Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Madonna's MDNA SKIN
She Is a Material Girl! Find Out Madonna's Massive Net Worth In 2023 and How She Earned It
In 1978, a native of Bay City, Michigan, left college (she had a scholarship at the University of Michigan) and moved to New York with about $30 in her pocket. Her name was Madonna, and today Madonna's net worth is in the high nine figures.
By the mid-80s, Madonna had become one of the most recognizable faces in the world, thanks to zeitgeist-grabbing hits like "Material Girl" and "Like a Virgin." Today, the icon we all know as Madonna has millions of diehard fans worldwide and runs a media empire. She continues to cut pop records (her latest, 2019's Madame X, became her ninth U.S. No. 1 album), to play live to sold-out international crowds—plus, these days, she's also the face of her own luxury skincare line and spearheads numerous other business ventures. How did Madonna make it and how much does she make? Keep reading to find out everything we know about Madonna's net worth.
What is Madonna's net worth in 2023?
Madonna's estimated net worth is an astonishing $850 million in 2023, making her one of the richest musicians in the world. Forbes has named Madonna the wealthiest female musician of all time.
Related: We Ranked the 100 Best Madonna Songs of All Time
How did Madonna get famous?
Madonna performs at te MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 16, 1984.
After the big move to NYC, Madonna struggled to make ends meet as a dancer in the Big Apple. She started performing and writing catchy pop tunes with bands The Breakfast Club and Emmy, and in 1983, she saw her first mainstream chart hit with "Holiday," a timeless synth-heavy invitation to get your groove on. Madonna cut a deal with Sire Records and her first self-titled album, Madonna, was a substantial hit. In 1985, Like a Virgin was nothing short of a phenomenon. The rest is history.
How many albums has Madonna sold?
With over 300 million records sold and an astounding impact on Billboard's Hot 100, Madonna is the highest-selling solo artist in music history. Billboard ranks her as the Hot 100's second-top artist of all time, behind only The Beatles, just ahead of Elton John and Elvis Presley.
Madonna's top-selling studio albums (worldwide) in units sold:
True Blue (1987) — 25 million
Like a Virgin (1985) — 21 million
Ray of Light (1998) — 16 million
Like a Prayer (1989) — 15 million
Music (2000) — 11 million
Madonna (1983) —10 million
Confessions on a Dance Floor (2006) — 10 million
Bedtime Stories (1994) — 8 million
American Life (2003) — 5 million
Hard Candy (2008) — 4 million
MDNA (2012) — 2 million
Rebel Heart (2015) — 1 million
Also of note, her 1990's greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection, sold an astounding 30 million units. In 1996, the Evita soundtrack sold 11 million copies, and I'm Breathless (a Dick Tracy tie-in debuting signature single "Vogue" and Oscar-winning "Sooner or Later") sold 11 million.
Related: A Timeline of How Madonna Became the Ultimate LGBTQ Icon
How much does Madonna make for performing?
It's pretty much impossible to deny Madonna is the modern master of performance art, with blockbuster production values and her meticulous touch over every detail. Her stadium and arena shows are an exhilarating blend of pop hits and shock value, artistry, and athleticism. It'll raise your pulse. So it's no wonder she's been able to sell out the world's biggest venues for decades now. With around $1.5 billion in sales, she's the top-earning solo touring artist ever.
Here are Madonna's top-earning world tours:
Sticky and Sweet Tour (2008) — $411,000,000
MDNA Tour (2012) — $305, 168,352
Confessions Tour (2006) — $194,754,447
Rebel Heart Tour (2015) —$169,804,336
Re-Invention Tour (2003) —$124,790,787
Drowned World Tour (2001) —$75,000,000
The Girlie Show World Tour (1993) — $70,000,000
Blond Ambition World Tour (1990) — $62,700,000
Madame X World Tour (2019) —$51,361,008
Who's That Girl World Tour (1987) — $25,000,000
The Virgin Tour (1985) — $5,000,000
What is Madonna's greatest hit?
A total of 10 Madonna tunes have topped the Billboard Hot 100, including:
- "Crazy For You" (1985)
- "Like A Virgin" (1986)
- "Live to Tell" (1986)
- "Papa Don't Preach" (1986)
- "Open Your Heart" (1986)
- "Who's That Girl?" (1987)
- "Like a Prayer" (1989)
- "Vogue" (1990)
- "Justify My Love" (1990)
- "This Used to Be My Playground" (1992)
- "Take a Bow" (1994)
- "Music" (2000).
