Musician Madonna performs onstage during The 57th Annual Grammy Awards. Photo / Getty Images
Musician Madonna performs onstage during The 57th Annual Grammy Awards. Photo / Getty Images
She has dominated the airwaves during 30 years as a chart-topper, but now music institution, BBC Radio 1 has decided that Madonna is an immaterial girl and just too old for its teenage listeners.
Despite her determined efforts to look - and sound - youthful, the 56-year-old has been droppedfrom the station's playlist that determines which songs are played by DJs during the day.
Madonna's latest song is Living For Love and has been available for airplay since December 20 last year.
Yet it has been played on Radio 1 just once - on January 9 when DJ Annie Mac played it on her evening show. But that was after 7pm, when songs not on the playlist can be broadcast.
Singer Madonna attends The 57th Annual Grammy Awards, 2015. Photo / Getty Images
The track is the first single from the mother of four's new album, Rebel Heart. The station last night said the single had been omitted from playlists on the basis of "audience relevance" and "musical merit".
A Radio 1 insider said: "At the end of the day it's all about relevance. It's natural that as an artist gets older their audience goes elsewhere and Radio 1 has to reflect that.
"The station has a 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."
The snub represents a remarkable fall from grace for the star who notched up 13 UK No 1s between 1985 and 2008. She finds herself alongside Sir Cliff Richard, Take That, Kate Bush and Robbie Williams on a long list of artists who struggle to get new material played on the station.
Madonna's single is being played on Radio 2, which caters for an audience aged over 35. By contrast, Sir Paul McCartney's new single will be played by Radio 1 even though the former Beatle is 72. This is because the track is a collaboration with rapper Kanye West, 37, and pop mega-star Rihanna, 26.
A Radio 1 spokesman said: "Tracks are chosen on musical merit, and while around 40 per cent of the country's 15 to 29-year-olds tune into Radio 1 each week, an artist's age is never a factor."
