Inside Madonna’s $850 million fortune and how singer made her money
Madonna has long been known as the Queen of Pop thanks to her chart-topping success and a career that spans four decades.
The 64-year-old singer, who has been named the annual top-earning female musician by Forbes 11 times, has amassed an incredible $850 million fortune and has sold more than 300 million records worldwide.
It’s believed Madonna has left strict rules on how to manage her iconic legacy and eye-watering estate after her recent health scare.
The songstress was reportedly found unconscious on June 28 and ‘revived with drug Narcan’ to combat septic shock before being rushed to ICU with a bacterial infection.
Madonna is now out of hospital and ‘on the road to recovery’, and was even seen out and about in New York City last weekend.
Madonna was pictured taking a stroll with a friend in her Upper East Side neighborhood, and was smiling and leaning on a lamppost.
However, the illness has forced her to postpone her upcoming Celebrations tour, and have a serious think about the future.
It is believed that in order to avoid family squabbles over her $850 million fortune, the singer plans on sharing the rights to her songs equally between her six children.
Madonna is mother to Lourdes, 26; Rocco, 22; David, 17; Mercy James, 16; and twins Estere and Stelle, 10.
Not only does she remain the female artist with the most number-one singles ever, she also holds the record for the most tickets sold by a female artist – with the total sitting at 11,672,443.
But it’s not just her singing credentials that have bumped up her bank balance.
Madonna has many acting credits to her name, has directed a couple of movies, and also ventured into the world of fashion and fitness.
The global superstar has a pretty impressive real estate portfolio too and owns properties all over the world.
But how exactly did she go from a 20-year-old with $35 in her pocket to a multimillionaire icon? FEMAIL has taken a deep dive into how Madonna has amassed her millions.
Madonna’s meteoric rise as Queen of Pop: From early days in New York City working at Dunkin’ Donuts to one of the top-earning female musicians of all time
Madonna may be one of the most famous singers in the world, but there was a time when she lived in New York City and had just $35 in her pocket.
The A-lister certainly comes from humble beginnings and was born Madonna Louise Ciccone on August 16, 1958, in Bay City, Michigan, to Catholic parents Madonna Louise and Silvio Anthony ‘Tony’ Ciccone.
Sadly, Madonna was just five years old when her mother died of breast cancer in December 1963.
Madonna’s father put her in classical piano lessons, but she later convinced him to allow her to take ballet lessons instead.
Her ballet teacher persuaded her to pursue a career in dance and when Madonna later attended Rochester Adams High School, she was a straight-A student as well as a member of its cheerleading squad.
After graduating in January 1976, she received a dance scholarship to the University of Michigan and studied over the summer at the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina.
However, in 1978 she dropped out of college and relocated to New York City.
‘It was the first time I’d ever taken a plane, the first time I’d ever gotten a taxi cab. I came here with $35 in my pocket. It was the bravest thing I’d ever done,’ she once said.
The ambitious 20-year-old earned little money working at Dunkin’ Donuts and with modern dance troupes, and took classes at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and eventually performed with Pearl Lang Dance Theater.
Madonna dabbled with a few bands in the late 70s and early 80s, but then made the decision to to promote herself as a solo artist.
Her self-titled debut album was released in July 1983 and peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200 – it also made Madonna her first $1 million.
The tracks Borderline and Lucky Star secured Madonna two top 10 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, and Holiday was her first international top 10 song.
Between 1984 and 1989, she released three more albums: Like A Virgin, True Blue, and Like A Prayer.
Like A Virgin was her first number-one album in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, the UK, and the US, and was also the first record by a female to sell more than five million copies in the US.
It was later certified diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and has sold more than 21 million copies worldwide.
Simultaneous with her singing career, Madonna’s foray into the big screen also began with a cameo in 1985’s Vision Quest.
That same year she played the lead in Desperately Seeking Susan, which earned her $80,000, and also starred in Shanghai Surprise, Who’s That Girl, Bloodhounds Of Broadway, and Dick Tracy.
Forbes reported that Madonna was the nation’s top-earning female entertainer for 1990 and brought in an estimated $39 million in pretax earnings.
