1.1 million opening week in America due to sheer grit and determination
By Jeffrey Jolson
Some Christians got mad over this outfit, but fans thought it a hoot
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 5/31/11 – Lady Gaga worked hard for it with discounts and tireless promotion, and the flamboyant Lady is now official pop royalty. She smashed sales records this year with 1.1 million in the US and 215,000 in the UK with the No. 1 Born This Way album.
She could have called the disc Relentless or Determined as we have not seen anyone toil as much since early Madonna to make her pop dreams come true. Gaga went goo-goo on the talk show circuit, performed everywhere but weddings and bar mitzvahs, and did a discount deal with Amazon.com buyers. In fact, we think we saw her in the lobby selling the album at a little booth. Talk about grit.
Her goal? To sell one million copies in her first week of release. She did it, 1.1 million, and only the 17th to sell a cool million and the fifth female in the last 20 years. Plus Lady Gaga did it in an era when people don’t buy a lot of albums, there are so many digital (and pirate) alternatives.
Which is not to say she didn’t make clever use of the online world. Sixty percent of sales were digital thanks to a push by online retailer Amazon.com. Amazon sold album downloads for 99 cents Tuesday and Thursday and sold more than 440,000 digital copies. It is also the top-selling digital debut with 662,000 downloads.
That’s a big discount from a $15 store copy, but who carries CD players in an age where 1,000 albums fit on something the size of a matchbook?
The album is Lady Gaga’s first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and captured the highest sales week since 2005.
And it is not just in United States of Gaga that she cut a wide swath. Born this Way was the No. 1 album in Britain with 215,000 units – more than the rest of the Top Ten combined.
“Born This Way” album made its expected powerful arrival to the U.K. chart Sunday (May 29), with the biggest first-week sale of the year here of 215,000 units, more than the rest of the top ten titles combined.
Gaga has three singles in the Top 20 in the UK, shades of the Beatles. We don’t want to sound too bubbly here, but when you can come through with the sales to match the hype, we take you seriously at Hollywood Today, even the shock rock thing means you have to beat it every year.
Her LP The Fame has gone four times Platinum in the UK and three times Platinum in the US. The new album should make those numbers look as minute as her costumes. Not too shabby for a gal from NYC named Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta who was into ‘80s dance music.
10 responses so far ↓
1 GagaSellout // May 31, 2011 at 11:17 pm
Are you even a legitimate reporting site. Where did Gaga break any records? I read the billboard article and it was clear she performed well, but, did not break any records. Also, you make no mention of her Amazon deal which basically gave the album away. Shame on you for shoddy reporting.
2 It’s Official: Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ Sells 1.11 Million – Hollywood Reporter | Lady Gaga - The Fame // May 31, 2011 at 11:24 pm
[...] Gaga Rules Albums Chart with 1.1 Million in First WeekRap-Up.comEntertainmentwise -Hollywood Today Newsmagazine -HeadlinePlanet.comall 791 news [...]
3 GagaAmazing // May 31, 2011 at 11:54 pm
Cool to hear that Lady gaga broke the record for most downloaded digital album in a week.
It is real hard for any artist to sell that much in so little time in this day an age. The internet and piracy has absolutely trashed the music industry, looks like the Lady just might be on to something.
Great sounding album, best I’ve heard all year.
4 jason // Jun 1, 2011 at 12:03 am
I’m glad Amazon chose Gaga for it’s promotion. I was gonna pay full price for Gaga’s new CD until I my friends told me about the 99 cents deal at Amazon. So we all go it there instead. ‘Born This Way’ rocks, I love Scheibe, Hair, Marry The Night, You and I, Electric Chapel, & The Edge of Glory. Such amazing tracks, I might go buy the special edition next week.
5 jeffrey // Jun 1, 2011 at 12:26 am
GagaSellout:
Gaga broke 2011 records, as stated in the first paragraph. Who read it to you?
6 Jonathan // Jun 1, 2011 at 12:30 am
@Jeffrey his username ” gagasellout ” says it all. He probably hoped for a negative post.
7 Lady Gaga: On the “Edge of Glory” – New University Online | Lady Gaga - The Fame // Jun 1, 2011 at 12:44 am
[...] Albums Chart with 1.1 Million in First WeekRap-Up.comThe Corsair -Entertainmentwise -Hollywood Today Newsmagazineall 797 news [...]
8 shadow // Jun 1, 2011 at 12:45 am
Stephany! YOU rock hon and we all LOVE YOU and wish you the Best to come*
9 ICYNDICEY // Jun 1, 2011 at 2:36 am
Oh God…now we’re going to have to see this ugly bitch for another 2 to 3 years. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
10 WOW // Jun 1, 2011 at 7:15 am
Wendy O. Williams
Stand Back GAGA
So radical, so unique, innovative and ahead of her time was the now legendary Wendy O. Williams (WOW), that today, nearly 30 years after she first exploded onto the New York underground scene and nearly 20 years after she stopped performing, and nearly 10 years after her death, she still remains a threat to the poseurs, phonies, and hypocrites of the male-dominated cultural (and music) establishment and their service (hidden or not) to the hegemony of the power elite. Known during her day as first the “Queen of Punk”, “Queen of Shock Rock”, and “Dominatrix of the Decibels,” and later the “High Priestess of Metal”. “Wendy O.” (or “WOW”) as she was typically called, first grabbed the public’s attention as front person for the culture-shattering concept band Plasmatics, the counter-culture band of changing musicians created and put together around her by Yale MFA holding “anti-artist” Rod Swenson in 1977. Both Williams and Swenson shared a revulsion for the banality, conformity of contemporary cultural consumerism and its consequences and were determined to launch a head on assault. Williams’ fearless attitude and uncompromising tough agressive vocals, claiming territory previously reserved for males, even while giving the stiff middle finger to the establishment saw her get a Grammy Nomination as Best Female Rock Vocalist of the Year, while her jaw-dropping stage shows and political stance saw her banned in London, arrested multiple times and severely beaten by the police in Milwaukee, WI. During her 10 year recording career she produced 8 studio albums, multiple EPs, each which still stands as a landmark in musical history. Her death-defying accompanying videos still stand unmatched today, as do her stage shows which saw her destroying icons of mass consumerism such as the sledgehammering of TVs and the blowing up of full size cars on stage as well as the chainsawing of guitars. MORE
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