaborated with Madonna on the song "Revolver" from Celebration.
Italian producer Benny Benassi co-wrote a number of songs on MDNA.
Singer M.I.A. appeared as featured artist on the tracks "B-Day Song" and "Give Me All Your Luvin'" from MDNA.
Nicki Minaj appeared on the tracks "Give Me All Your Luvin' and "I Don't Give A" from MDNA and "Bitch I'm Madonna" from Rebel Heart.
Singer Kanye West collaborated with Madonna on "Beat Goes On" from Hard Candy and wrote "Illuminati" from Rebel Heart.
Boxer Mike Tyson was featured on "Iconic" from Rebel Heart.
Rapper Nas appeared on "Veni Vidi Vici" from Rebel Heart.
Diplo co-wrote songs on Rebel Heart with Madonna.
Avicii co-wrote songs on Rebel Heart with Madonna.
Key
‡
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Indicates songs written solely by Madonna
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•
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Indicates song containing non-English lyrics
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†
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Indicates songs covered by Madonna
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#
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Indicates songs with background vocals by Madonna
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See also
For all other songs that Madonna has performed live or used as samples / interludes during her concert tours, please check the below list: