| S.T.A.G.E. said: In terms of talent Madonna and Michael Jackson set standards which still haven't been surpassed today. Lady Gaga and Katy are riding behind Madonna and will get better with the coming years. In terms of sales, Madonna will never be surpassed by Katy Perry or Lady Gaga. Sucks, piracy has caused such a massive drop in sales. Has absolutely nothing to do with talent. Katy Perry and Lady Gaga were just born in the wrong era if they are expecting Madonna-like sales. |
Michael Jackson was one of the most talented; but I think there is easily a lot of proof that there are many more female singers who are much more talented than Madonna. Mariah Carey comes to mind; she's a singer, songwriter, composer, and producer who had a vocal range of over 5 octaves (vastly superior to Madonna's vocals)
Could Madonna sing this?
This was the first cover that Mariah Carey did, although it is substantially different from the original, and ended up being much more popular, also appearing on Music Box. Could Madonna sing this?
The thing about Madonna is that she actually didn't sell as many LPs as either Mariah Carey or Celine Dion. Her sales came from all of the greatest hits and compilations which are not really trend-setting pop material, they're more novelty things. I.E. Beatles 1 album that sold like 25-30 million copies, it doesn't mean the Beatles were the top pop band, it was a novelty album. ACDC and Rolling Stones are demolishing records with concerts, and just in the last few years; are they the top pop acts of all time? Or would you consider them more of a novelty act?
Madonna didn't have an LP to stand up to Mariah Carey's Music box in terms of talent or success. Madonna's top selling LP sold 25M, Music Box sold 32 million. In terms of voice, Madonna's voice does not compare to Mariah's, or even Whitney Houston's or Celine Dion's. If Mariah had been born 10 years earlier, and started in the 80's, she would have beaten Madonna easily in record sales - she did sell more original LPs than Madonna, but if you add in the greatest hits albums that Madonna released, than Madonna sold more (largely because of way more releases than Mariah overall); but Mariah was close.
There are many singers that are not as popular who are just insanely talented. Janelle Monae comes to mind:
I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.
