Madonna Louise Ciccone, The Queen of Pop, is the most influential, successful and renowned female singer of all time, as well as a noticed boundaries-pusher and widely versatile entertainer. After a career in the underground New York music scene, her debut Madonna was released in 1983 and became a sleeper hit, aided by the innovative electronic sound of her music; it was followed the year after with the more traditional pop release Like A Virgin, which was a massive commercial and cultural success, the same happened with the more mature follow-up True Blue, released in 1986. Her 1989 album Like A Prayer, decidedly more "artsy" than her first releases, cemented her status as one of the largest pop figures of the 80s and as the largest female entertainer of the decade. After the release of the retro-inspired I'm Breathless, the soundtrack of the 1990 film Dick Tracy, her fifth album, the positively-reviewed concept album Erotica from 1992, was her pushing her aesthetic and sound to a direction that caused her a lot of backlash which, accompanied by her explicit public antics, threatened her career's stability... she retaliated with the softer Bedtime Stories, from 1994, as well as the ballads compilation Something To Remember (1995) and the release of the 1996 musical film Evita as well as its accompanying soundtrack. Her proper "comeback" was assured in 1998 with Ray of Light, a more experimental electronic/pop album that got her some of her best reviews ever. She entered the new millennium with Music, which continued the sonic atmosphere of her previous album, and then reinvented her sound once again, this time with the politically-influenced folktronica album American Life, which received a mixed response overall after its 2003 release; she made a strong splash just two years later with the club-oriented Confessions on a Dance Floor, her most successful and acclaimed release in the 21st century. 2008's Hard Candy, a more urban-oriented record, continued her success in spite of a lesser critical response, which continued in 2012 with the EDM-filled MDNA, her first-ever non-Warner release, which saw a more contained critical and commercial response, similarly to what happened three years after with the eclectic Rebel Heart, whose sales were even more contained than those of the previous release. Madonna would receive her best reviews in over a decade with the release of the international-sounding Madame X, although the 2019 album failed to resonate commercially as her previous releases.

Madonna is a renowned philanthropist, LGBT rights advocate, feminist icon and provocateur whose views on religion, sexuality, politics, human rights and ageism have influenced the discourse about these subject matters. She created the Ray of Light Foundation in 1998, dedicated to the promotion of education and equal rights, and Raising Malawi in 2006, dedicated to help the orphan population of the titular country. Madonna is often considered the most influential and important female pop star of all time, with her music, songwriting, visuals, fashion, live performances, outspokenness and ambitious artistry becoming influential to multiple generations of artists; she has been credited for bringing underground sounds and aesthetics like post-disco pop (with her debut album), and the ballroom scene and house music (with Vogue). Madonna was the first female artist to create her own entertainment company and record label, Maverick, in 1992; she's also recognized as an author, starting with the controversial 1992 coffee table book Sex (the best-selling in its format of all time) and then with 7 children's book and 12 chapter books, released between 2003 and 2010. As an actress she has appeared in multiple films, most of them in the 80s and 90s with the most successful and better reviewed the 1985 comedy Desperately Seeking Susan with Rosanna Arquette, the 1990 crime blockbuster Dick Tracy (1990) with Warren Beatty, the 1992 sports film A League of Their Own with Tom Hanks and the 1996 musical Evita with Antonio Banderas, with the latter giving her a Golden Globe for Best Actress; she also directed the 2008 indie dramedy Filth And Wisdom and the 2011 historical romance drama W.E. with Andrea Riseborough and James D'arcy, both films were box office failures and received negative reviews but the latter was nominated for an Academy Award.

Having sold over 300 million records worldwide, including the best-selling remix album, best-selling compilation album and best-selling video single, Madonna is considered the Most Successful Female Artist of All Time by the Guinness World Records and is the biggest solo act of all time in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, outside of multiple worldwide records. She has been recognized with 17 Billboard Music Awards, 16 Guinness World Records, 10 MTV Video Music Awards (including the Artist of the Decade Award in 1989), 7 Grammy Awards, 3 American Music Awards, 2 Golden Globe Awards and 2 GLAAD Awards; she is also the highest-grossing solo touring act of all time and third overall, behind The Rolling Stones and U2.