Editing Like a Virgin (album) (section)

== Legacy ==
{{See also|Cultural impact of Madonna|Madonna wannabe}}

''Like a Virgin'' has been referred to as the album that made Madonna a [[superstar]]. Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote: "Madonna had hits with her first album [...] but she didn't become an icon, until ''Like a Virgin''".<ref name="AllMusicLAV" /> Similarly, Sam Damshenas and Daniel Megarry referred to the album as the one that cemented the singer as a "force to be reckoned with in the world of pop".<ref name="GayTimes" />  This opinion was shared by John Murph, who added that ''Like a Virgin'' allowed Madonna to "create an archetype of pop stardom that the likes of [[Gwen Stefani]], [[Pink (singer)|P!nk]] and [[Lady Gaga]] have followed".<ref name="Tidal" /> To Daniel Garrán from Spanish radio station [[Los 40]], "[''Like a Virgin''] proved [Madonna] was not a [[one-hit wonder]] but a versatile artist capable of cementing her place in the music world [...] pop culture gave in to her charms".<ref name="Los40">{{cite web |last1=Garrán |first1=Daniel |title=''Like a Virgin'', el disco que encumbró a Madonna, cumple 34 años [''Like a Virgin'', the album that introduced Madonna to the world, turns 34] |url=https://los40.com/los40/2018/11/13/los40classic/1542129936_357165.html |publisher=Los 40 |access-date=April 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181223030044/https://los40.com/los40/2018/11/13/los40classic/1542129936_357165.html |archive-date=December 23, 2018 |language=es |date=November 10, 2018}}</ref>

Stephen Holden wrote: "No phenomenon illustrates more pointedly how pop music history seems to run in cycles than the overnight success of Madonna. The month before Christmas [...] Teen-agers were lining up in stores to purchase [''Like a Virgin''] the way their parents had [[Beatlemania|lined up to buy Beatles records in the late 60's]]".<ref name="HoldenNYT" /> With the album, the singer was able to take charge of her career, according to the staff of [[Rhino Entertainment]].<ref name="Rhino">{{cite web |title=November 1984: Madonna Releases the ''Like a Virgin'' album |url=https://www.rhino.com/article/november-1984-madonna-releases-the-like-a-virgin-album |publisher=[[Rhino Entertainment]] |access-date=April 11, 2024 |date=February 9, 2022}}</ref> Chris Smith, author of ''[[101 Albums That Changed Popular Music]]'', where ''Like a Virgin'' was included, added that it helped Madonna "steal the spotlight towards herself. [Asserting] her sexuality as only male rock stars had done before, moving well beyond the limited confines of being a pop artist, to becoming a focal point for nationwide discussions of power relationships in the areas of sex, race, gender, religion, and other divisive social topics".<ref name="smith">{{harvnb|Smith|2009|p=179}}</ref> For ''The Guardian''{{'}}s Caroline Sullivan, Madonna became the "biggest thing to hit pop" since "a woman in control of her sex life and career was such a new idea".<ref name="GuardianLegacy">{{cite web |last1=Sullivan |first1=Caroline |title=Madonna releases ''Like a Virgin'' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/11/madonna-like-a-virgin |work=The Guardian |access-date=April 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030130739/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jun/11/madonna-like-a-virgin |archive-date=October 30, 2013 |date=June 11, 2011}}</ref>

{{Quote box|width=20%|align=left|bgcolor=BlanchedAlmond|quote="[''Like a Virgin''] defined Madonna as the seminal 1980s pop star, as she symbolically entered the culture war debates of the 1980s (sex, feminism, and career women) and helped change a generation of young girls into sexually expressive adults, and alerted woman to the dated ideologies of religion and gender norms".|source=—''[[Out (magazine)|Out]]'' magazine{{'}}s Nathan Smith commenting on ''Like a Virgin'' and its impact.<ref name="OUTLAV">{{cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Nathan |title=Still virginal |url=https://www.out.com/music/2015/3/10/virgin-madonna-30th-anniversary |work=[[Out (magazine)|Out]] |access-date=April 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150312070921/https://www.out.com/music/2015/3/10/virgin-madonna-30th-anniversary |archive-date=March 12, 2015 |date=March 10, 2015}}</ref>}}

