The big news on the Billboard 100 this week, other than Robin Thicke snagging
an 11th week at No. 1 with "Blurred Lines," was obviously the 85-2 blast of
Perry's "Roar" and the No. 6 bow for Lady Gaga's "Applause."
As a sort-of Hot 100 after party, how do Perry and Gaga fare in comparison to
each other when it comes to their career album and digital song sales? Given
that both artists first charted on the Hot 100 in 2008, it's a pretty even
playing field (one which we're apparently about to help set more fire to …)
Here are each star's best-selling digital songs and their U.S. album sales
through the week ending Aug. 18, according to Nielsen SoundScan:
Katy Perry: Digital Songs
6,341,000,
"Firework"
5,606,000, "E.T." (feat. Kanye West)
5,542,000, "California
Gurls" (feat. Snoop Dogg)
5,414,000, "Hot N Cold"
4,573,000, "Teenage
Dream"
4,444,000, "I Kissed a Girl"
3,470,000, "Last Friday Night
(T.G.I.F.)"
3,074,000, "Wide Awake"
2,662,000, "Part of Me"
2,617,000,
"The One That Got Away"
2,211,000, "Waking Up in Vegas"
1,079,000,
"Thinking of You"
643,000, "Peacock"
Lady Gaga: Digital
Songs
6,987,000, "Poker Face"
6,809,000, "Just Dance" (feat.
Colby O'Donis)
5,401,000, "Bad Romance"
3,918,000, "Born This
Way"
3,388,000, "Paparazzi"
3,268,000, "Telephone" (feat.
Beyonce)
2,792,000, "The Edge of Glory"
2,558,000,
"LoveGame"
2,473,000, "Alejandro"
2,181,000, "You and I"
942,000,
"Judas"
781,000, "Starstruck"
Katy Perry: Albums
2,749,000, "Teenage Dream"
(2010)
1,529,000, "One of the Boys" (2008)
55,000, "MTV Unplugged" (EP)
(2009)
Lady Gaga: Albums
4,525,000, "The Fame" (2008)
2,298,000, "Born This Way" (2011)
1,566,000, "The Fame Monster" (EP)
(2009)
57,000, "Born This Way: The Remix" (2011)
302,000, "The Remix"
(2010)
40,000, "A Very Gaga Holiday" (EP) (2011)
The totals?
First, digital song sales:
Katy Perry: 49,897,000
Lady
Gaga: 46,322,000
And, album sales:
Lady Gaga: 8,817,000
Katy Perry:
4,333,000
So … Perry narrowly leads in digital song sales, while Gaga boasts a
more than two-to-one lead in album sales, reflecting the latter's
clearer status as an album act.
In all, victories for both Little Monsters and Katycats! ... Plenty more
discussion is a lock as "Roar" and "Applause" grow, leading up to the releases
of Perry's album "Prism" (Oct. 22) and Gaga's "ARTPOP" (Nov. 11).
(Special thanks to Nielsen SoundScan's Nancy Wagner and Anna
Loynes)