1997–2002: Ray of Light, Music and Drowned World Tour

After Lourdes' birth Madonna became involved in Eastern mysticism and Kabbalah. Her seventh studio album Ray of Light reflected this change in her perception and image. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. Ray of Light became one of Madonna's most critically acclaimed album and was listed as one of the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Slant Magazine described the album as "one of the great pop masterpieces of the '90s". Ray of Light was honored with four Grammy Awards and six MTV Video Music Awards. The album's first single, "Frozen", became Madonna's first ever single to debut at number one in the United Kingdom, while in the United States, it became her sixth number-two singles and set another record for Madonna as the artist with most number-two hits. However, the song was adjudicated to be a plagiarism of Belgian songwriter Salvatore Acquaviva's 1993 song "Ma Vie Fout L'camp", and hence it was banned in Belgium. The second single, "Ray of Light", debuted at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and was used by Microsoft in its advertising campaign to introduce Windows XP. In 1999, Madonna was signed to play a violin teacher in the film Music of the Heart but left the project, citing "creative differences" with director Wes Craven. Madonna followed the success of Ray of Light with the single "Beautiful Stranger", recorded for the 1999 film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me's soundtrack. It reached number nineteen on the Hot 100 and won a Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.
In 2000, Madonna starred in the film The Next Best Thing. She contributed two songs to the film's soundtrack, "Time Stood Still" and the international hit "American Pie", a cover version of Don McLean's 1971 song. Madonna released her eighth studio album, Music, on September 2000. The album hit number-one position in more than 20 countries worldwide, and sold 4 million copies in the first 10 days. In the United States, Music debuted at number one and became her first number-one album in eleven years, since Like a Prayer. It produced three singles; "Music", which became Madonna's twelfth number-one on the Hot 100, as well as "Don't Tell Me" and "What It Feels Like for a Girl". The latter's music video, depicted Madonna committing murders and accidents, with cars and was banned by MTV and VH1 from airing. The same year Madonna became involved in a relationship with Guy Ritchie, whom she had met in 1999 through mutual friends Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler. On August 11, 2000, she gave birth to their son, Rocco Ritchie. Later that year, Madonna and Ritchie married in Scotland.
Her fifth concert tour, titled the Drowned World Tour, started in May 2001. The tour visited cities in North America and Europe. It became one of the highest grossing concert tours of the year and grossed $75 million from 47 sold-out shows. She also released her second greatest hits collection, titled GHV2, to coincide with the home video release of the tour. GHV2 debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200. In 2002, Madonna starred in the film Swept Away directed by her husband Guy Ritchie. The film was a commercial and critical failure, and was released direct-to-video in the United Kingdom. Later that year, she released "Die Another Day", the title song of the twentieth James Bond film of same name, in which she had a cameo role. The song reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated both for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and a Golden Raspberry for Worst Song.