Madonna is an iconic American pop singer, songwriter and musician whose level of fame and worldwide success has earned her superstar status for over two decades. She is also considered all over the world as a fashion icon as well as one of the most powerful women in the music industry.

She is notable for her innovative and sometimes controversial MTV's, her elaborately staged concerts , and extensive use of political, sexual, and religious themes in most of her songs. Madonna was also known as a talented performer and musician who was able to make use of several musical and personal influences and put them into best selling songs that made her achieve the title as the “Queen of Pop”.

In 2000, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized Madonna as the most successful female recording artist of all time. This was the result of having an estimated worldwide sales of 120 million units of her albums. Not only that, Madonna is also currently known as the highest earning female singer of all time. Billboard Magazine considered Madonna's 2006 Confessions Tour as the most successful concert tour ever made by a female artist in music history.

Madonna's self-titled debut album which was released in 1983 was a collection of upbeat dance songs. Despite being considered as an unsatisfactory album by Madonna herself, it was able to reach number eight spot on the U.S. albums chart.

The album's impressive run on the US charts were due to the three successful Hot 100 singles that it contained- “Holiday”, “Borderline”, and “Lucky Star”. At the time of its release, Madonna's debut album was able to sell three million copies worldwide, with one million of those sales coming from the U.S market alone.

Her follow up album, "Like a Virgin", which was released the next year was considered as another international success. This album became Madonna's first chart topper on the U.S. albums chart due to the wild popularity and the controversy that was driven by the albums title track. The song reached the number one spot in the U.S. and stayed at its position for six weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart.

The album also were able to score with the hit single “Material Girl” which reached the number two spot on the US charts, only to be kept out of the number one spot by USA For Africa's "We Are The World" single. The album was able to sell over twelve million copies during its initial release and currently stands at seventeen million copies worldwide. The said album was also able to produce four top-five singles in the U.S. and the U.K.

Madonna's provocative performance style became popular with teenagers and was criticized by the more conservative audience. An increasing number of teenage girls were beginning to dress up like her. In 1985, Madonna sang "Crazy for You" for the soundtrack to the film Vision Quest, where she also had a cameo apearance as a club singer.

The song became her second number one pop hit and a Grammy-nominated ballad. she followed her success in the same year by appearing in the commercially and critically successful film Desperately Seeking Susan. The film also included Madonna's new dance song "Into the Groove", which peaked at number five in the US charts. he single eventually became a major hit internationally and was her first number one song in the UK.

Despite Madonna's undeniable fame and success as well as achieving an iconic status in the music industry, she was always the target of constant criticism throughout her career. Many of her critics have constantly put her artistry and musical ability in doubt.

Cirtics had always something to say about her provocative concerts and performances that generated a lot of controversy and that has become the trademark of her colorful career as a worldwide superstar.

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