Every Madonna Studio Album, Ranked from Worst to Best (Part 2) [Updated 2026]

The second of three posts where I review every single Madonna record.

My journey through Madonna’s studio discography continues in this post, where I reveal my picks for the albums that fell just outside the Top 5 in my rankings. Strap in, ready your streaming app or browser tab, and let’s take a trip down memory lane together.

Two quick notes before I get started:

First, if you missed Part 1 in my Madonna discography ranking, make sure you get caught up on those reviews. Second, if you haven’t subscribed to this newsletter yet, you’re in for a treat if you do. Multiple posts focused on top-tier music, both past and present, hit your inbox multiple times a week—and it’s only one click away.

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Avanti:

10. Madame X (2019)

Is it too big a leap to call a Madonna record truly experimental? None of her work steps beyond the confines of pop music’s well-defined guardrails, changes in consumer taste notwithstanding. Putting that question aside, if you wanted to qualify “experimental” as integrating new tropes into the Madonna lexicon, you could call Madame X a departure.

Inspired by a trip to Portugal, this album is heavily inspired by popular hip-hop and pop production from Western Europe and South America. Maluma, Swae Lee, and a couple of other notable names lend their expertise, and while pleasant, those songs aren’t novel or unexpected. It’s all fine and occasionally exciting.

There are moments when Madonna reaches for grander statements. The kookiness of “Dark Ballet,” which is exactly what its title would lead you to believe, and the brooding “God Control” showcases her continued willingness to subvert expectations of what a Madonna song can or should sound like.

Unlike her other records released this century, Madame X lacks a strong thematic cohesiveness. Underneath all the vamping, those other releases explore a deceptively complex topic: what it means to be a female pop star in your 50s and 60s, including the romantic ups and downs and the pubic scrutiny that come with it. I never got the sense that Madame X was striving for that level of introspection.

Instead, there’s some semi-empty (read: privileged) political stance-taking. None of that will change your views on certain topics, but they exist, and I’ll give Madonna the benefit of the doubt by calling them earnest. Overall, it was a closer call than maybe I’m describing here, but ultimately, I wanted more from this one.

9. Music (2000)

You know when you walk through a shopping mall and see one of those massive Rube Goldberg machines standing several stories high, all gears and ball bearings and perfect, repeatable precision? When I was a kid, those used to impress me to no end. Even though I could see how everything worked, I marveled at its sheer mechanical brilliance.

This record impresses me in much the same way.

While I’m not sure, it packs as much substance into its running time as her best work, this album has turn-of-the-century style to spare. The eponymous lead single, one of the more effortless-sounding songs she’s ever released, serves as the record’s poster child, full of sharp synths, trippy vocoders, and a groove that feels like an android update of “Into the Groove.”

It’s far from the only highlight, either. “Nobody’s Perfect” is a surprisingly poignant ballad, and the closer “Gone” is more haunting than anything that made the cut for Ray of Light. Despite it not being recognized as such consistently, I’d argue that this LP was the last time Madonna took huge risks in the studio. As a result, it sounds much fresher than most of what she’s released since.

If nothing else, Music proves that, even when she’s at a creative crossroads, she still has the power to dazzle you.

8. Madonna (1983)

Beyond the listening portion, writing a discography ranking requires a lot of reading, mostly to fact-check behind-the-scenes stories and gauge the critical temperature of a particular album at the time. Sometimes, retrospective reviews can be helpful, although those tend to be reappraised through rose-colored glasses more often than not.

While combing through the archives for Madonna’s self-titled 1983 debut, I read a review claiming it “set the standard for dance-pop for the next 20 years.” I’m not entirely sure that’s the case, but it’s definitely one of the most confident, alluring arrival statements in pop music history. You can’t teach this kind of charisma or charm.

You know the hits. “Lucky Star,” “Holiday,” “Borderline”—all rightly considered pop classics. Of those three, “Lucky Star” has aged the best, bolstered by production that, with some light tweaking, could provide the backbone for a Dua Lipa single tomorrow. We’re talking about rock-solid synth-pop that still shimmers beautifully.

But the true standout here is “Burning Up.” It’s an incredibly catchy (if very 80s) cocktail of pop and rock that makes me wish Madonna had attempted a full-on rock or punk album a la Plastic Hearts. One can only hope she has one in her yet.

7. Confessions II (2026)

The problem with separating the first Confessions on a Dance Floor with its sequel is the trap it inherently lays from a legacy perspective. How much of this new record can you judge on its own merits, and how much of its success can be attributed to simply being in the same-ish ballpark as the first one? Think Alien and Aliens. Neither are bad films, but the sequel operates on a completely different level from its predecessor, and, deep down, it sounds like Madonna and Stuart Price know that’s the case. It’s one of several reasons I found myself only partially willing to give myself over to this record. It’s a follow-up that, granted, delivers 70-80% of the same goods as the first one, but that’s both a genuine achievement and an implicit concession. How much staying power it will have as a result remains to be seen.

On the positive side, I can safely say that Price’s production remains extraordinary. Twenty-one years after the original Confessions, he still understands Madonna’s voice and tone and how they wrap themselves around a house beat the way few of her collaborators ever have. he plays a big role in threading her delivery through arrangements that feel simultaneously retro and ultra-modern. The technical chops haven’t faded, and the instincts are still impeccable, even if the nostalgia-maxing wink and nod lurk around every note. The problem is that the songwriting doesn’t rise to that same level. It’s as if Madonna and her team were satisfied with merely recreating the feel of the previous record in this franchise (?), rather than the starting point. You hear it most clearly in a song like “Danceteria,” which is so reliant on the listener’s knowledge of her previous work that I don’t think it would hold together outside of that context.

Ultimately, the record’s peaks justify this rating spot on their own terms. “Bring Your Love” is the most complete contemporary pop cut here, a slow-building track that simpers and sighs with the best of them. Other standouts include “One Step Away” and “Love Sensation.” It’s only when she deviates from the club-ready portion of the tracklist and meanders into downtempo pseudo-soul searching that she loses the momentum she was clearly so laser-focused on drumming up. So, in short, it’s good, occasionally brilliant, but, when set against the rest of the records to come on this list, won’t stand up to that kind of scrutiny. A good problem to have if you’re Madonna, honestly.

6. Rebel Heart (2015)

Time for a (probably) unanswerable question: Is this the best Madonna record no one knows about?

If you’re talking chronologically, Rebel Heart is the most compelling LP she’s put out in over a decade. It’s all the more impressive when you consider how much stylistic ground she covers, courtesy of an impressive gaggle of production talent. Big names like Diplo and Kanye West contribute to some of the record’s most impactful moments, with the latter’s “Illuminati” ranking among his spookiest instrumentals this side of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Other highlights, like “Unapologetic Bitch” and “Body Shop,” work on the strength of Madonna’s sheer will and performance savvy. In lesser hands, they would’ve gone full camp (though I’m sure she wouldn’t have had a huge problem with that, either) and, in terms of a listening experience you can invest in, gone off the rails pretty quickly.

Throughout, there’s some genuine soul-searching going on, too. Madonna keeps circling back to questions of fulfillment and purpose despite owning one of pop music's most enviable success stories. And yet, insecurity lingers around every corner. Will I be loved? Can I still be taken seriously as an artist, a woman, a mother, a human being? Underneath the silliness, she wrestles with it all.

I won’t deny there’s some bloat to contend with here, but Rebel Hearts offers up some of the most affecting work she’s ever done, especially in the LP's first half.

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Which ranking were you the most surprised by? Let me know in the comments.