Madonna Louise Ciccone Ritchie (born August 16 1958) is an American pop singer-songwriter, guitarist, dancer, record producer, film producer, actress, film director and author. She is most commonly referred to as simply, Madonna. She is known for the use of sexual, social and religious themes in her work and has been nicknamed the "Material Girl" and "Queen Of Pop" by the media.
Since her debut in 1982, Madonna has released many chart-topping albums and singles, and has sold more than 200 million albums worldwide. Billboard reported that her 2006 Confessions Tour holds the record for the highest grossing concert tour by a female artist. According to both the 2007 Guinness Book of Records, and Forbes, she is the top earning female singer in the world with an estimated net worth of over $325 million. In 2001, the Guinness Book of World Records listed Madonna as the "World’s Most-successful Female Musician". She is the 2nd most successful top selling female artist in the US according to the RIAA, and 15th biggest selling artist overall In the United Kingdom, she is the most successful female in the UK album chart history, having sold 3.9 million copies of her compilation The Immaculate Collection there alone. In 2005, she tied with Elvis Presley's record of 36 top 10 hits, the most for any artist in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 charts. RIAA named her the Best Selling Female Rock Artist of the twentieth century. On March 10, 2008, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