Also highly noteworthy: In 2020, Madame X track "I Don't Search I Find" became Madonna's 50th No. 1 on Billboard's Dance Chart, making her the first artist ever to have 50 chart-toppers on any of Billboard's genre-specific lists. She's continued to smash records into her 60s.
What movies has Madonna been in?
Rosanna Arquette and Madonna hug on the set of "Desperately Seeking Susan" in New York in 1985.
Highlights of Madonna's acting career include 1985's Desperately Seeking Susan, iconic 1990 documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare, 1992's A League of Their Own, and of course 1996's Evita, for which she won a Golden Globe.
Madonna and Director Alan Parker on the set of "Evita" on Jan. 17, 1997
Her all-time highest film salary was for 1993's erotic thriller Body of Evidence. She wrote and produced 2008 doc I Am Because We Are, and directed British dramedy Filth and Wisdom the same year, historical drama W.E. in 2011.
Related: Jennifer Lopez's Net Worth and Media Empire
What are Madonna's other business ventures?
In addition to her incomparable music career, Madonna's considerable wealth comes from authoring children's books like well-reviewed The English Roses, various fashion lines including "Material Girl," a collaboration with daughter Lourdes Leon, deals with H&M and Dolce & Gabbana, premium perfume Truth or Dare, and MDNA skincare, launched fairly recently. The MDNA skin regimen includes luxury facial wash, masks, eye treatment, a beauty roller—and Madonna's personal favorite, a rose mist she calls a "mood enhancer" and handbag essential.
Madonna's Maverick Records was a key career move, co-founded with Time Warner in 1992, netting Madonna a $60 million advance and a 20% share of music publishing. Part of the deal (in the Erotica era) was Madonna's Sex coffee table book, which sold out its first and only printing quickly, selling $1.5 million copies in its first three days alone, at $50 a unit. It remains one of the most sought-after out-of-print books in the world.
How much is Madonna's art collection worth?
One of Madonna's most valuable assets is her art collection, including originals by Pablo Picasso and Frida Kahlo. The collection is estimated to be worth over $100 million.
How much are Madonna's homes worth?
The Queen of Pop owns mega-sized real estate all over the world. Recently, she purchased a seven-bedroom estate in L.A.'s exclusive Hidden Hills neighborhood for $19.3 (marked down from the original $24 million asking price). The seller: 2021 Super Bowl halftime performer The Weeknd.
With a busy schedule and international commitments, Madonna owns various properties in other locations like New York City, London and Lisbon, Portugal. Her time in Lisbon, much of it spent with her six children (Lourdes, Rocco, David, Mercy and twins Estere and Stelle) contributed to the heavy Latin influences on Madame X.
Is Madonna a Pepsi spokesperson?
Easily the most notorious brand tie-in Madonna ever had a hand in was a Pepsi promotion that lasted mere days, in the late 1980s. Madonna (who was at the zenith of her international fame) filmed a Pepsi ad with an early sample of iconic hit "Like a Prayer" that aired exactly one time, on March 2, 1989, to massive viewership during The Cosby Show.
The next day, she released the music video, which showed burning crosses, murder and Madonna kissing a Black Christ-like figure. Pepsi swiftly pulled Madonna's ad—but thanks to her contract, she still walked away with a cool $5 million. This whole series of events represent some of the sharpest, funniest savvy in the history of modern media. "Like a Prayer" remains, arguably, the best music video ever to boot.
Related: Madonna's Best Music Videos
What's more, Madonna is still bringing it up. In 2017, Pepsi was steamrolled for a tasteless, baffling "Black Lives Matter"-themed ad featuring Kendall Jenner in which a Pepsi can appears to solve civil unrest. Madonna took to social media to ridicule the ad (along with most people).
“When you wake up and realize that S*** just really doesn’t make sense,” Madonna captioned. “Side Note: My Pepsi commercial was pulled 30 years ago because I was kissing a black saint! #ironic.”
Shortly thereafter, she provided further shade, posting a text-free photo of herself behind the scenes during her Ray of Light "Nothing Really Matters" phase in the late 1990s. Masterfully trolled. Hilarious.