Madonna Louise Ciccone, one of the world’s greatest pop icons, will be celebrated on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds on New Year’s Day with a three hour show (2-5pm), Your Ultimate Madonna Song, featuring the Top 40 favourite songs as voted for by Radio 2 listeners, as well as a new Madonna Collection in BBC Sounds.
The vote was launched on The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Monday 2th November and will close on Friday 8th December at 4pm. Listeners can vote for up to five of their favourite tracks from Madonna’s 61 Top Ten UK hits here and listed below.
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 (00.01).
Scott 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.”
Specials
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). A Mostest production.
Michelle 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.
Artists
Madonna is, without doubt, one of the world’s most successful artists in the history of music. She has spent more than ten years (in accumulated weeks) in the UK Top 40. From when she first played a tiny gig at the Camden Palace in October 1983 to a handful of club goers, followed by her first Top Ten hit with Holiday in January 1984, and in the almost forty years since then she has had 61 Top Ten Hits in the UK, including thirteen number ones. Madonna is also one of the few artists to have ever kept herself off the number one slot, when in 1985 a re-release of her debut chart entry, Holiday (which reached No. 6 in January ‘84) was held at No. 2 as Into The Groove from the film Desperately Seeking Susan took the No. 1 slot.
In previous years following Radio 2 listener votes, Careless Whisper was voted the fan’s favourite George Michael song (2022) and Never Forget was revealed as Radio 2 listeners’ favourite Take That song (2023).
The Madonna song choices to vote for are:
- 4 Minutes/ No. 1 in March 2008 – ft. Justin Timberlake
- American Life/ No. 2 in April 2003
- American Pie/ No. 1 in March 2000
- Angel/ No. 5 in September 1985
- Another Suitcase In Another Hall/ No. 7 in March 1997
- Bad Girl/ No. 10 in March 1993
- Beautiful Stranger/ No. 2 in June 1999
- Bedtime Story/ No. 4 in February 1995
- Borderline/ No. 2 in January 1986
- Causing A Commotion/ No. 4 in September 1987
- Celebration/ No.3 in September 2009
- Cherish/ No. 3 in September 1989
- Crazy For You/ No. 2 in June 1985
- Dear Jessie/ No. 5 in December 1989
- Deeper And Deeper/ No. 6 in December 1992
- Die Another Day/ No. 3 in November 2002
- Don’t Cry For Me Argentina/ No. 3 in December 1996
- Don’t Tell Me/ No.4 in December 2000
- Dress You Up/ No. 5 in December 1985
- Drowned World (Substitute For Love)/ No. 10 in September 1998
- Erotica/ No. 3 October 1992
- Express Yourself/ No. 5 in June 1989
- Fever/ No. 6 in April 1993
- Frozen/ No. 1 in March 1998
- Gambler/ No. 4 in October 1985
- Get Together/ No. 7 in July 2006
- Give It 2 Me/ No. 7 in May 2008
- Hanky Panky/ No. 2 in July 1990
- Holiday/ No. 6 in January 1984
- Hollywood/ No. 2 in July 2003
- Human Nature/ No. 8 in August 1995
- Hung Up/ No. 1 in November 2005
- I’ll Remember/ No. 7 in April 1994
- Into The Groove/ No. 1 in July 1985
- Jump / No.9 November 2006
- Justify My Love/ No. 2 in December 1990
- La Isla Bonita/ No. 1 in April 1987
- Like A Prayer/ No. 1 in March 1989
- Like A Virgin/ No. 3 in November 1984
- Little Star/ No. 6 in December 1998
- Live To Tell/ No. 2 in April 1986
- The Look Of Love/ No. 9 in December 1987
- Material Girl/ No. 3 in March 1985
- Me Against The Music/ No. 2 in November 2003 – Britney Spears ft. Madonna
- Music/ No. 1 in September 2000
- Nothing Really Matters/ No. 7 in March 1999
- Open Your Heart/ No. 4 in December 1986
- Papa Don’t Preach/ No. 1 in June 1986
- The Power Of Good-Bye/ No. 6 in December 1998
- Rain/ No. 7 in July 1993
- Ray Of Light/ No. 2 in May 1998
- Rescue Me/ No. 3 in March 1991
- Secret/ No. 5 in October 1994
- Sorry/ No. 1 in March 2006
- This Used To Be My Playground/ No.3 in July 1992
- True Blue/ No. 1 in October 1986
- Vogue/ No. 1 in April 1990
- What It Feels Like For A Girl/ No. 7 in April 2001
- Who’s That Girl/ No.1 in July 1987
- You Must Love me/ No. 10 in November 1996
- You’ll See/ No. 5 in November 1995
BBC Radio 2 is the UK’s most listened to radio station, with a weekly audience of 13.5 million (RAJAR Q3, 2023). The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show is most listened to breakfast show in the UK with an audience of 6.5 million (RAJAR Q3, 2023).
Get into the groove and click here to vote.
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