The dancefloor diva comes top in a study that shows her name has been carried in the UK print media more than any other since the year 2000.

The fifty-two year-old has fought off surges from challengers like Simon Cowell and Robbie Williams to remain the name on everybody's lips with an incredible 46,000 mentions.

Cowell's name went to print 29,888 times in the last ten years making him the biggest climber of the Noughties, a decade dominated by his successful reality TV shows.

He was followed by Robbie Williams, Kate Moss and Britney Spears, all of whom had a roller coaster decade of success, disaster, marriage and divorce.

The late Michael Jackson was eighth on the list of most mentioned after his suspicious death in 2009 dominated headlines for weeks on both sides of the Atlantic.

And Brand Beckham was undoubtedly the celebrity pairing of the decade with over 50,000 mentions between them.

Victoria was the leading lady of the two though, she pipped her husband into 5th place by just 880 names.

Making up the top ten were music legends Paul McCartney in ninth place with the everyoung Kylie Minogue following in 10th.

The research was carried-out for the web site www.clickliverpool.com by Kantar Media, a world leader in providing media intelligence and research insights.

It showed that newcomers making the biggest waves in the UK's gallery of gossip are Justin Beiber who earned his first column inches this year and went on to rack up over 800 references.

Kate Middleton too made strides on the established celeb column pack - her engagement to Prince William saw the future Queen written about no less than 2266
in 2010 alone.

Brian Merron is a Director at researchers Kantar media, he said Madonna's ability to remain current is testament to her star quality:

Merron said: "The fact that someone like Madonna is still holding on to her spot as the most talked about celebrity shows why she is hailed as a legend.

"That stickability factor in the consciousness of the nation marks her as a special talent and someone who is able to constantly re-invent themselves to change with the times.

"Despite the dominance of the old-guard however, we can see the next generation of could-be superstars jockeying for position.

"We can see the likes of Justin Beiber, Cheryl Cole and even Kate Middleton making strides on the established pack.

"It'll be exciting to see who is making all the headlines over the next decade."


The top ten celebs of the decade according to the number of mentions in the UK national press are:

Madonna - 46,017
Simon Cowell - 29,888
Robbie Williams - 28,563
Kate Moss - 28,056
Britney Spears - 27,588
Victoria Beckham - 25,833
David Beckham (excluding sports pages) - 24,953
Michael Jackson - 24,688
Sir Paul McCartney - 21,556
Kylie Minogue - 19,694

The top ten celebs of 2010 according to the number of mentions in the UK national press are:

Simon Cowell - 7,643
Cheryl Cole - 6,876
Lady Gaga - 4,531
Madonna - 4,086
Michael Jackson - 2,879
Katy Perry - 2,848
Robbie Williams - 2,763
Russel Brand - 2,432
Kate Moss - 2,415
Paul McCartney - 2,307
David Beckham (excluding sports pages) - 2,303

Sorce Clickliverpool.com