lol I keep dropping requests on the young Gods records tour page for Swans to come to my area 
I can’t agree with this. By no measure, adjusting for context, is she BIGGER than Madonna. You could argue she is as big. Hard to go above Numero Uno.
The cultural phenomenon that was Madonna is perhaps being a little forgotten here. People were obsessed with her, for, honestly, basically all the same reasons.
By the measure of certified units shifted, she definitely is (especially when you adjust your context to factor in the much shorter time she’s been selling those units for). Although both pale in comparison to Rihanna.
As a popular phenomenon? Naah, you’re looking at Madonna with the rosy glasses of youth. I was there too, I’m aware. I got Smash Hits and the like. She was a phenomenon, no quibble.
So is Swift.
Call me when seismologists publish records of Madge’s 80s concerts, though.
TBF, world population around 1990, in the peak years of Madonna’s popularity, was a little over 5 billion. At present it’s nearly 8 billion. If you’re a world-famous music icon, how many records you sell in absolute terms is about not only your personal appeal, but also about how many potential customers for your records are existing on the planet.
Most of that growth did not come from the Madonna- or Taylor Swift-buying crowd. I highly doubt it signifies. The number you want to compare is 22.2 million versus 25.1 million (1983 vs 2023, ages 12-17). Not such a giant jump, is it?
But also, Madonna has been an active artist throughout that period, so the contemporaneous growth is already accounted for.
It feels like people are really tying themselves into knots to avoid acknowledging that Taylor Swift is bigger than Madonna. And she’s not even the only one - MAriah Carey, Beyoncé and Rihanna are likewise bigger than Ms Ciccone was.
When John Lennon said that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus, I don’t think he was referring to album sales.
In purely capitalist terms, Swift is bigger than Madonna. But “bigger” can have other, more subjective meanings, like cultural impact and influence on the music industry. I think that’s what some people are trying to discuss here.
Still Swift, then. I mean, Congress held hearings because of her ticket sales mess…
I get it. I mean, I don’t like pop music, I have zero Taylor Swift songs in my collection…but when her songs play on the radio I do find myself humming along to them. They seem to have more of a hook than comparable artists. And she’s good looking and a good singer, what’s not to like.
Personally, as an Elder Millennial, I don’t think I could identify a single Madonna song other than “Like a Prayer”. Tay-Tay is definitely a lot more influential to people my age and younger than Madonna ever was.
I think one of the things that’s contributed to her staying power is that, unlike a lot of female pop singers who got big in their teens, she didn’t go through the rumspringa “I’m an adult now which means I can BE SEXY and HAVE SEX” cycle that comparable artists like Britney Spears or Katy Perry or Miley Cyrus did. She swears now, but other than that she’s kept her music relatable to tweens and teens even though she’s now in her thirties.
Yes, she’s very safe and stable. You always know what you’re going to get with her.
They also had hearings about alien bodies and UFOs, among many other subjects. Not that it matters here, but citing congressional hearings isn’t great support for an argument these days.
…and UFOs and aliens are also things that have had a huge cultural impact. You make my point for me.
Supports my point just fine.
And it’s not just the one hearing, in any case, but also actual proposed bills, both federal and state.
I mean, she went from country pop to stadium pop, and then put up two indie albums with the dude from The National, so I don’t think that’s true.
You’re welcome.
To be clear, because this place seems to get weirder every day, I acknowledge your point. While the current US congress can be seen as a useless and corrupt organization, they did take a bipartisan look at this matter, which they would not have done despite an existing apparent problem, had it not been concerning Taylor Swift and her performances.
I was under the tutelage of Gen X, but I can name several of her albums, have listened to all of them, and have seen Blonde Ambition and The Girly Show and read The Sex Book. Then she had a documentary, I can’t remember the name but I’ve seen that too. I also know 90% of Evita from memory. She was at peak awesome in the early 90s which would have put me at about age 7 or older. If you were watching MTV, I find it hard to believe you’ve never seen the music videos for Express Yourself, Take a Bow, Rain, Don’t Cry for Me Argentina and eventually, Ray of Light. She was huge in the 90s.
People can quibble over whether Taylor Swift is bigger but to pretend Madonna had no cultural influence on late Millennials is ridiculous.
Yeah, that statement was completely wrong. If by “Elder Millennial” you mean born in the very early 80s, then sorry no, Madonna was hugely impactful on that generation, way more than Taylor Swift.
Never did watch much MTV aside from Beavis and Butthead (and I mostly zoned out during the music video segments). Never saw any of those videos and my parents didn’t play that kind of music on the radiio. I grew up on the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin and Queen and Pink Floyd.
Would someone please clarify what an ‘elder millennial’ is?
If it’s not too much of an aside, does anyone know why people born in the late 90s (94?,95?,96?) are not millennials? I don’t know why 1981 is called the starting year instead of 1980 either. Was Reagan getting shot enough of an event to divide generational ages?
A person born roughly in the range of 1980-1984. Overlaps somewhat with “Xennial”.
I was born in December 1982, which puts me right in the middle.