2012 was her last well selling album. It wasn't memorable, but it sold well. The last 2 haven't sold well. It's many because she started courting young and foreign stars and alienated her core audience. No one wants to hear a mid 50's Madonna trying to rap, do R and B, or Reggaeton, etc..... with artists 30 years her junior. It just looks silly.
Cher is the closest artist to Madonna, she does well still because she stay in her wheelhouse and doesn't embarrass herself.
Mid 60's now!
I feel sad for her in a way...she really had nowhere to go but down. When you are a "sex symbol", on the cover of magazines for years, the star of big music productions, movies, and nonstop photo shoots, aging must suck.
IMO, aging sucks for everyone...but must be a lot worse when you are at the top of an industry centered on youth and beauty.
You mentioned her doing collaborations with young people. On Instagram, I noticed that she hangs out with people half her age. I think she does that to appear younger.
So she has also been doing a different style of music with young people too? Maybe to stay relevant...but by alienating her core audience, as you said?
I wonder if she also does that to look/feel young.
It just makes me sad for her - she does not want to accept natural aging, and is basically doing everything she can to evade it.
According to this video, her first face-lift may have been as far back as 1995:
