Seeing as how Madonna's pretty certainly had it in the UK as a singles artist I thought it might be a timely exercise, with almost 25 accumulative years' worth of releasing singles under her belt, to see which of those years most accords with DS users' personal tastes.

The list below details each year she released a single, what they were and how many. Post your own favourite years; however many or as little as you like; in order of most preferred first. There are no 'rules' - if you want to pick a year in which there was only one single, above a year in which there were several; or indeed if you hate one particular song in a year but absolutely love the rest, take your pick and rank them as you see fit. Feel free to add as much commentary or narrative as you like

This isn't intended to be a representative poll, or to be scientifically analysed in any way - it's just for a bit of fun and trivia. Perhaps you will see things in a new light in treating each body of songs in this particular way, whilst the rest of us will get a flavour of your personal tastes. The results may well throw up predictable patterns, or even some 'surprises', but then so be it

So here's the running:

1984 – Holiday; Lucky Star; Borderline; Like A Virgin [4]
1985 – Material Girl; Crazy For You; Into The Groove; Holiday; Angel; Gambler; Dress You Up [7]
1986 – Borderline; Live To Tell; Papa Don’t Preach; True Blue; Open Your Heart [5]
1987 – La Isla Bonita; Who’s That Girl; Causing A Commotion; The Look Of Love [4]
1989 – Like A Prayer; Express Yourself; Cherish; Dear Jessie [4]
1990 – Vogue; Hanky Panky; Justify My Love [3]
1991 – Crazy For You (Remix); Rescue Me; Holiday [3]
1992 – This Used To Be My Playground; Erotica; Deeper And Deeper [3]
1993 – Bad Girl; Fever; Rain [3]
1994 – I’ll Remember; Secret; Take A Bow [3]
1995 – Bedtime Story; Human Nature; You’ll See [3]
1996 – Oh Father; One More Chance; You Must Love Me; Don’t Cry For Me Argentina [4]
1997 – Another Suitcase In Another Hall [1]
1998 – Frozen; Ray Of Light; Drowned World (Substitute For Love); The Power Of Goodbye/Little Star [5]
1999 – Nothing Really Matters; Beautiful Stranger [2]
2000 – American Pie; Music; Don’t Tell Me [3]
2001 – What It Feels Like For A Girl [1]
2002 – Die Another Day [1]
2003 – American Life; Hollywood; Love Profusion [3]
2005 – Hung Up [1]
2006 – Sorry; Get Together; Jump [3]
2008 – 4 Minutes; Give It 2 Me; Miles Away [3]
2009 – Celebration; Revolver [2]
2012 – Gimme All Your Luvin’; Masterpiece; Girl Gone Wild [3]

My top 10 would be:

1986 – Borderline; Live To Tell; Papa Don’t Preach; True Blue; Open Your Heart [5]
1984 – Holiday; Lucky Star; Borderline; Like A Virgin [4]
1985 – Material Girl; Crazy For You; Into The Groove; Holiday; Angel; Gambler; Dress You Up [7]
1995 – Bedtime Story; Human Nature; You’ll See [3]
2008 – 4 Minutes; Give It 2 Me; Miles Away [3]
2012 – Gimme All Your Luvin’; Masterpiece; Girl Gone Wild [3]
2005 – Hung Up [1]
1998 – Frozen; Ray Of Light; Drowned World (Substitute For Love); The Power Of Goodbye/Little Star [5]
1987 – La Isla Bonita; Who’s That Girl; Causing A Commotion; The Look Of Love [4]
1996 – Oh Father; One More Chance; You Must Love Me; Don’t Cry For Me Argentina [4]

I know many will cry 'sacrilege' at some of those choices whilst others are left out; but for me, these best represent my favourite selection of songs I like listening to for a four-minute pop burst - not necessarily that I think, for example, that Gimme All Your Luvin' is better than Like A Prayer!! LAP is a masterpiece, but it's one I prefer to be in the mood for, rather than just a casually pleasant throwaway listen.

My money's on 1998, 1989, 1986 and 1985 emerging as by far the most popular

1992 for me - This Used To Be My Playground is one of her best ballads in my opinion, while Deeper And Deeper was a great upbeat number and Erotica is a classic

1984- I bought the album when it hadn't really caught on and loved the sound.

1990- Vogue is Madonna perfection, and she has never quite equalled that masterpiece.

But may I just say that Material Girl, Hanky Panky and America Pie and 4 Minutes are just dire.

You may!! There are no rules, there should be no 'etiquette' or censure for personal preference to be found here. De gustibus non est disputandem!!

I love Hanky Panky myself; I can see why it puts so many off, but I think the actual production technically is top par, and Madonna clearly had fun with it. I like Material Girl but I'm not 'overly' keen on it, and it along with Crazy For You and Angel is what stopped me from ranking 1985 higher. The American Pie cover is probably 'Marmite' to most. 4 Minutes - call me cynical, but I believe it would have sunk without the Justin connection (as much as it pains me to say that), and Give It 2 Me only gained its fortuitous longevity thanks to the Live Earth (or whatever it was) concert. Having said that, I do like to listen to all three Hard Candy single tracks consistently, and so that's why 2008 was in the running for me.

all the 80s years plus

1990
1998
2000
2008
2012

Whoopsie - I forgot to add; count Me Against The Music in with 2003 if you so wish!!

I like 2006, as Sorry, Get Together and Jump are imo 3 brilliant pop songs

This is too hard.

All the 80's probably 1986,1989,1985,1987 then 1984

1998
2006
1990

Special mention 2005 but only Hung Up was released so it's 9th place.

2012 could have been great if only it had been Gang Bang, I'm Addicted, Love Spent and I'm A Sinner. But we got Gimme All Your Luvin', Girl Gone Wild

As much as I LOVE MDNA and have listened to it loads of times, I can't actually 'auralise' Love Spent at this point!

I agree thought that Gang Bang, I'm Addicted and I'm A Sinner (Beautiful Stranger Part 2!!) are great. IMHO Madonna's really back on form with this album, and I hope she continues in this vein. I don't give a flying fig if she never has a top 40 hit again, as long as the music is its own reward

Can I just list the songs and the year they were released? In no order:

Ray of Light (1998) (wasn't this from the Windows XP advert?)
Vogue (1990)
Material Girl (1985)
Into The Groove (1985)
Me Against The Music (2003) (mainly because of Britney)
Hung Up (2005)
Frozen (1998)
Give It 2 Me (2008) (reminds me of doing my Leaving Cert)
La Isla Bonita (1987)
True Blue (1986)
Like A Prayer (1987)
4 Minutes (2008)
Music (2000)
American Life (2003)
American Pie (2000)
Secret (1994)
Like A Virgin (1984)
Girl Gone Wild (2012)

What year was Erotica released?

You can do whatever you like cnbc!! I hope this will be a 'fast and loose' thread; whether people choose to 'conform' to my opening formula or not, hearing about people's Madonna preferences is just great whatever happens

Hard one as most years have highs and lows.

1992,1998, 2000 and 2005 have the most consistent levels of quality for me.

1986 - by far...the rest have one or two amazing monents, but 1986 with Borderline breaking through does it!

1989 of course Like a Prayer one of the greatest moments of her career

That is how i feel really.

I mean i am gutted that the singles choices havent been the best selections for MDNA....but whatever we learn from mistakes.

For me Im Addicted, gang bang, Im A Sinner, Love Spent, Beautiful Killer, Falling Free, and I Dont give A are among the best songs of her career IMO...and i do love Turn Up The Radio, I F-d Up, Some girls and Masterpiece.

Its almost like singles are now irrelevant anyway now...its the album quality and then the imagery, performances, showcase of the era

But i have loved the videos this era.

As for year....i cannot possibly choose one...as i have loved every album/era of her career as they bring back memories, inspire me....brilliant....but i will narrow it down.

1989....Like A Prayer album is my favourite album of all time, phenomenal singles and videos!

1992/1993....The Erotica album and era is beyond fantastic, phenomenal single releases and videos, very overlooked.

2005/2006....The Confessions Era....get together, sorry, hung up are among my favourite songs of all time (the former rarely recieve attention!) the first era i personally followed beginning to end....EPIC!

1998...Ray Of Light...powerful album, powerful singles, fantastic imagery

2000....the Music album, top stuff! fantastic singles again and imagery and a brilliant part 2 of the era!

2012....MDNA, another era i have seen grow beginning to this point, the videos are fantastic showcases of what Madonna is about...Masterpeice is the best single thus far...hopefully Turn Up The Radio will have impact and gang bang and Im Addicted see the light of day released from the album.

2008...Hard Candy album, very overlooked, give it 2 me reminds me of my final year of school, Miles Away was powerful....all round brilliant era.

&
1984/85...the Virgin Era....absolutely love the album and all the singles released...it is old skool and retro in feel an vibe and the messages in the sonvs still ring true today...brilliant

1986 – Borderline; Live To Tell; Papa Don’t Preach; True Blue; Open Your Heart [5]

Ooh! This will require me some proper thinking so will probably have to come back to it again but on the top of my head, I'd say my favorite years are:

- 1998/99 with the release of Frozen/Ray of Light/Power of Goodbye/Substitute for Love/Nothing Really Matters/Beautiful Stranger ( 1998 was such a great year for her and she happened to release 2 of my favorite songs off the ROL album. Beautiful Stranger was such a GOOD surprise)
- 1986/1987 - I loved all the releases from True Blue, apart from Live To tell which was at the time my least favorite of all. I was truly hoping for a release of Where's The Party but I guess she made up for it with its excellent remix from You can Dance. Also, I can imagine some of you will totally disagree but Who's That Girl, Causing A Commotion & Look of Love were (and to me)/ still are, great singles in their own right.

And I know what you Grabid Rannies - I love Hanky Panky for the same reasons and always thought 4 miuntes was more of a Timbaland/Timberlake single than a "true2 Madonna single. Funny enough, I thought Dance 2night would have made better justice to their collaboration as a single had it been released. It's one of the Timabaland-produced tracks of Hard candy I really love (Miles Away aside) as it really twists the Madonna sound in a good way. As for American Pie, I loved it straight away and still think it's a good cover but I can see how marmite it can be!

1998.

1st-1989,2nd-1986,3rd-1985,4th-2006,5th-1998. Best single is 1990's Vogue.

Hard to pick between the different incarnations of Madonna in the 80s, generally, 80s Madonna >>> life. I will go with 89 just because Like A Prayer is one of the best pop songs ever, imo.

Probably 1986. True Blue remains my all-time fave Madonna single. I also longed for La Isla Bonita to be released as a single months before it actually was.