In 1992, the singer formed her own multimedia entertainment company, Maverick, in partnership with Time Warner.
It was reported at the time that under a seven-year arrangement, Madonna was advanced as much $60 million, making it one of the most lucrative contracts offered to a pop star.
Although Time Warner executives would not confirm those figures, it’s believed that Madonna’s renegotiated recording contract gave her a $5 million advance for each of her next seven albums and a 20 per cent royalty rate.
One of the first projects released from her Maverick venture was her coffee table book Sex, which came out in 1992 and sold 1.5 million copies at $50 each in its first few days.
Madge went on to juggle music and movies throughout the 90s, and was reportedly paid $1 million for her role as Eva Perón in 1996’s Evita.
However, her highest movie payday actually came three years prior when she cashed out on $2.5 million for her part in Body Of Evidence.
In 1991, the documentary Madonna: Truth or Dare was released and with a worldwide gross of $29 million, it was the highest-grossing documentary of all time, until Bowling For Columbine surpassed it in 2002.
Throughout the 90s, Madonna released another three studio albums – Erotica (1992), Bedtime Stories (1994), and Ray Of Light (1998).
She also starred in the movies Shadows and Fog, A League Of Their Own, Dangerous Game, Blue In The Face, Four Rooms, and Girl 6.
Going into the new millennium, Madonna was still very much at the top of her game and kicked off the new decade by releasing her album, Music.
This was followed by another three albums in the 2000s: American Life (2003), Confessions On A Dancefloor (2005), and Hard Candy (2008).
While releasing unforgettable hits such as Hollywood, Hung Up, and 4 Minutes – which featured Justin Timberlake – Madonna was still very much juggling her film career and served as executive producer on a few titles.
Her directorial debut came about with 2008’s Filth And Wisdom, and she also directed the 2011 film W.E.
This probably explains why there was a four-year gap in between albums, as the singer didn’t release MDNA until 2012.
Her 13th studio album, Rebel Heart, came about in 2015, but it was her worst-selling album in two decades and reportedly sold just 116,000 copies in its first week.
However, 2019’s Madame X became her ninth number-one album in the U.S. and debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 95,000 album-equivalent units, of which 90,000 were pure album sales.
Life on the road: Madonna’s money-making tours that helped boost her bank balance
As well as recording and releasing an array of albums, Madonna has hit the road many a time to perform all around the world for her adoring fans.
Of course, such productions have kept the money coming in and saw her break even more world records.
Madonna’s highest-grossing tour thus far is the 85-date Sticky & Sweet Tour in 2008 and 2009.
The superstar played stadiums around the world to the tune of $407.7 million and 3.5 million tickets.
Fifteen years later, it remains the highest-grossing tour by a woman ever.
Madonna has had several nine-figure tours, with her others bringing in more than $124 million, $194 million, $305 million and nearly $170 million in 2003, 2006, 2012, and 2015 respectively.
Unfortunately the singer has been forced to postpone her upcoming Celebrations tour due to her health.
In a recent statement shared on Instagram, she said: ‘My first thought when I woke up in the hospital was my children. My second thought was that I did not want to disappoint anyone who bought tickets for my tour.
‘I also didn’t want to let down the people who worked tirelessly with me over the last few months to create my show. I hate to disappoint anyone.
‘My focus now is my health and getting stronger and I assure you I’ll be back with you as soon as I can
‘My current plan is to reschedule the North American leg of the tour and to begin in October in Europe,’ Madonna added.
Material Girl: Superstar singer turned businesswoman with fashion line and fitness centers
Madonna proved her talents really know no bounds when she ventured into the world of fashion in 2007.
She began with a clothing range for fashion giant H&M in March of that year, which reportedly earned her $4 million.
Then came the Material Girl clothing line in 2010 with her daughter, Lourdes, which was inspired by her punk-girl style back from when she rose to fame in the 1980s.
Gossip Girl actress Taylor Momsen was chosen to be the face of the brand, but was replaced by Kelly Osbourne in 2011.
Other faces of the brand have included Georgia May Jagger, Rita Ora, Zendaya, Sofia Richie, and Pia Mia.
