Can Madonna Top the Charts?

[RadioFreeAtlanta]

A lot has been made of the fact that Usher is the first artist to have a #1 song in the '90s ("Nice and Slow"), '00s ("Yeah") and '10s ("OMG").

Which leads me to the question: Can Madonna pull off 4 decades of Billboard #1s? She first hit #1 with "Like a Virgin" (1985), had a huge hit in the 90s with "Take a Bow" (1995) and her last #1 song was "Music" (2000)?

She is still living large in Europe and Japan. However, her popularity has waned the past decade here. She did have decent hits with "4 Minutes" and "Hung Up."

Is she capable of one more #1 in the U.S. to top the charts in the '80s, '90s, '00s and '10s?

 

[whit979]

It's entirely possible, but the quality of the track and the timing of its release to radio are crucially important in her case.

 

[Nyte Ryder]

She can't even chart much less #1.

 

[Wildstyle K]

She can, if we discover a way to rewind age. There is age discrimination in this country now. You get over a certain age, your hits are no longer hits. Cher was lucky to do her thing in a generation where age discrimination wasn't as hard as it is now. Who knows.. maybe that will change. Lets see how long Snoop Dogg & Jay-Z last. Oh, and we're also getting closer to the days where dance music is once again acceptable in the U.S!!

 

[Jay F]

I would agree with those who say in the current climate she is too old to pull it off. The average age of artists on CHR is probably younger now than it ever has been, This could be true for other formats as well. I was saddened by the recent passing of Ronnie James Dio, He was around 40 years old when he did "Rainbow In The Dark" in 1983...I can't imagine a middle aged man having a huge rock hit in 2010. Country too..sure George Strait and Reba are still around and charting but we don't have artists like Vern Gosdin peaking in their carreer at an older age.

While Madonna mght be too old for having a
big hit in 2010 or beyond,,,at least we have Lady GaGa who is this generations Madonna...although more eccentric.

 

[saradio1]

A lot has been made of the fact that Usher is the first artist to have a #1 song in the '90s ("Nice and Slow"), '00s ("Yeah") and '10s ("OMG").

Which leads me to the question: Can Madonna pull off 4 decades of Billboard #1s? She first hit #1 with "Like a Virgin" (1985), had a huge hit in the 90s with "Take a Bow" (1995) and her last #1 song was "Music" (2000)?

She is still living large in Europe and Japan. However, her popularity has waned the past decade here. She did have decent hits with "4 Minutes" and "Hung Up."

Is she capable of one more #1 in the U.S. to top the charts in the '80s, '90s, '00s and '10s?

The problem isn't Madonna. The real problem is that most of these radio stations are owned by big companies that have these fckn consultants.

 

[Jay F]

A lot has been made of the fact that Usher is the first artist to have a #1 song in the '90s ("Nice and Slow"), '00s ("Yeah") and '10s ("OMG").

Which leads me to the question: Can Madonna pull off 4 decades of Billboard #1s? She first hit #1 with "Like a Virgin" (1985), had a huge hit in the 90s with "Take a Bow" (1995) and her last #1 song was "Music" (2000)?

She is still living large in Europe and Japan. However, her popularity has waned the past decade here. She did have decent hits with "4 Minutes" and "Hung Up."

Is she capable of one more #1 in the U.S. to top the charts in the '80s, '90s, '00s and '10s?

The problem isn't Madonna. The real problem is that most of these radio stations are owned by big companies that have these fckn consultants.

There were more consultants around pre-consolidation. The biger companies use their own corporate programmers not outside consultants.

 

[Nyte Ryder]

She can, if we discover a way to rewind age. There is age discrimination in this country now. You get over a certain age, your hits are no longer hits. Cher was lucky to do her thing in a generation where age discrimination wasn't as hard as it is now. Who knows.. maybe that will change. Lets see how long Snoop Dogg & Jay-Z last. Oh, and we're also getting closer to the days where dance music is once again acceptable in the U.S!!

There has always been age discrimination. Frank Sinatra complained about it...Bruce Springsteen...Madonna...Billy Joel. Try this concept. Once you turn 40 you've done pretty much everything you can as a Top 40 artist in trying to relate to the younger demos who make up top 40. It's not discrimination...it's reality.

 

[Roger That]

It has nothing to do with consultants or corporate programmers. If she makes a hit record that the audience is interested in, people will play it. "4 Minutes" was a top 5 record almost 2 years ago to the day. That's pretty recent for someone too old for CHR. What I definitely DO agree with, is that Madonna can't chart a record simply on name only anymore. That honor is reserved for younger artists like Gaga, who could fart into a can and it would go top 10.

