Madonna Brags She Survived Prince, Bowie, and Whitney

Madonna dropped some brutally honest words at Billboard's Women in Music event, reminding the crowd how much she's overcome ... and how many huge celebs she's outlived.

She was accepting the Woman of the Year trophy when she literally listed off almost every music great of her era who's died -- from Michael Jackson to Prince -- and buttoned with, "But I'm still standing."

After a few awkwardly uncomfortable seconds the crowd applauded, and Madge added a few more words to soften the blow.

In context, it's less brutal. The 58-year-old had run down the biggest controversies of her career, and added the most controversial thing she'd done was "to stick around."