The Material Girl may have seen her last groove. Radio 1 in Britain has decided the pop star, 56, is too old for its target listeners and has banned Madonna songs from its playlist.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about relevance,” said one Radio 1 insider, the Daily Mail reported. “It’s natural that as an artist gets older, their audience goes elsewhere, and Radio 1 has to reflect that. The station has duty to meet the needs of younger listeners. I don’t think the audience is losing sleep that it is not playing Madonna in the same way that it used to.”
It’s a significant fall from grace for Madonna, who held 13 No. 1 hits in the United Kingdom between 1985 and 2008.
Since December, when her new release — “Living for Love” — made its debut, Madonna’s music has only been played once on the station. Instead, the single has been slated for play on Radio 2 — the station for the targeted over-35 crowd.
At the same time, Paul McCartney’s newest single is set for considerable Radio 1 airtime, despite the fact the ex-Beatle is 72 years old.
A station representative said the difference is that Mr. McCartney’s track is done in conjunction with Kanye West, 37, and Rihanna, 26.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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