Madonna’s been releasing music for over 40 years and so far, her career has included 94 singles starting with Everybody in 1982 up to her most recent single Vulgar which came out in 2023.
Of those singles 80 of them have had videos, but only one has achieved the feat of clocking up over a billion streams on YouTube.
You might be surprised by which song has achieved the feat, but we know it’s one of Madonna’s favourites because she almost always includes it in her live shows.
You might think the song with the most views would be her iconic hit Vogue – but you’d be wrong. Her (at the time) record-breaking budget for the video for Express Yourself would also be a contender, it was directed by David Fincher who would go on to become one of Hollywood’s biggest names. But alas no.
Like a Prayer certainly generated a mountain of controversy when it came out in 1989, but that’s not it either. Nor is the video for Justify My Love directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino which was banned off MTV and became the first VHS single release.
The video that’s clocked up over a billion streams is 1987’s La Isla Bonita.
The song was the fifth and final single from the True Blue album which was released the previous year.
The initial composition, written by Bruce Gaitsch was originally offered to Michael Jackson for his Bad album, but Jackson rejected the song. Madonna and collaborator Patrick Leonard reworked the song adding additional lyrics and melodies.
The song is the first in Madonna’s catalogue to use Spanish motifs, something she would return to many times on subsequent albums.
The video was directed by Mary Lambert, who had previously made Madonna’s video for Borderline and Like a Virgin. The clip was shot over three days in Los Angeles and involved over 500 extras.
Actor Benicio del Toro appears in the clip; he plays a teenager sitting on the bonnet of a car. He recalled being paid $150 for his appearance.
The man playing the bongo drums at the beginning of the clip is acclaimed percussionist Paulinho da Costa who performed on many of Madonna’s hits. He’s also on hits by Michael Jackson, Donna Summer, Celine Dion, George Benson, Barbra Streisand, Lionel Ritchie and many others.
