Madonna on MSNBC

Interviewee: Madonna
Interviewer: MSNBC
Date: 15 January 1993

The highest-selling female artist of all time is Madonna, as attested by the Guinness Book of World Records and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. As the Queen of Pop, she has held court with 250 million of her records sold across the planet.

Winner of multiple Grammy Awards, Madonna is behind twelve of America’s #1 singles and 37 of its top ten hits, the most for any artist. No other female has more #1s in the UK than Madonna too, who has 13.

Revered as perpetual superstar in music, Madonna is a self-perpetuating, if not unabashedly calculating, marketer of herself. Hers is an omnipresent audacity that has given her longevity in her craft. She penned Sex to stir people as much as she wrote The English Roses to delight children. Publicity at times is a foregone conclusion for her.

Seven of Madonna’s eleven studio albums hit #1 in the US, including her latest, Hard Candy. “Take A Bow,” “Papa Don’t Preach,” “Vogue,” and “Like A Prayer,” to name a few, spurred the Material Girl’s ascent to omnipotence. But with 1998’s Ray of Light, Madonna proved she was commercially viable being a raunchy sexpot as well as spiritually awakened person, via ethereal cuts like “Frozen” and “Drowned World.”

Through her groundbreaking music videos, Madonna has been ever the ephemeral, reinventing herself from geisha to punk rocker in a heartbeat. Just as spectacular are her stage spectacles. Her 2006 trek, The Confessions Tour, is officially the highest-grossing concert series by a female artist in history. However, the Blonde Ambition Tour was condemned by Pope John Paul II for its blasphemous content.

Madonna has also been a successful actress. She has been lauded for her performances in A League of Her Own, Desperately Seeking Susan, and Dick Tracy. She won a Golden Globe for playing the title role of Evita, a critical and commercial success.

According to Forbes, Madonna is the richest female singer in the world.