UPDATE Friday July 5th: Madame X is at 174 now and looks like it may drop off the top 200 soon.
Madonna’s character Madame X was depicted on her social media accounts as many things: warrior, teacher, lover, spy, mother, and so on.
But what she also was: out of date, fusty, in tune with the Madonna of the 1990s. She was not of these times.
The result is that “Madame X” the album is now dead, or at least on life support. After two and a half weeks, she’s fallen off the iTunes top 100. She’s not coming back.
“Madame X” has sold around 100,000 copies including streaming, sales of CDs and downloads. And that’s pushing it. In “real” sales, the number is way lower.
It wasn’t for lack of trying. Remember this started in early May at the Billboard Music Awards, where Madonna was rumored to have spent $5 million on her live production. Then she went to Israel to the EuroVision Awards. Lots and lots of money was spent, even after single after single failed to make a dent in sales or any kind of radio play. Millions more were spent on “Medellin,” which had the excitement of a shuffle board game at a nursing home.
Madonna is planning a theatrical spectacle this fall for her theater tour. But she must realize that fans are not going to want a whole “Madame X” show. The failure of the album as a marketing idea complicates her situation. But Madonna can always make lemonade out of lemons. She has all summer to create a show her fans want.