According to Santiago Fouz-Hernandez, one of the authors of ''Madonna's Drowned Worlds'', following the album's release and Virgin tour, young girls everywhere started emulating Madonna's style.<ref name=Fouz-Hernandez1>{{harvnb|Fouz-Hernández|Jarman-Ivens|2004|pp=24–25}}</ref> The singer herself recalled that women would show up to the concerts with "flap skirts on and tights cut off below their knees and lace gloves and rosaries and bows in their hair and big hoop earrings. I was like, 'This is insane!'"<ref name=RSInterview /> Madonna look-alike contests were held in shopping malls across the United States; artist [[Andy Warhol]] served as judge at one in New York City.<ref name="Rhino" /> Nathan Smith from ''[[Out (magazine)|Out]]'' magazine wrote that young women idolized the "transformative transgressions of Madonna, a star who wanted to be in control of sexual identity and dictate the terms of her own erotic encounters".<ref name="OUTLAV"/> Smith ultimately concluded that, "[''Like a Virgin''] stands today as a polemic for the reborn woman of the 1980s: empowered, sexually demonstrative, financially independent, and drawing on old antiquated traditions to move ahead in the world".<ref name="OUTLAV"/> Sal Cinquemani placed the record among the "most definitive pop artifacts from the indulgent [[Reagan Era]]".<ref name="SlantLAV" />

''Like a Virgin'' is considered one of the best albums of 1984 and of the 1980s decade.<ref>{{cite web |title=The 10 best albums of 1984 |url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/the-10-best-albums-of-1984/ |work=Slant Magazine |access-date=April 10, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200323202022/https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/the-10-best-albums-of-1984/ |archive-date=March 23, 2020 |date=March 23, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The 200 best albums of the 1980s |url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1980s/?page=5 |website=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |access-date=April 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216210920/https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-albums-of-the-1980s/?page=5 |archive-date=December 16, 2018 |page=5 |date=September 10, 2018}}</ref> In 2017, [[NPR]] named ''Like a Virgin'' one of the greatest albums ever made by a woman, with Alison Fensterstock writing: "All that came with [the album], made it clear that there would never be a pop music landscape without the impact and influence of Madonna again".<ref>{{cite web |title=The 150 Greatest Albums Made By Women |url=https://www.npr.org/2017/07/24/538354622/turning-the-tables-150-greatest-albums-made-by-women-page-9 |publisher=[[NPR]] |access-date=April 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170725113702/https://www.npr.org/2017/07/24/538354622/turning-the-tables-150-greatest-albums-made-by-women-page-9 |archive-date=July 25, 2017 |date=July 24, 2017}}</ref> ''[[Consequence of Sound]]'' considered ''Like a Virgin'' the second best sophomore album of all time, with Michael Roffman saying it "carved out the throne, the crown, and the title that would be Madonna's forever: The [[Honorific nicknames in popular music|Queen of Pop]]".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Roffman |first1=Michael |last2=Melis |first2=Matt |last3=Cosores |first3=Philip |last4=Corcoran |first4=Nina |title=The 10 Greatest sophomore albums of all time |url=https://consequence.net/2017/06/the-10-greatest-sophomore-albums-of-all-time/10/ |website=[[Consequence of Sound]] |access-date=April 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121014953/https://consequence.net/2017/06/the-10-greatest-sophomore-albums-of-all-time/10/ |archive-date=January 21, 2022 |date=June 18, 2017}}</ref> Chuck Arnold, writing for ''Billboard'', concluded that, "Madonna has definitely made better albums than ''Like a Virgin'' — among them, ''[[Like a Prayer (album)|Like a Prayer]]'' [and] ''[[Ray of Light]]'' — but her second LP changed the course of pop history".<ref name="LAVRankedTracks">{{cite magazine |last1=Arnold |first1=Chuck |title=Madonna's ''Like a Virgin'' at 35: All the songs ranked from worst to best |url=https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/madonna-like-a-virgin-songs-ranked-8543122/ |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |access-date=April 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417143649/https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/madonna-like-a-virgin-songs-ranked-8543122/ |archive-date=April 17, 2022 |date=November 12, 2019}}</ref> According to Taraborrelli, "every important artist has at least one album in his or her career whose critical and commercial success becomes the artist's magic moment; for Madonna, ''Like a Virgin'' was just such a defining moment".<ref>{{harvnb|Taraborrelli|2002|p=164}}</ref> Finally, in 2023, ''Like a Virgin'' was selected for preservation in the United States' [[National Recording Registry]] by the [[Library of Congress]] due to it being considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".<ref>{{cite web |title=National Recording Registry inducts music from Madonna, Mariah Carey, Queen Latifah, Daddy Yankee |url=https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/national-recording-registry-inducts-music-from-madonna--mariah-carey--queen-latifah--daddy-yankee/s/5a91b115-3825-4a5f-a702-35940b4de958 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |access-date=April 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412120947/https://newsroom.loc.gov/news/national-recording-registry-inducts-music-from-madonna--mariah-carey--queen-latifah--daddy-yankee/s/5a91b115-3825-4a5f-a702-35940b4de958 |archive-date=April 12, 2023 |date=April 12, 2023}}</ref>