BBC Radio 2 has launched a poll to find listeners’ Ultimate Madonna Song.
The Queen of Pop will be will be celebrated on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds on New Year’s Day with a three hour show (2-5pm) as well as a new Madonna Collection in BBC Sounds. ‘Your Ultimate Madonna Song’ will feature the icon’s Top 40 songs as voted for by Radio 2 listeners.
The vote was launched on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Monday 27th November and will close on Friday 8 December at 4pm. Listeners can vote for up to five of their favourite tracks from Madonna’s 61 Top Ten UK hits.
Scott Mills will host the Top 40 countdown which will feature extraordinary facts, stats and behind the scenes insights in archive interview clips with Madonna herself alongside collaborators including Nile Rodgers and William Orbit. Plus famous fans such as Alesha Dixon, Gabrielle, Louise, Vicky McClure, Mark Owen, Faye Tozer and more describe their love for her. ‘Your Ultimate Madonna Song’ will also be exclusively available on BBC Sounds from Boxing Day.
Mills says: “Madonna has been an incomparable trailblazer since she first donned her lace fingerless gloves in 1983 and burst into the UK charts. What a dream for me to be able to spend three hours counting down Radio 2 listeners’ favourite tracks so please cast your votes now!”
Jeff Smith, Radio 2’s Head of Music, says: “We have all been listening to Madonna songs for the past 40 years, so it’s only right that in the year she performs in the UK to thousands of fans, she is celebrated on Radio 2 for her incredible catalogue of hits that make her a pop icon.”
Two further specials will be broadcast on Radio 2 on New Year’s Day and will be available on BBC Sounds in the Madonna Collection from Boxing Day:
‘Michelle Visage: My Queen – Madonna’ is an hour devoted to the biggest-selling female artist in history and – above all – Michelle’s idol. Michelle will detail when her love for the star started, taking us back to the early days when she performed in the New York clubs. Michelle takes us on a journey over the decades celebrating the music, the videos, the tours, the films, the costumes, the interviews and the defiance – all of which have made Madonna one of the most celebrated and most-talked about women of the modern age. Packed with classic hits, archive interviews and news reports, the show will remind us all why Madonna is The Queen of Pop (Radio 2, 5-6pm, New Year’s Day).
Visage says: “This is a show I’ve wanted to make my entire life, and is a personal and heartfelt love letter to the woman who changed my life… and the world. Her support of the lgbtqia+ community is legendary, and I can’t wait to celebrate her EVERYTHING!”
‘Madonna at the BBC’ features BBC radio and television archive interviews discussing her rise to fame and fortune, her ambition, reinvention and controversies alongside key songs. Madonna remembers her years in the worlds of dance, electronic music and disco, her acting in ‘A League Of Their Own’ and ‘Dick Tracy’ and the furore over her Sex book. Admitting she has an outrageous personality and a bold and confrontational style, listeners will discover how she prepares for tours and recording in the studio. She discusses her feelings for key albums such as ‘Erotica’, ‘Bedtime Stories’, ‘Ray Of Light’ and ‘Rebel Heart’, and there are in depth interviews from her first appearance on Radio 1 (interviewed by Andy Batten Foster) when Holiday had just reached No. 40 in the charts, through to later conversations with Jackie Brambles, Terry Wogan, Zoe Ball, Simon Bates and Jo Whiley amongst others (Radio 2, 6-7pm, New Year’s Day). A BBC Audio production.
The Madonna song choices to vote for are:
4 Minutes/ No. 1 in March 2008 – Madonna ft. Justin Timberlake
American Life/ No. 2 in April 2003 – Madonna
American Pie/ No. 1 in March 2000 – Madonna
Angel/ No. 5 in September 1985 – Madonna
Another Suitcase In Another Hall/ No. 7 in March 1997 – Madonna
Bad Girl/ No. 10 in March 1993 Madonna
Beautiful Stranger/ No. 2 in June 1999 – Madonna
Bedtime Story/ No. 4 in February 1995 – Madonna
Borderline/ No. 2 in January 1986 – Madonna
Causing A Commotion/ No. 4 in September 1987 – Madonna
Celebration/ No.3 in September 2009 – Madonna
Cherish/ No. 3 in September 1989 – Madonna
Crazy For You/ No. 2 in June 1985 – Madonna
Dear Jessie/ No. 5 in December 1989 – Madonna
Deeper And Deeper/ No. 6 in December 1992 – Madonna
Die Another Day/ No. 3 in November 2002 – Madonna
Don’t Cry For Me Argentina/ No. 3 in December 1996 – Madonna
Don’t Tell Me/ No.4 in December 2000 – Madonna
Dress You Up/ No. 5 in December 1985 – Madonna
Drowned World (Substitute For Love)/ No. 10 in September 1998 – Madonna
Erotica/ No. 3 October 1992 – Madonna
Express Yourself/ No. 5 in June 1989 – Madonna
Fever/ No. 6 in April 1993 – Madonna
Frozen/ No. 1 in March 1998 – Madonna
Gambler/ No. 4 in October 1985 – Madonna
Get Together/ No. 7 in July 2006 – Madonna
Give It 2 Me/ No. 7 in May 2008 – Madonna
Hanky Panky/ No. 2 in July 1990 – Madonna
Holiday/ No. 6 in January 1984 – Madonna
Hollywood/ No. 2 in July 2003 – Madonna
Human Nature/ No. 8 in August 1995 – Madonna
Hung Up/ No. 1 in November 2005 – Madonna
I’ll Remember/ No. 7 in April 1994 – Madonna
Into The Groove/ No. 1 in July 1985 – Madonna
Jump / No.9 November 2006 – Madonna
Justify My Love/ No. 2 in December 1990 – Madonna
La Isla Bonita/ No. 1 in April 1987 – Madonna
Like A Prayer/ No. 1 in March 1989 – Madonna
Like A Virgin/ No. 3 in November 1984 – Madonna
Little Star/ No. 6 in December 1998 – Madonna
Live To Tell/ No. 2 in April 1986 – Madonna
The Look Of Love/ No. 9 in December 1987 – Madonna
Material Girl/ No. 3 in March 1985 – Madonna
Me Against The Music/ No. 2 in November 2003 – Britney Spears ft. Madonna
Music/ No. 1 in September 2000 – Madonna
Nothing Really Matters/ No. 7 in March 1999 – Madonna
Open Your Heart/ No. 4 in December 1986 – Madonna
Papa Don’t Preach/ No. 1 in June 1986 – Madonna
The Power Of Good-Bye/ No. 6 in December 1998 – Madonna
Rain/ No. 7 in July 1993 – Madonna
Ray Of Light/ No. 2 in May 1998 – Madonna
Rescue Me/ No. 3 in March 1991 – Madonna
Secret/ No. 5 in October 1994 – Madonna
Sorry/ No. 1 in March 2006 – Madonna
This Used To Be My Playground/ No.3 in July 1992 – Madonna
True Blue/ No. 1 in October 1986 – Madonna
Vogue/ No. 1 in April 1990 – Madonna
What It Feels Like For A Girl/ No. 7 in April 2001 – Madonna
Who’s That Girl/ No.1 in July 1987 – Madonna
You Must Love me/ No. 10 in November 1996 – Madonna
You’ll See/ No. 5 in November 1995 – Madonna
Cast your vote at www.bbc.co.uk/madonnavote before 4pm on Friday 8th December 2023.
