Madonna – Material Girl

The Hit She Wishes She Never Recorded

Released on January 23, 1985, as the second single from Like a Virgin, Madonna’s “Material Girl” peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, where it spent two weeks blocked by REO Speedwagon and Phil Collins. The song hit number three in the UK, number four in Canada and Australia, and cracked the top five across Europe and Japan. Yet despite becoming one of her signature tracks, Madonna has repeatedly said she regrets recording it. The irony embedded in Peter Brown and Robert Rans’ lyrics about Reagan-era excess was completely lost on the public, and the nickname stuck like glue. Forty years later, she’s still the Material Girl whether she likes it or not.

The single climbed the charts quickly after its late January release, jumping from number forty-three to number five within a month. By March, it settled at number two for two consecutive weeks, unable to dislodge the power ballads dominating early 1985. When it slipped to number three, her next single “Crazy for You” hit number four, giving Madonna two simultaneous top-five hits. The song reached number one on the Hot Dance Club chart but stalled at number forty-nine on the R&B chart. It finished the year at number fifty-eight on Billboard’s year-end tally, with Madonna claiming the title of top pop artist for 1985. The UK certified it platinum in 2023 for over six hundred thousand units moved.

Producer Nile Rodgers believed the song should have been the lead single from Like a Virgin. Fresh off successes with David Bowie and Diana Ross, Rodgers heard something special in Brown and Rans’ demo and fought hard for it. Madonna disagreed, insisting on “Like a Virgin” as the opener, and her instincts proved right when that became her first number one. But Rodgers’ faith in this track wasn’t misplaced. Madonna later admitted that while she didn’t write the song, she connected with its provocative edge. She told Rolling Stone in 2009 that she liked both songs because they were ironic and unlike her actual personality. She wasn’t materialistic, and she definitely wasn’t a virgin. The problem was that nobody understood the joke.

The song was recorded during the summer of 1984 at New York’s Power Station studios with Rodgers overseeing production. His signature Chic-influenced style came through in the synthesizer arrangements and the robotic voice chanting the hook about living in a material world. The track featured infectious new wave energy paired with a disco-funk backbone that made it impossible to ignore on radio. Rodgers crafted a sound that was polished but punchy, sophisticated but accessible. Every element from the drums to the synths was calculated to grab attention and hold it. The production felt expensive, which perfectly matched lyrics celebrating wealth and luxury, even if the intended satire sailed over most listeners’ heads.

Like a Virgin hit number one on the Billboard 200 in February 1985 and spent three weeks at the top. It became the first album by a female artist to sell over five million copies in the United States, eventually earning diamond certification for ten million shipped. The album spawned five hit singles and turned Madonna from a promising newcomer into a global phenomenon. By July, she’d conquered MTV, graced the cover of Time magazine, and established herself as the defining female pop star of the decade. Her appearances in films like Vision Quest and Desperately Seeking Susan that year only amplified her omnipresence. She was everywhere, and “Material Girl” became the shorthand for everything she represented, accurate or not.

The Mary Lambert-directed video shot on January tenth and eleventh at Ren-Mar Studios in Hollywood became an MTV staple. Madonna recreated Marilyn Monroe’s performance from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with pink gowns, diamonds, and male dancers in tuxedos. The video added a twist, showing the character rejecting expensive gifts in favor of daisies and a beat-up truck, emphasizing that she wasn’t actually materialistic. But the public saw what they wanted to see: Madonna dripping in jewels and surrounded by wealth. The video earned her a nickname she’d spend decades trying to shake. More importantly, it was where she met Sean Penn, who visited the set and started a relationship that led to marriage six months later. Their wedding on her birthday in August became another media circus, complete with helicopters drowning out their vows.

Madonna rarely performs “Material Girl” in concert anymore, having included it on only five of her world tours. During the Virgin Tour in 1985, she ended shows by asking audiences if they really thought she was a material girl, stripping off clothes and throwing fake money before being dragged offstage. Later performances grew more elaborate but less frequent. The song appeared on her greatest hits collection The Immaculate Collection but was notably absent from Celebration in 2009, only making the cut for the extended 2022 release. Artists from Britney Spears to the cast of Glee have covered it, and it found new life on TikTok decades later. The nickname became her cross to bear, a brilliant pop confection that defined her against her will.