Madonna's chart records & achievements
Throughout her career, Madonna has set many records in the music industry. Here are her most essential records and career achievements. Also check her full list of chart positions.
Career achievements
Madonna holds no less than 16 official Guinness World Records, including Best-Selling Female Recording Artist of all Time (305 million albums).
In 2008, Madonna was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. Four years earlier, she was added to the UK Music Hall of Fame.
Throughout her career she was nominated 68 times for the MTV Video Music Awards, 20 of which she won (only Beyonce has won more). She was also the first female artist to receive the Video Vanguard Award in 1986.
Madonna has won 7 Grammy Awards (out of 28 nominations), 2 Golden Globe Awards (7 nominations), 2 Brit Awards (12 nominations), and 11 International Dance Music Awards (21 nominations).
US Chart records
Highest ranking solo artist on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists
Act with most consecutive top-5 singles in Billboard Hot 100: Every single between 1983's Lucky Star and 1989's Cherish reached the top-5.
Artist with the most #1 hits on one single Billboard chart: Madonna is the undefeated Queen of the Billboard Hot Dance / Club Play Singles Chart with no less than 46 #1 singles.
Artist for the most #1s on all Billboard charts combined: Madonna had a total of 157 hits on different Billboard charts.
Female artist with the most certified Gold singles in the US: 26.
Artist with most #2 hits on Billboard Hot 100: Six of her singles barely missed the top spot and stranded at #2, giving her this bittersweet record.
Her MDNA World Tour DVD topped the US Billboard Top Music Videos, becoming her sixth consecutive and tenth video to top the chart —the most for any artist.
UK Chart records
Madonna had more hits on the UK charts than any other female artist, among which 13 #1 hits and 63 top-10 hits. Every single reached the UK top-20 until 2008's Miles Away.
She is the female artist with the most top-5 hits in the UK, 44 of them. Among the male artists, only Elvis did better with 54.
With 35, she is by far the artist with the most consecutive top-10 hits (from Like A Virgin to Secret).
Together those #1 albums spent a total of 30 weeks on the UK album chart. Only Adele does better with 31 weeks.
In the UK, Madonna simultaneously topped the albums and singles charts 4 times in her career, which is unmatched by any other female artist.
In the UK, The Immaculate Collection is the highest selling album ever by a female artist (12x Platinum).
In the 80s, Madonna spent a combined 252 weeks in the UK charts. Only Shakin' Stevens did better with 254. In the 90s, she spent a combined 258 weeks in the UK charts. Only Oasis did better with 282. In 1985, 1986 and 1987 she was the artist with the most weeks in the UK charts, with respectively 84, 59 and 41 weeks.
Tour records
The Drowned World Tour was the highest-selling concert tour of 2001 for a solo artist ($76,8 million)
The Re-Invention Tour was the highest-selling concert tour of 2004 for a solo artist ($124,8 million)
The Confessions Tour was the highest-selling concert tour of 2006 for a solo artist ($194,7 million). The 2007 edition of Guinness World Records named it the highest-selling concert tour ever for a solo artist.
That record was broken by the Sticky & Sweet Tour, which still stands as the top grossing tour ever for a solo artist, grossing over $400 million. When bands are included in the calculation, Madonna's Sticky & Sweet Tour ranks 5th behind U2, Rolling Stones, Roger Waters and AC/DC.
The MDNA Tour was the highest-selling tour of 2012, making over $300 million. It ranks 11th in the list of highest-grossing tours of all time.
Music video records
When David Fincher directed the music video for Express Yourself in 1989, it was the most expensive music video production at the time, with a budget of $5 million.
Mark Romanek's video for Bedtime Story in 1995 equaled the budget of Express Yourself, but the same year the record was taken by the 'Scream' video of Michael & Janet Jackson ($7 million).
The Bond video for Die Another Day, directed by Traktor in 2005, took second place with a budget of $6,1 million, pushing Express Yourself and Bedtime Story into 3rd and 4th place in this ranking. However, when current inflation of the production cost is taken into acount, Express Yourself relatively cost more than Die Another Day and continues to rank as Madonna's most expensive music video.
Movie records
Guinness World Record lists Madonna for the records of "Most Costume Changes in a Film": in Evita, she changed her outfit no less than 85 times.