Madonna’s comeback single ‘Medellin’ hasn’t met the "criteria" to receive airplay on BBC Radio 1.
Despite the track featuring modern Latin star Maluma, 25, bosses at the BBC have decided not to add the track to their playlist because it doesn’t match the UK’s biggest youth radio station’s audience.
A spokesperson for Radio 1 told The Sun newspaper’s Bizarre column that the decision is "based on what the audience expects to hear, with no other criteria taken into consideration."
A music industry source added to the tabloid: "It’s a sad reality that for some people in the music business it wouldn’t matter what Madonna released. They’d dismiss it because she’s 60."
Many of the 60-year-old Queen of Pop’s fans have taken to Twitter to express their frustration towards the decision, branding the move ageist.
The track does however feature on BBC Radio 2, which in recent times has broadened its audience by playing more chart music.
Meanwhile, Madonna – who releases her comeback album ‘Madame X’ on June 14 – took part in an MTV Q&A in London on Wednesday night (23.04.19) ahead of the music video premiere of her latest single, and she spoke about how music is the "soul" that brings the world together.
She said: "No matter where we are. Where we travel. No matter who we’re with or what language we speak, when we hear music, even if we don’t understand the words, we can still connect to the vibe, to the soul, to the feeling, the emotion that the artist put into that music.
"You can still relate to it.
"It doesn’t matter what language people are singing in, or the beat or genre.
"We will always, in a primal way, be connected through music."
The ‘Vogue’ hitmaker worked with an eclectic mix of performers from different parts of the world for her first album since 2015’s ‘Rebel Heart’, which is inspired by living in Lisbon, Portugal.
She added: "I feel that my record, because Lisbon is a melting pot of culture, from Angola to Spain to Brazil to France – I had the pleasure and honour to meet musicians from all these places and be inspired by their music and let it influence me.
"And that’s how all these songs came to be. … We were connected before Instagram, people."