7 Ways Madonna Changed Dance Music

When “Everybody,” Madonna’s debut single, hit in 1982, it had all the makings of an era-specific club classic from a one-hit wonder: robotic electro production, a strained vocal buried in the mix and a chilly hook that would play on dancefloors but stall in malls. It’s a great song, but not the kind of composition, production or performance that would seem to herald a pop star ready, willing and able to conquer the world.

Within the space of a couple years, all that changed. Madonna – a dance student from Michigan who showed up to Manhattan with $35 in her pocket and a lot of moxie – had begun her ascension to Queen of Pop dominance, eventually placing 12 songs atop the Billboard Hot 100 and a boggling 50 No. 1s on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart (a feat that she commemorated with the 2022 compilation Finally Enough Love: 50 Number Ones) over the course of her ongoing career.

In the time since her 1983 self-titled debut album, she’s accomplished a lot – too much to list here. But with Veronica Electronica – the long-shelved, long-desired Ray of Light remix companion album fans have been asking about for years – out now, it’s time to think about the ways in which dance music is different because of Madonna.

As is the case with so many pop icons, Madonna might not have been the first to do it, but she was often the person who pushed it into the mainstream. In the pre-streaming era, musical innovations happening in underground clubs in major metropolises were as mythic as the unicorn for most people; many young ears around the globe were introduced to new sounds in dance thanks to Madonna’s music, particularly via remixes of her hits (on vinyl, cassette or CD maxi-single) that often pushed the listener out of the pop comfort zone.

Plus, in many cases, Madonna and her rotating roster collaborators crafted songs that fans, critics and peers consider to be among the greatest dance songs of all time – whether as Veronica Electronica (M’s Ray of Light alter ego, inspired by her Catholic confirmation name) or one of the many other personas she toyed with over the course of her rich career.

Here are seven ways in which Madonna changed dance music.