What is the Best Lead Single from every album?

[GhostOrchid 702]

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 

[Donna 16,817]

I do consider Live to Tell the 'lead single' since it was intended as a "forthcoming single" for True Blue from the get-go.  Die Another Day less so, as it wasn't intended as the lead single, but only included, no doubt to help the sales of American Life.  As for American Pie, that was only included on certain regions of the Music album, and Madonna never really wanted that song on the Music album. 

However my choice will still remain as "Like A Prayer" as the best lead single released from a Madonna album.

[Aiwa08 16,290]

My favorites: Live to Tell/Like A Prayer/Hung Up

My choice: Hung Up, because I loved Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! since I was a child.

[GhostOrchid 702]

6 minutes ago, McDonna said:

I do consider Live to Tell the 'lead single' since it was intended as a "forthcoming single" from True Blue from the get-go.

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

[androiduser 2,520]

overall, in terms of quality, impact, longevity etc - Like a Prayer

[geert 3,107]

Papa Don't Preach

[Anapausis 5,957]

Favourites: PDP/LAP/Secret/Frozen.

Choice: unarguably the one in bold, again.

[Donna 16,817]

12 minutes ago, GhostOrchid said:

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

But it DID kick off the album promotion.  It was listed on the single sleeve as coming from the "forthcoming" True Blue album.  I specifically recall back in the day when the song and video were played, many DJ's mentioning it was from her forthcoming album at the time. I agree the song was intended for the soundtrack, but she was recording True Blue at the time.  There is no way they were going to leave this off her studio album at the time. Even her record company was hesitant about it kicking off the album, as it was a ballad and they preferred a upbeat song to kick off the album, but Madonna wanted to release this first to coincide with the Soundtrack release as well. In the end, it was a huge success for her.

[Circle Life 474]

Even though "Like A Prayer" is one of my favorite lead singles - specifically my second one -, and I love "Hung Up" and "Papa Don't Preach", I have to admit that "American Life" has always been a special single for me. It could be because of the change it was in her career, a new sound I never imagined for her (or maybe yes), the videoclip,... And, over all, AL is my favorite Madonna album. So it may be the reason why I choose "American Life". Nonetheless, most of the singles are great songs.

[GhostOrchid 702]

1 minute ago, McDonna said:

But it DID kick off the album promotion.  It was listed on the single sleeve as coming from the "forthcoming" True Blue album.  I specifically recall back in the day when the song and video were played, many DJ's mentioning it was from her forthcoming album at the time. I agree the song was intended for the soundtrack, but she was recording True Blue at the time.  There is no way they were going to leave this off her studio album at the time. Even her record company was hesitant about it kicking off the album, as it was a ballad and they preferred a upbeat song to kick off the album.

Sure, "from the forthcoming album" yes and it was included just as advertised. "Included" does not mean lead single.

At that time lead singles were always released 2 weeks prior to the album being released. Up until MDNA, and with the exception of Holiday.

[Donna 16,817]

7 minutes ago, GhostOrchid said:

Sure, "from the forthcoming album" yes and it was included just as advertised. "Included" does not mean lead single.

At that time lead singles were always released 2 weeks prior to the album being released. Up until MDNA, and with the exception of Holiday.

That's not entirely true.  But we'll just have to agree to disagree here.  Live to Tell (for me) is counted as the 'lead single' from True Blue.  It was always intended to be on True Blue once it was recorded.

And Everybody has always been officially known as the lead single to the MADONNA album. And Burning Up has always been considered the 2nd release to her debut album. Just because it was released more than two weeks from an album release, doesn't necessarily mean it should not be considered a lead single.

[GhostOrchid 702]

1 minute ago, McDonna said:

That's not entirely true.  But we'll just have to agree to disagree here.  Live to Tell (for me) is counted as the 'lead single' from True Blue.  It was always intended to be on True Blue once it was recorded.

That statement is completely true, +/- 2 weeks, always. Just enough to get the people warmed up to rush to the stores.

