GhostOrchid

Open Your Heart

Bitch I’m Madonna.  This should have been 1st single 

Wow. What a list. Bedtime Story/ Get Together are two of my favorite tracks ever.

ROL.

Deeper and Deeper

This is a really tough one. And an area that she mostly knocked it out of the park with time after time. It's really amazing.
Like a Prayer, Hung Up and Music were such monsters. The one two punch of Secret and the dance mix was so major here in NYC. American Life is brilliant, idc what anyone says. But I have to give it to Frozen. The radio and video premieres were events. The lead up to it after Evita was perfect. It's probably also because I was 14 but it was just magical.
The only ones I don't care for are GMAYL and Medellin. I would be cool with them as album tracks but not first single material for me.

Yeah. It’s like if she was pushed to tack TUTBMP on Erotica or I’ll Remember on Bedtime Stories.
I know Live to Tell was always intended to be on True Blue. I know she herself initially said the album’s title was LTT. In my mind I’ll always associate it w/the above mentioned soundtrack songs that were released shortly before an album; it just got included on said album like DAD.
Maybe it’s bc she slightly changed her look again just before the album and the PDP/True Blue album art/videos/photo shoots etc seem so cohesive. LTT feels like a prelude to me. 🤷‍♂️

Like a Prayer for me.

Album and single releases for the last decade and a half, especially the last 5 years, are a completely different beast. That’s why I didn’t touch anything after Hard Candy.

It doesn’t, necessarily. That’s what some of us are getting at. That’s why they didn’t call it “best *first* single”.
With some releases it’s very obvious what the “lead” is- LAV, LAP,  Erotica, Secret, Frozen, Music, HU, 4M.
Some album rollouts less so. That’s why some of us think Holiday, PDP,  AL belong with those instead of Everybody, LTT, DAD.

I love how anal people get about semantics and the indignant insistence that “lead” MUST = very first. 🤣🤣🤣
I like looking at it in a more abstract sense, and seeing PDP, Holiday, American Life, etc, as the album launchers. Idk what the correct verbiage should be, but I absolutely understand @GhostOrchid‘s point.

U know some Bryan Ferry fans slag of his Bête Noire record as  ''a Madonna album''.

In many ways Live To Tell is one of her most important singles.

Not for me. Yes, I know why fans think that Like A Prayer is the one, and please don't misunderstand me, I love the song (especially the 7’’ version and the 7’’ dance version). But in my opinion she has at least twenty better songs. Anyway I don’t want to debate about "Like A Prayer" because it’s a lost battle.

"Like A Prayer", simply, have it all:
- A killer song, in general
- A killer chorus
- A killer vocal (and it's the original demo vocal!!!)
- A killer controversial video
- A killer middle 8
- A whole narrative around it (Pepsi, the Vatican, etc.)
- A Madonna classic loved by the GP

It's the one.

Oh, you are a man without fear.... (I agree with you a little bit).

and i thought deeper and deeper was the first single.... never saw the erotica video until the 2010s 
 

One could argue that Everybody, Live to Tell, American Pie or Die Another Day should be included instead, but I went with the logic of which single kicked off the album promotion cycle.
Me: Papa Don't Preach
 
EDIT: The reason I put the above disclaimer was to acknowledge that other people might feel differently about what a lead single is (notice that I didn't write First), and that my point of view was purely from the marketing / album promotion point of view. This is MY opinion on the topic, but if you think that my choice of lead singles is incorrect, feel free to start your own poll on the same topic. Thank you 

They did make enough buzz, for an unknown artist. They were targeting clubs and that's what they achieved, they were massive club hits - No.3 in the whole country. Not bad for an underground NYC-focused girl on a minor, new wave label. The reason why she got the album deal one month after Everybody was released was because it was successful. As soon as it was evident that Everybody is doing really well in the club charts they offered her a 2-album deal.
People look at Everybody and Burning Up as if they are some kind of flops, only because they are seeing from the perspective of the mega star Madonna. No one sees that they are successful first steps.

Well the original idea for Live To Tell when Pat Leonard asked Madonna to sing some vocals on his demo for the soundtrack he was working on, and then ended being used on At Close Range, was to be a just that- a soundtrack single. As soon as it was finished it was decided to be included on the album but not as something that would kick off the album promotion

Like a Prayer 

My vote Papa Don't Preach
song/video/look
confirming again and again that she rules the world!!

Express Yourself

They're all great except Give It 2 Me (hate it) and Girl Gone Wild (not a big fan)
I voted Material Girl but all the other second singles wow

Drowned World / Substitute For Love
and
Lucky Star/Open Your Heart/Cherish/Bedtime Story/Nothing Fails/Get Together/Miles Away
 

Open Your Heart.