(GIF via VividSeats.com)
Billboard has announced that Madonna is its Woman of the Year, and she'll collect her prize in NYC in December!
The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group President & Chief Creative Officer Janice Min said of the Queen of Pop:
Madonna is one of a miniscule number of super-artists whose influence and career transcend music. With her creative vision, relentless innovation, and dedication to philanthropic causes, she is an inspiration to hundreds of millions of people around the world, all while shattering every career record out there. She is an important feminist on top of that, a one-of-a-kind artist who’s used her influence to change the conversation around women, sexuality and equal rights.
Perhaps charitably, Billboard lists Madonna's widely—and, I would argue, unfairly—derided Prince tribute as one example of how she has remained a part of the “cultural conversation” in the past year. That, she has! In a myriad of ways.
A number of other assertions in the Billboard piece announcing the honor should be especially gratifying for her fans, since some have been contested:
Her Rebel Heart Tour, which wrapped in March, solidified her status as one of the biggest touring acts of all time. Madonna sold more than 1 million tickets and walked away with $170 million. That makes her the highest grossing solo touring artist in Billboard Boxscore history (the archives go back to 1990) with a staggering $1.31 billion in total concert grosses.
In addition to being the first female pop star with true control of her career and image, Madonna is the best-selling female recording artist of all time. She's earned 8 No. 1 albums (and 21 top 10 albums) on the Billboard 200 and 12 No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. With her 46th No. 1 on the Dance Club Songs chart in 2015, she extended her own record for the most No. 1s on a single Billboard chart. She also holds the record for the most top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with 38.
Madonna is slated to receive her award at the 11th Annual Women in Music Event, held December 9 in NYC. It will be filmed for Lifetime, airing December 12.
It will be interesting to see who hands her the award, who shows up, if tribute performances are tied to this appearance and how quickly people being snarking that this award was bought and paid for.