#13: MADONNA - MDNA (INTERSCOPE) 

It's not her breakup album (that was Hard Candy). It's not her return to the club (that was Confessions on a Dance Floor). It's not her midlife crisis (that was American Life). Madonna's 12th studio album didn't fit neatly into a box, so too many folks didn't pause to figure it out. Their loss: MDNA is cheeky and glitchy and more fun than a flotilla of Nicki Minajs barking "I'm a business-woman!" If you can't hear Madge winking her way through EDM stunners "Girl Gone Wild" and "Some Girls," or retro bouncers "Give Me All Your Luvin'" and "I'm a Sinner," you're letting your assumptions about the Queen's reign speak louder than her still-solid studio work. C.G.