The problem is, since Music/Don't Tell Me, Madonna's made nothing but awful records.

 

[Jay F]

She can, if we discover a way to rewind age. There is age discrimination in this country now. You get over a certain age, your hits are no longer hits. Cher was lucky to do her thing in a generation where age discrimination wasn't as hard as it is now. Who knows.. maybe that will change. Lets see how long Snoop Dogg & Jay-Z last. Oh, and we're also getting closer to the days where dance music is once again acceptable in the U.S!!

There has always been age discrimination. Frank Sinatra complained about it...Bruce Springsteen...Madonna...Billy Joel. Try this concept. Once you turn 40 you've done pretty much everything you can as a Top 40 artist in trying to relate to the younger demos who make up top 40. It's not discrimination...it's reality.

Yet all those artists you mentioned had hits well into their 30s. Even that would be considered old for CHR today. But I agree it's not discrimination. If there were two CHRs, one that played the hits and one that went out of their way to play new music from older artists, the listeners would gravitate towards the first station.

 

[jason1589]

Madonna is still MASSIVE everywhere in the world. All over Europe, UK, Latin America, Canada, Australia, Asia.

In 2006 she had the most successful tour by a female EVER. And in 2008-9 she had the most successful tour EVER by a solo artist, male or female! She grossed more than 400 million dollars.

Hung Up in 2005-6 was one of the most successful songs in HISTORY. It hit no1 in 45 countries and no1 on the United world chat for 15 weeks, another record at the time. NO OTHER song in history has hit no1 in so many countries. Massive airplay and sales everywhere. Even in Canada where the radio is like the American radio, Hung Up hit no1 on CHR and Hot AC in just one week and it broke spin and bullet records that noone has broken since then!!! 4 Minutes broke airplay records in Canada too.

I don't understand why Hung Up peaked only at no16 on the US CHR. Very strange. It's the only time a song was so massive in Canada and not in the US. If you look at the charts they are always the same. I remember I was in Detroit during the confessions era and only the HOT AC channel supported Hung Up. Just A FEW miles away, in London, Ontario or Toronto, the confessions singles were on super heavy rotation on all the pop stations like everywhere in the world. I mean, come on! It's a rule that whatever works with canadians works with americans too. What happened? Something fishy was going on.

But anyway, even without much airplay in the US, her lead singles can hit no1 on the US i-tunes. Hung Up was no1 on i-tunes for 2 weeks and 4 Minutes for more than 18 days.

But who cares, US radio is busy with Tra$ha, Justin Bieber and other crap. A Madonna album and tour are alwayshuge events for the whole world. It's so sad to see US radio not playing the most successful female of all time in the world. At least, AC, Hot AC and Rhythmic AC are playing the hell out of her. Is the sky gonna fall on their heads if they play an artist who is over 40 years old?

At least, Madonna has the whole world and she is always no1. Artists like Whitney, Janet and Mariah had only America to rely on and now they have lost the US too.... Sad.

 

[jason1589]

Sorry, I wanted to modify my post but I pressed quote instead of modify and now I cannot delete this post. Don't pay attention.

 

[Wildstyle K]

I thought of another way Madonna COULD make a "come back". She could smartly do what she did the last time and team up with a younger well known artist. You see how it worked out when she teamed up with Justin Timberlake! I believe if done correctly, she could get by with at least one more U.S. hit by teaming up with the right person and letting the one she collaborates with have a decent amount of lyrical time in the song with her. I really don't see her doing it again all by herself because of her age, unfortunately. Maybe it's possible that she could do something that is so rhythmically pleasing that it just has to be passed, but I doubt this could happen soon. She'd have to be collaborating with somebody at least.

 

[jason1589]

I thought of another way Madonna COULD make a "come back". She could smartly do what she did the last time and team up with a younger well known artist. You see how it worked out when she teamed up with Justin Timberlake! I believe if done correctly, she could get by with at least one more U.S. hit by teaming up with the right person and letting the one she collaborates with have a decent amount of lyrical time in the song with her. I really don't see her doing it again all by herself because of her age, unfortunately. Maybe it's possible that she could do something that is so rhythmically pleasing that it just has to be passed, but I doubt this could happen soon. She'd have to be collaborating with somebody at least.

4 Minutes was released on i-tunes only 7 days after the radio release and it hit no3 on the hot100 and no1 on the Hot Digital Chart. If they had repressed it one more week it would have hit no1 on the hot100 too! Most labels repress their songs for more than 2-3 weeks...