Before the official launch, Madonna and talent manager Guy Oseary had already been paid $20 million for its 50 per cent stake.
In 2010, Madonna also collaborated with Italian fashion designers Dolce & Gabbana to produce a range of sunglasses named MDG.
It marked the first co-branded collaboration that the design duo has ever undertaken.
Also that year, the hitmaker launched a chain of fitness centers under the name Hard Candy Fitness.
There were centers in Berlin, Mexico City, Moscow, Rome, Santiago, St. Petersburg, and Sydney, and the company’s name was a reference to Madonna’s 2008 studio album.
However, it’s unclear if Madonna made much of a profit with this venture as she faced a lawsuit over the name, and one of the Berlin centers declared bankruptcy less than three years after launching.
Luckily, she was let off the hook in the trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Hard Candy, a cosmetics line for teens that retails at Walmart because of a lack of jurisdiction.
In November 2011, Madonna announced plans of launching her own global lifestyle brand called Truth Or Dare By Madonna.
The range included handbags, footwear, accessories, intimates and fragrances lines.
It’s been reported that in 2012, Madonna earned $60 million for her debut perfume, Truth Or Dare, and an estimated $10 million for her Material Girl clothing line and shoe line.
In February 2014, Madonna branched out yet again and launched a range of skin care products in Japan called MDNA Skin.
A few years later in 2017, the line launched in the U.S., but it certainly isn’t affordable as a serum costs $240, while the rejuvenator mask set is priced at $600.
Wealthy woman: Real estate and artwork is the cherry on top for Madonna and her riches
Celebrities are no strangers to a healthy real estate portfolio, and Madonna is no exception.
Over the years, the mother-of-six has accumulated an impressive collection of homes located in London, Beverly Hills, New York City, Lisbon, and more.
She once owned a massive six-bedroom duplex in New York City, which she listed for $23.5 million in November 2012 and sold it for an undisclosed amount several months later.
Another one of Madonna’s earlier homes was a $4.9 million nine-bedroom Mediterranean Revival estate on Miami’s exclusive Brickell Avenue, which she sold for $7.5 million in 2000.
During her marriage to Guy Ritchie, the couple purchased Ashcombe House in Wiltshire, England, for $12.23 million.
The Snatch director was ultimately awarded the property in the couple’s high-profile 2008 divorce, and he still lives there to this day.
In 2003, Madonna purchased a sprawling French country-style Beverly Hills estate for $12 million.
The house featured eight bedrooms, 14 bathrooms, a 60-foot pool, and two guest houses, all perched on Sunset Boulevard, but she sold it for $19.5 million 10 years later.
It’s thought that she still owns a 10-bedroom townhouse in London that she bought in 2007 for $8.07 million.
The following year Madonna purchased another condo in Harperley Hall on Manhattan’s Upper West Side for $7.3 million.
She also treated herself to a $40 million Georgian–style mega-mansion on the Upper East Side in 2009, and she still owns the 13-bedroom property.
Following the 2016 U.S. elections, Madonna decided to move her family to Europe and reportedly paid $8.9 million for a four-bedroom 18th-century Moorish Revival mansion situated about 20 miles outside of Lisbon, Portugal.
It’s thought that she still owns the property along with the Hollywood Hidden Hills mansion she purchased from The Weeknd in 2021 for $19.3 million.
Owning so many homes means that Madonna has plenty of space for furniture and artwork.
The hitmaker is said to have a rather impressive artwork collection that is rumored to be worth about $100 million.
Madonna began seriously collecting art back in 1987 when she purchased Fernand Legér’s 1944 Les Deux Bicyclettes for just $1 million.
In 2013, she sold another Legér, Trois Femmes à la Table Rouge (Three Women at the Red Table), at Sotheby’s for $7.2 million.
She once admitted that she owns ‘a ton’ of Tamara de Lempicka paintings, and also has self portraits by the likes of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera.
In 2000, Madonna paid almost $5 million for Pablo Picasso’s Buste de Femme à la Frange (1938).
She is also rumored to own at least one Damien Hirst, and is also an avid fan of photographer Marilyn Minter, whose pictures have been to known to sell for thousands of dollars.