Madonna
& Beyoncé

Madonna was born in 1958 in Bay City, Michigan. Beyoncé was born in 1981 in Houston, Texas. They share a page because they work the same way: a new sound and a new look with each record, and the video and the stage treated as part of the music. In 2016 Beyoncé even passed Madonna’s record at the MTV Video Music Awards, 24 wins to 20.

Madonna arrived in New York in 1978 to be a dancer, with $35 to her name by her own account. Her first album came out in 1983. Like a Virgin (1984) drew complaints from conservative groups, and the Blond Ambition tour (1990) from religious ones. She set up her own company, Maverick, whose label later released Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill. She is still the best-selling female artist of all time.

Beyoncé started out in the late 1990s with Destiny’s Child and went solo with Dangerously in Love (2003). In 2013 she dropped an album with no warning, its videos shot in secret. Lemonade (2016) went further: it was also an hour-long film shown on HBO. Renaissance (2022) pays tribute to the Black queer pioneers of disco and house. She holds the record for Grammy wins, with 35.

To compare them, listen to Like a Prayer, then watch Lemonade. After that, try Ray of Light and Renaissance: two dance records made 24 years apart.