Is Rihanna the New Madonna?

Ever since she hit the scene, people have compared Lady Gaga to Madonna. But what about Rihanna? RiRi just tied with Madonna in terms of number one singles on the Billboard charts. MTV News reports:

According to Billboard, Rihanna now trails only the Beatles (20 #1s), Mariah Carey (18) and Michael Jackson (13 solo #1s) for the most Hot 100 chart toppers of all time, and, given that she’s just 24 – and seemingly releases a new album every year – well, we think she’s got a pretty realistic shot at overtaking all of them.

Which made us wonder: Do Ri and Madge have a lot in common? The answer: Yes.

Some attributes both ladies share:

• Accused of having not-so-great singing voice and overproduced songs
• Provocative, sexual lyrics
• Penchant for posing half or mostly nude
• A now-you-hear-it-now-you-don’t accent
• Love of lace
• Interest in S&M lite (Madonna: “My name is Dita/I’ll be your mistress tonight/…Only the one that hurts you can make you feel better/Only the one that inflicts pain can take it away” Rihanna: “Feels so good being bad/There’s no way I’m turning back/Now the pain is my pleasure ’cause nothing could measure/I may be bad, but I’m perfectly good at it/Sex in the air, I don’t care, I love the smell of it/Sticks and stones may break my bones/But chains and whips excite me”)
• Questionable taste in men (Madonna dated Sean Penn, Vanilla Ice and Dennis Rodman; Rihanna dated Chris Brown)
• Assaulted by men (Sean Penn hit Madonna with a baseball bat; Chris Brown beat Rihanna inside a car)
• Hints of bisexuality (Madonna dated Sandra Bernhard and Ingrid Casares; Rihanna loves making it rain on strippers and sometimes gets in trouble for groping them.)
• Crotch-touching

Of course, Rihanna is only 24. She has a long way to go before reaching Madonna-levels of fame, fortune and infamy. She needs to make — and sell— a lot more music, since Madonna has sold more than 300 albums worldwide, making Riri’s 25 million albums seem paltry. Plus, Rihanna will need to star in some crappy movies* and get married and divorced a few times before ascending to goddess status like Madge. The good news is, she has plenty of time.

Rihanna Ties Madonna For Most #1 Singles [MTV News]

*Okay, yes, Battleship is a good start. Also, don’t get it twisted: Desperately Seeking Susan is a gem.