And yes, I agree that it was always intended to be on the True Blue album once it was recorded. I never said it was "eventually" included after the album was finished- it was one of the first songs to be confirmed to be on the tracklist.

But we can agree to disagree on the concept of the lead single.

[Donna 16,817]

On 9/7/2023 at 4:59 PM, GhostOrchid said:

That statement is completely true, +/- 2 weeks, always. Just enough to get the people warmed up to rush to the stores. 

...Up until MDNA,

No, you are incorrect.... Most MADONNA lead singles were released a month or more before the album release.

"Everybody"  was released 9 months before MADONNA

"Vogue" was released two months before I'm Breathless

"Erotica" was released nearly a month before the Erotica album

"Secret" was released a month before Bedtime Story

"Frozen" was released a month before Ray of Light

"Music" was released a month before Music (but this leaked and so both the single and album were pushed up)

"American Life" was released a month before American Life album

"4 Minutes" was released a month before Hard Candy

"Celebration" released more than a month before Celebration

 

 

 

 

[GhostOrchid 702]

1 minute ago, McDonna said:

No, you are incorrect.... Most MADONNA lead singles were released a month or more before the album release.

 

"Vogue" was released two months before I'm Breathless

"Erotica" was released nearly a month before the Erotica album

"Secret" was released a month before Bedtime Story

"Ray of Light" was released a month before Ray of Light

"Music" was released a month before Music (but this leaked and so both the single and album were pushed up)

"American Life" was released a month before American Life album

"4 Minutes" was released a month before Hard Candy

"Celebration" released more than a month before Celebration

 

 

 

 

+/- a few weeks. Okay sure, a month. But you get the idea how promotion works.

Not counting Vogue, that was added to the finished album additionally. 

[Donna 16,817]

6 minutes ago, GhostOrchid said:

+/- a few weeks. Okay sure, a month. But you get the idea how promotion works.

Not counting Vogue, that was added to the finished album additionally. 

The point is; Everybody and Live To Tell are officially considered LEAD singles to their parent albums.  Warner and Madonna both list them as LEAD singles to those albums.  You can't re-write history just because the songs were released more than a month or so before the parent album release.  They specifically chose Live to Tell as the first single to the True Blue album to coincide with the At Close Range soundtrack.

Die Another Day and American Pie are not listed as lead singles, and the latter was only available on the MUSIC album in certain regions and even Madonna didn't want that song on the MUSIC album.

[GhostOrchid 702]

1 minute ago, McDonna said:

The point is; Everybody and Live To Tell are officially considered LEAD singles to their parent albums.  Warner and Madonna both list them as LEAD singles to those albums.  You can't re-write history just because the songs were released more than a month or so before the parent album release.  The specifically chose Live to Tell as the first single to the True Blue album to coincide with the At Close Range soundtrack.

Die Another Day and American Pie are not listed as lead singles, and the latter was only available on the MUSIC album in certain regions and even Madonna didn't want that song on the MUSIC album.

Agree to disagree. 

But if you stick to your logic, you have to count Die Another Day as well. Literally the same situation as Live to Tell.

[Donna 16,817]

27 minutes ago, GhostOrchid said:

Agree to disagree. 

But if you stick to your logic, you have to count Die Another Day as well. Literally the same situation as Live to Tell.

Technically, I would agree, but the fact is; Warner and Madonna doesn't consider Die Another Day as a "lead single".  Warner and Madonna does consider Live to tell and Everybody as "lead singles" though!  

Holiday IS NOT the lead single to the debut album.  Both Everybody and Burning Up were both release prior to the album.  In fact, the album was actually released before Holiday was even released officially as a single.  So that song did not even come before the album to "lead" the album. You're simply re-writing history here!  I'm going by what is official. You are going by some silly notion that lead singles are only considered "lead singles" if they are released a few weeks before the album, which is NOT a fact.

[MikeyK 709]

I agree the True Blue singles can go either way; I consider PDP to be the lead as it was the one that really launched the album release campaign/era and look, and had no prior connections. 

