Time for another ROR “instant request.”

TargetSpot/Ronning Lipset Radio co-founder Andy Lipset writes, "Madonna’s performance at the Super Bowl and then subsequently hearing her new single on [WHTZ] Z100 and WKTU [New York] this weekend had me thinking. My own research (kids, wife, neighbors, co-workers, social networks, etc.) all show that “Give Me All Your Luvin’” is liked across a lot of divergent demographics. She is certainly not the first to accomplish this.

“But how many other 53-year-olds have gotten airplay on CHR radio the way Madonna’s new single looks to be tracking to get?”

Being welcomed by Top 40 at age 53 isn’t unprecedented. But even legendary artists typically stop being able to negotiate the format in their early 40s—even with the same sort of media tie-ins and additional starpower that Madonna brings with her. So the excitement around “Give Me All Your Luvin’” is a formidable achievement.

In trying to explain a current listener’s frame of reference—not just to veteran artists, but to hearing ’70s and ’80s music on the radio, I’ve occasionally used Frank Sinatra as a comparison. “Summer Of ’69” clearly endures, despite being even older today than Sinatra’s oldest hits were for a child of the ’60s.

Sinatra was 51 in 1967 when “Something Stupid,” his duet with daughter Nancy came out. That song capped a comeback run that included “Strangers In The Night,” “Summer Wind,” and “That’s Life,” but “Something Stupid” was the biggest song of the four, perhaps helped by the “event record” nature of the duet.

“Something Stupid” was Sinatra’s last top 10. But he returned with “My Way” at 53. He was 64 in 1980 at the time of “Theme From ‘New York, New York.’” The latter wasn’t a radio home run at the time, but amazed by putting Sinatra back on Top 40 at all.

Barbra Streisand’s late ’70s/early ’80s hit streak ended when she was 39 with “Comin’ In And Out Of Your Life.” She did return briefly to Top 40 thanks to Bryan Adams with 1996’s “I Finally Found Somebody” when she was 54.

Mick Jagger was just about to turn 46 when “Mixed Emotions,” the Rolling Stones’ last top five hit, came out. That song, forgotten now, was propelled by the excitement of the Stones’ “Steel Wheels” tour. If you view “Start Me Up” as the last true Stones hit, Jagger was 38 at the time.

If you count “Say Say Say,” another superstar event record, as Paul McCartney’s last smash, he was 41. “Spies Like Us,” his last top 10, takes him to 43. “My Brave Face,” also a duet, takes him to 47.

George Harrison was 44 when “Got My Mind Set On You” became a surprise hit in late 1987. At that point, Harrison was a decade past his status as a regular Top 40 hitmaker. Another event record, his John Lennon tribute, “All Those Years Ago,” put him back on the radio at age 38.

Bob Seger, the inspiration to late bloomers everywhere when “Night Moves” helped him break through at age 31, was 42 when “Shakedown,” propelled by “Beverly Hills Cop II,” got him his first and only No. 1 hit earlier in 1987.

Meat Loaf was 42 in 1993 at the time of his resurgence with “I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That).” Add two years for the top 15 single from his next project, “I’d Lie For You (And That’s The Truth).”

Elton John was 47 in 1994 at the time of his “Lion King”-driven success with “Can You Feel The Love Tonight.” He was 50 at the time of his Princess Diana tribute, “Candle In The Wind ’97.”

Rod Stewart was 48 in 1993, a year that saw both superstar collaborations (“All For Love” with Bryan Adams and Sting) and hits that were all his (“Have I Told You Lately” and “Reason To Believe”). He was in play at Top 40 for another three years, through “If We Fall In Love Tonight.”

Gladys Knight, singing since an early age, was 44 in 1987 when Gladys Knight & The Pips made their comeback with the “sounding-as-great-as-ever” “Love Overboard.” She then returned to Billboard’s Top 25 with another all-star lineup (including Brandy, Tamia, and Chaka Khan) with “Missing You” at age 52.

Like “Theme From ‘New York, New York,’” Roberta Flack’s surprise comeback with "Set The Night To Music" came at a time when all bets were off at CHR in the early ’90s. She was 52. Again, there was duet power involved, thanks to Maxi Priest.

Cher’s “Believe,” perhaps the ultimate proof that anybody could score a comeback with the right song, also came when its artist was 52—seven years after her last run at top 40. It should be noted, however, that “Believe” is a rare example here of a song by a veteran artist that became a hit without a guest artist or a TV/movie connection.

Tina Turner’s “I Don’t Wanna Fight” extended her hitmaking streak by at least four years. It did have a movie connection—in this case, her own biopic, “What’s Love Got To Do With It.” But it came when Turner was 54. So Madonna will have to stretch out the “MDNA” singles for at least a year.

A lot of the calculations here are informed by the subsequent durability of the songs themselves. You can generally add a few years to any of these ages based on how long a label felt that they still had a shot at Top 40 after an artist’s last few hits. When this story is written about the hits from Adele’s “53” album, the Madonna comparison will be able to factor in the staying power of “Give Me Your Luvin’” and on how many other hits “MDNA” produces.

If you consider Madonna’s “4 Minutes,” a No. 3 chart record, as a real hit, she’s only been away from Top 40 for three years. If you regard “Music” and “Don’t Tell Me” as her last big CHR period (and even those songs made people marvel at her capacity for self-reinvention), she would have been 42 at the time—more comparable with some of the other artists seen here.

Unlike Sinatra, Madonna doesn’t have to bridge two very different eras of pop music to be on the radio now. It was almost harder for “Music” and “Don’t Tell Me” to find a place in the rap/rock era than for an artist who helped invent rhythmic pop to be on the radio now. That said, Top 40 radio has both been more narrowly defined than ever and less seemingly friendly to artist longevity in recent years.