electronica's eventual pop takeover." One month later, The Guardian listed it as Madonna's fourth best single. Similarly, Entertainment Weekly listed it as her fifth greatest single. The music video received a total of eight MTV Video Music Awards nominations in 1998, eventually winning five; for Video of the Year, Best Female Video, Best Direction, Best Editing and Best Choreography, becoming her most-winning song at the show. It was the first time that the singer won the Video of the Year award; Madonna said she was grateful for MTV's recognition of the clip. At the International Dance Music Awards, it won the trophy for Best Dance Video, and at the Much Music Video Awards, the clip won the Best International Video trophy. Other awards was won at the 1998 Music Video Production Association ceremony, winning the category of Best Pop Video of the Year. The video came atop a ranking of "The Top 10 Videos That Broke The Rules", issued by MTV on the channel's 25th anniversary in August 2006. In 2016, Rolling Stone listed it at position two on their ranking of "Madonna's 20 Greatest Videos" with Bilge Ebiri from the publication calling it a "bold embrace of electronica that got Madonna her due at the VMAs". In September 2022, Pichfork ranked "Ray of Light" as the 55th best song of the 1990's, "a Kabbalah-coded ode to divine femininity with a racing pulse, “Ray of Light” is body music for the embodied consciousness." Live performances In February 1998, Madonna premiered "Ray of Light" during a surprise concert at the Roxy NYC nightclub for promoting the parent album. Three months later she appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and performed it along with album track "Little Star". During the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards Madonna started performing "Shanti/Ashtangi", sporting black hair and wearing an Indian sari. Lenny Kravitz then appeared playing the guitar, which paved way to "Ray of Light". A religious group called the World Vaishnava Association (WVA) claimed that Madonna offended Hindus with the performance by wearing Hinduism symbols on her head. A spokesperson for the association stated that the mark (called an Om) is a symbol of chastity, harmony and purity, and is designed to show "dedication to God". The representative also said that because Madonna simulated a sexual act and wore a see-through tank top onstage while wearing the mark, she offended both Hindus and Yogis. A