poll is it finally time to admit Taylor has surpassed Madonna?

[Bloo]

39 minutes ago, SignificantOther said:

Taylor Swift is like the female Garth Brooks: huge sales by appealing to middle America but no impact whatsoever.

World leaders have literally begged Taylor to come tour in their countries in hopes of boosting their economies. But sure, no impact beyond middle America. Never change ATRL.  

[Asscatchem]

Taylor already surpassed her

the only madonna track i can name is Material Girl and Hang Up

[Horizon Flame]

Why does this matter to any of you? Do you win something by being a fan of the one who sold more? 

[makeme]

Absolutely not.

Madonna peaked when there was no internet, streaming, and 3 billion less people on the planet. And she still outsells her. 

You can't compare any current artists to artists from back then 

[Trent W]

Taylor is more successful than Madonna imo

 

Madonna was not selling 1m copies in her first week 18 years into her career

 

Taylor is bigger 18 years into her career than Madonna was at that point.

 

The only thing I would give Madonna is that she was more impactful and influenced the entire set of 90/00s girls and shaped pop culture.

 

But in terms of pure success Taylor has definitely passed her.

 

 

[alfonso12]

Not really, Madonna's cultural impact won't ever be surpassed by any of our faves.

[Sergi91]

Madonna didn’t need to sell 12-20 different variants of the same album to sell. 

[Reginald]

 the thread title, I screamed!!!

[Cain]

2 hours ago, .Odyssey. said:

 

Taylor fans would never understand how and why Madonna has made more impact than her. I've come to accept that there are people who either "get" Madonna or don't...the ones who don't will never be convinced that Madonna simply cannot be surpassed culturally by Taylor. Without Madonna, the concept of Taylor's "eras" wouldn't even exist. 

 

Taylor is a business machine. Madonna is an artist. There's an extreme difference between the two, and Taylor will never come close to what Madonna brought to pop music.

Thank you!! Madonna literally invented the eras concept for female popstars as we know it

[Maroonx]

Oh the excuses some people make to discredit Taylor's success, LOL. Anyway, with that said I don't think she's surpassed Madonna, it'll take a while for her to pass her, but she's certainly passed some others who are less legendary x

[Kristie Kuwa]

Counting the days until people wake up and stop overrating this girl so much and realize what she truly is: bland.

 

Madonna, im so sorry for that comparison

Edited October 29, 2023 by Kristie Kuwa

[wsurferwayne]

Let's just say that madonna ruled the 20th century and taylor ruled the 21st century!!!! Both had their fair share of classics (Material girl, into the groove, vogue, la isla bonita, hung up, like a virgin, like a prayer for madge) and (love story, blank space, shake it off, cruel summer, you belong with me, anti-hero, style for tay)

Edited October 29, 2023 by wsurferwayne

[NEX]

1 hour ago, 45seconds said:

One more time: album sales did NOT peak in the 80s. Album sales peaked in 1999. This isn’t opinion. 

Ok, and who got to benefit from that sales peak more: Madonna or Taylor? 

 

And once again, are you saying Taylor peaked in a better sales climate than Madonna?? Answer this 

[Peroxide]

Whilst Taylor has 10 albums… and 4 re-recordings, she’s still only 33. At this age Madonna was only on 5 albums… there was still quite a lot of gas left in the tank.

 

Taylor will outsell Madonna in the long-run that’s not the only metric we should use to measure how “big” someone is… 

 

Either way, both of them are legends regardless.

Edited October 29, 2023 by Peroxide

[Glorified]

Is it time to stop comparing artists to Madonna? Yes

Before you create such a thread, make your research as to who is Madonna and what is her legacy.

 

Ugh kids these days

[Junipero]

Lets keep one thing in mind: The population of Earth during Madonna's "peak" and the population of Earth during Taylor's peak.

Now lets keep in mind that there are more developed countries with growing a growing middle class during Taylor's peak than compared to Madonna's peak(aka people who are able to afford albums, etc...), but we must also keep in mind that concert tickets have outpaced inflation.

 

I honestly think there will be a popstar who is yet to be born who will surpass both in the comming decades.

Edited October 29, 2023 by Junipero

[Reginald]

Not the gworls going to battle 

[Cain]

And music consumption is different right now

 

Back in the 80s, 1 person = 1 sale

That person might’ve bought the same album twice if they were a big fan, but they had no incentive to 

 

Nowadays 1 person = could be 5 sales

They can buy four different vinyl versions of an album to make a clock, they can buy the CD, they can buy the cassette and they can also stream the album enough times to make it count for one sale

 

There’s just way more possibilities nowadays to get multiple sales out of one person, that person can also go on to stream the album enough times to more than 1 sale over time, effectively making their ‘regular’ listens to an album (the same ones Madonna albums got on vinyl players and cd players) count as sales

 

Madonna didn’t have these advantages 

[Sheep]

Taylor could "outsell" Madonna 2:1 and still wouldn't even be close to Madonna in the areas that make her queen of pop. She's probably the most creative recording artist of all time and her legacy as a provocateur didn't just keep her famous for 40 years but continues to facilitate important discussions about society/culture. Reducing her to just a run of the mill pop singer is a mistake. Her most enduring contributions to culture aren't individual songs or albums.

Edited October 29, 2023 by Sheep

[dawnettakins]

The constant gaslighting by Swifties and the media that Swift's numbers and marketing gimmicks are on par with actual icons and legends like MJ or The Beatles will never not send me. 

[brenda-walsh]

the audacity when Madonna was like only the second woman ever to have a diamond certified album and LAV and TB quickly became the biggest selling female albums of all time within a matter of years 

 

not only did madonna have the sales, she had the impact and influenced nearly every female artist after her. taylor is having her moment right now but her career pales in comparison to M

[MingYouToo]

The thing is that Madonna's status will forever be untouched by virtue of culture shift. No artist will EVER surpass her simply because everything she used to do that was deemed risque are norm now. Taylor, Bey, and whoever else you pit against Madge will never come close simply because she was the FIRST.

 

There's just no way for TS to compare to M in the cultural impact dept. simply because of the way society used to operate. Not to mention music listening methods and technological advancements and cultural hegemony disappearing and multiculturalism being more prevalent now than ever.

 

So comparing TS vs M in the culture/impact dept. is moot because there was no way in any way possible for Taylor Swift to do what Madonna did even if she wanted to simply because Madonna came at a time when things that were normal now weren't back then.

 

Commercially? Oh its not a matter of if, but rather, when. Taylor will wash Madonna commercially with ease, but there's no argument to be made culturally because its not up to Taylor or Madonna to get cultural clout the way M did back then, because the world/society/cultural mores have moved forward.

[thequeenofpopmadonna]

Another desperate swiftie trying to get attention by using the queen of pop. 

Obviously no. 

Your idol will never have a social impact as big as Madonna nor change the pop culture and a society as the queen did.

So keep dreaming. 

 

[Raspberries]

4 hours ago, CandleGuy said:

It's not that complicated.

 

Taylor has surpassed Madonna and Britney in sales and consumption.

 

She will never pass them in impaqkt or cultural relevance.

 

 

Taylor has far surpassed Britney in every metric  

[brenda-walsh]

can we also talk about how Madonna was an album seller, created multiple classic hits across decades, and sold out tours across the world. all while making game changing videos, shifting the industry, and cementing a legacy in everyday culture. 

 

a LEGEND