
There are no surprises as to what made it on--in fact, it's one of the most legitimate lists ever in terms of "does this count as a hit?" status. What's something of a surprise is that a solid chunk of Madonna's best material is ignored. True fact: The Immaculate Collection and GHv2 already exist to cover much of the material that is again being released for this 2-CD set. But those albums left out a wealth of material as well.
Here's what we're told is going to be on it:
2-CD Edition
CD1: Vogue / Express Yourself / Into the Groove / Papa Don't Preach / La Isla Bonita / Everybody / Lucky Star / Holiday / Like a Virgin / Borderline / Material Girl / Crazy For You / Open Your Heart / Cherish / Like a Prayer / Justify My Love / Deeper and Deeper / Erotica / Rain
CD2: Celebration / Music / Get Together / Frozen / Hung Up / Ray of Light / Beautiful Stranger / Don't Tell Me / Hollywood / Human Nature / Secret / Take a Bow / American Life / Die Another Day / Sorry / 4 Minutes / Give It 2 Me / Revolver
1-CD Edition
Vogue / Express Yourself / Into the Groove / Papa Don't Preach / La Isla Bonita / Lucky Star
Holiday / Like a Virgin / Material Girl / Crazy for You / Like a Prayer / Erotica / Music / Frozen / Hung Up / Ray of Light / Don't Tell Me / Take a Bow / Sorry / 4 Minutes / Celebration
and here's the missing 3rd CD:
- Burning Up
- Angel
- Dress You Up
- Gambler
- True Blue
- Live to Tell (was on Immaculate & Something to Remember)
- Where's the Party (was featured the '87 remix compilation You Can Dance)
- Who's That Girl
- Causing a Commotion
- Keep it Together
- Oh Father (was on Something to Remember as a "best ballad")
- Sooner or Later (won an Oscar!)
- Rescue Me (was on Immaculate but was a new song then, not a hit yet)
- This Used to Be My Playground (was on Something to Remember as a "best ballad")
- Bad Girl
- Fever
- I'll Remember (was on Something to Remember as a "best ballad")
- Bedtime Story (was on GHv2)
- You'll See (was on Something to Remember as a new track)
- You Must Love Me (won an Oscar!)
- The Power of Goodbye
- Drowned World/Substitute for Love (was on GHv2)
Lest it be said I'm nostalgia-centric, how about these post 2000 gems:
- American Pie (gets flack but was fucking huge in 2002)
- Nothing Fails
- Nobody Knows Me
- Miles Away
Just saying: if this is supposed to be the definitive collection and essentially wiping the slate clean from Immaculate and GHv2 and acknowledging that You Can Dance and Something to Remember didn't "count" as best-of's... this album kind of forgets about still some of Madonna's very best material, even while including its equals.