Madonna and business

American singer-songwriter and businesswoman Madonna started some enterprises in her career, including Maverick and its subdivision Maverick Records. She was one of the first women in music to have established an entertainment company and a record label. In its early years, Maverick Records became the highest-grossing artist-run label. She has received coverage by business journalism, becoming the first solo entrepreneur woman to appear on a Forbes cover (1990). Her entrepreneur's profile became visible to her public image in her first decades, receiving praise, although it was the only role recognized by many of her critics.

Despite the ever-evolving nature of business, Madonna received immediate and retrospectively interest from marketing, management and businesses communities for various reasons. She was discussed in related themes, including capitalism, marketing strategies and consumerism. Called the "Material Girl", Madonna also epitomized the consumer ethos of the 1980s and beyond, for which she attained both cultural praise and severe criticisms. She was considered the ultimate in crass commercialism and the epitome of banal consumerism. Madonna has been continually considered by many critics as only a marketing product. Furthermore, Madonna is also credited with pioneering some brand management strategies, and for helping shape music business even decades after her debut. Madonna also served as a role model of self-actualization and reinvention, inspiring expressions coined in the 2000s such as the "Madonna effect" by business professor Oren Harari and the "Madonna-curve" used by a think tank author for NATO.

Commercial and financially, Madonna became for a short-span the highest-grossing woman in media and ended as the highest-earning female musician of the 20th century. Into the 21st century, Madonna continued as the richest woman in music until being surpassed in 2019. She also became the first female artist to have earned more than $100 million in a single year (2009), and scored then the highest-earnings for a female pop star (2013). Madonna has appeared as Forbes top-earning female musician a record 11 times, spanning four decades (from 1987 to 2016). Culturally, Madonna's figure impacted tourism of some places, including Belize's San Pedro Town thanks to "La Isla Bonita", and during the 2000s in Israel which lead her being praised due to Second Intifada crisis.