Everybody was NOT a “lead single” under any stretch of the imagination. She didn’t even have an album deal at that point. They didn’t know what they were gonna do w/her yet. That album rollout was wonky but Holiday was what launched the album in the mainstream.

By nowadays standards Everybody and Burning Up would be considered “buzz singles”. Idk why there was a narrative shift in recent years to consider them her first two attempts at hits that flopped. They were 12” singles that were aimed at club goers.

[androiduser 2,520]

1 hour ago, MikeyK said:

By nowadays standards Everybody and Burning Up would be considered “buzz singles”. Idk why there was a narrative shift in recent years to consider them her first two attempts at hits that flopped. They were 12” singles that were aimed at club goers.

I think it's because an album would have been rushed to be released if either of the two had made enough buzz.

[Rebel Hugo 17,113]

How can "Holiday" being considered as the "lead single" of her debut album when the whole album was already released more than 1 month and a half? 💀 So under that logic "Burning Up" can be considered as her "lead single" because by that time Madonna already got hired to Sire Records and her debut album was almost finished. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[Fabiolous 5,512]

5 hours ago, GhostOrchid said:

Agree to disagree. 

But if you stick to your logic, you have to count Die Another Day as well. Literally the same situation as Live to Tell.

I'm sorry, but this makes no sense. Die another day was released more than 6 months before the American life album and it had absolutely no connection to it whatsoever. It was a single to promote a movie, just like American Pie. Several months later Warner decided to add it to the AL album, as it was quite short. It doesn't make it a promotional single of the album. Imagine Madonna released a new album next year and decided to add Vulgar to it. It doesn't make Vulgar a single off the album.

Live to tell was announced as the first single off True blue and promoted as such, while also being linked to the soundtrack of a movie at the same time. Two very different situations.

[Fabiolous 5,512]

Anyway I voted Like a prayer

[MikeyK 709]

3 hours ago, Rebel Hugo said:

How can "Holiday" being considered as the "lead single" of her debut album when the whole album was already released more than 1 month and a half? 💀 So under that logic "Burning Up" can be considered as her "lead single" because by that time Madonna already got hired to Sire Records and her debut album was almost finished. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Holiday was released as a promo 12” w/Lucky Star at the same time as the album to test the waters and see which song had more potential. Holiday got more club airplay so it became the official single pushed to top 40.

That wasn’t entirely uncommon back then. A couple years before, Diana Ross’s Diana was released w/no prior single at all. Her label sent it to clubs to see how it’d do. A month later Upside Down was released as a single bc it got the best response.

[LongIslandTea 1,618]

Once again, IB has been omitted.

[GhostOrchid 702]

7 hours ago, McDonna said:

Technically, I would agree, but the fact is; Warner and Madonna doesn't consider Die Another Day as a "lead single".  Warner and Madonna does consider Live to tell and Everybody as "lead singles" though!  

Holiday IS NOT the lead single to the debut album.  Both Everybody and Burning Up were both release prior to the album.  In fact, the album was actually released before Holiday was even released officially as a single.  So that song did not even come before the album to "lead" the album. You're simply re-writing history here!  I'm going by what is official. You are going by some silly notion that lead singles are only considered "lead singles" if they are released a few weeks before the album, which is NOT a fact.

Show me one piece of evidence where Warner or Madonna stated they consider Live to Tell and Everybody as the "lead singles". And don't say "from the forthcoming album" or similar lines because that doesn't mean anything, it just says the single will be included in the album. Don't even say that the back of True Blue single says - third single from the album because yes, it was the third single released that is included there, to me it doesn't prove my point.

Holiday is the lead single and was released a month after the album due to technicalities, but was in fact there to promote the album kick off.

Everybody was part of a 2 single deal, and had Sire been unhappy with her they would have dropped her without the album. It is a single that was later included on the album.

We are looking at this from different angles, and while I see yours, you're not seeing mine and there's nothing I can do about it.