Radio 1 Madonna controversy

Madonna has received considerable airplay on BBC Radio 1 since the beginning of her career and made her first appearance on the station on 22 December 1986, when she was interviewed by Simon Bates during the promotion of the film Shanghai Surprise.

[2] The singer gave subsequent interviews to Jakki Brambles, Bates, Simon Mayo, Mark Goodier, Sara Cox, Jo Whiley, and Chris Moyles in 1990, 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2006, respectively.

[3][4] On 10 May 2008, Madonna headlined BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend at Mote Park, in Maidstone to promote the release of her album Hard Candy.

The lead single, "Give Me All Your Luvin'", and subsequent releases from the album were not added to the Radio 1 playlist, despite the former featuring rappers Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., two artists who receive regular rotation on the station.

"[1] Speaking at a Radio Academy event in 2014, the station's Head of Music, George Ergatoudis, stated that its audience had "moved on" from Madonna, and that the majority of her fans were "over 30".

He added that the BBC Trust had decided to make Radio 1 as a station appealing to a younger demographic, a factor which determines their daytime playlists.

[8] On 22 December 2014, "Living for Love" started to receive airplay on commercial radio, most notably Capital FM, where the song was eventually added to the station's playlist.

[11] An article published by the Daily Mail on 14 February 2015 quoted an unnamed BBC Radio 1 insider who stated that "Living for Love" would not be played on the station because Madonna is "irrelevant" and "old".

[12] The Daily Mail article quickly went viral, and hundreds of messages were left on Radio 1's Facebook page from Madonna's fans urging the station to play "Living for Love".

Shirley Manson wrote on her Twitter account that Madonna should "contemplate suing Radio 1 for discrimination in the workplace", and that the station's music policy was "bordering on, if not actively, unlawful".