Investigator argues that Madonna is “the most successful living artist in history”

The journey of the “pop diva”, who recently announced that her tour “The Celebration Tour” will end on Copacabana beach, in Brazil, where more than a million people are expected on May 4th, is covered in the publication from the perspective of marketing and longevity, “in a culture accustomed to discarding”.

“We took Madonna as an object of study and used this artist, who has been in show business for 40 years and who is certainly the most successful living artist in history”, to “analyze her through the lens of ‘marketing’ entertainment”, explained Thati Aquino to the Lusa agency.

The Brazilian author, based in Portugal for five years, where she is a researcher at the Center for Communication and Society Studies at the University of Minho, places Madonna alongside icons such as the Beatles, Elvis Presley or Michael Jackson. But there are differences: in addition to global success, Madonna is alive, active – and she is a woman. “In a machista, sexist and patriarchal society, she is the first woman to occupy this space”, she reads in the synopsis.

Because “the numbers don’t lie”, the conclusions are accompanied by data: 400 million records sold, the equivalent of 1.2 billion euros raised in concert ticket sales and 99.2% recognition among the population of the States United of America.

“Her numbers are really impressive” and make Madonna “the most successful woman in the history of the music industry”, highlights Thati Aquino, who, with José Fontes Netto, analyzed this journey using “the eyes of scholars and journalists to understand this phenomenon”, in an approach that ranges “from entertainment ‘marketing’ to the psychosocial aspects of Madonna’s childhood, which will be reflected in her choices”.

The researcher recalls “the fight with the Catholic Church, the behavior that was always very iconoclastic, very much against the ‘status quo'”, typical of punk artists, although, on the other hand, the singer always remains “highly regarded as the ‘queen of pop’, very ‘mainstream’ and highly salable”.

“It’s a very curious paradox,” he concluded.

Several factors contribute to this record-breaking success: “It goes far beyond the artist: she is a businesswoman with blood in her eyes, she is very attentive to all production processes, all negotiation processes”, which have led, in 40 years, to to “very good choices and bad choices – but even the bad choices she managed to turn in her favor”.

In “Madonna: 40 years of avant-garde” the issue of ‘ageism’ is also addressed: “We are talking about an artist who will turn 66 and who is there fighting and stamping her foot. She continues to do things, tours and say : ‘I’m celebrating 40 years of career and you’re going to have to accept me.”

The book “Madonna: 40 years of avant-garde” was born from Thati Aquino’s academic work for the Publicity and Propaganda course, now revised, a decade later, at the challenge of writer José Fontes Netto. “It’s a celebration of ten years of this work, of my friendship with him – also a fan of Madonna – and ended up celebrating Madonna’s own career.”

Updated to the current phase of the North American artist, the investigation was launched in February this year, in Brazil, by Editora Dialética. Under study is the edition in Portugal where Madonna lived between 2016 and 2020.