Lady Gaga surpasses Bad Bunny to become the biggest pop star in the world (2023)

Lady Gaga surpasses Bad Bunny to become the biggest pop star in the world (1)

Lady Gaga has returned to the heyday of pop music.

Gaga was the world's biggest pop star according to Bloomberg's Pop Star Power Rankings last month, dethroning Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny after a three-month run.

Gaga rose to the top thanks to interest in her new album Chromatica, which was the best-selling album in the United States last month. Gaga sold more than 400,000 copies in a month when no other artist surpassed 300,000. Her lead singles "Stupid Love" and "Rain on Me" propelled Gaga through the roof on Spotify, where she was the most streamed artist in June, as well as on YouTube, where her videos surpassed 188 million views (ranked fifth ).

Chromatica is Gaga's first proper dance record in nearly a decade and her first real breakthrough into streaming as a solo artist. Gaga began her career when physical albums still accounted for the majority of total sales and broke out when iTunes was the main way to put music online.

After launching her career with three records of pure dance-pop, she recorded an album of jazz duets with Tony Bennett, which was followed by "Joanne," a mix of country and soft rock. While both albums were critically well received, neither was as successful as her previous effort, which would have done better on Spotify's pop and dance playlists.

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Gaga's success on streaming services began in an unlikely place: the "A Star Is Born" soundtrack.

Music movies are not the main genre for Spotify or Apple Music super users. However, since the film and song had the potential to be a huge hit, his label Interscope put the album up on streaming services and secured placement on playlists which are crucial for a song to be a huge hit. . (Roughly $436 million at the box office didn't hurt either.)

"A Star Is Born" was the fourth-biggest album in the world according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry last year, and its lead single "Shallow" was one of the top 10 songs of the year. Fans have streamed the song over a billion times on Spotify alone.

Gaga began working on Chromatica before ending promotion for A Star Is Born and writing debut single Stupid Love nearly three years ago. Part of her team had hoped to release the album in or soon after 2019 to capitalize on Gaga's performances at the 2019 Super Bowl and Academy Awards, but the album wasn't ready until 2020.

Gaga planned to release the album in April, the same weekend she was scheduled to perform at Coachella, North America's biggest music festival. Until the coronavirus caused the cancellation of Coachella and upended the entire world economy. Gaga, Sam Smith and Alicia Keys pushed back their release dates, avoiding a significant drop in music listening in the first month of the global lockdown.

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But with "Stupid Love" already available, Gaga and Interscope delayed the release until late May, when music consumption picked up. They also tapped into collaborations with two of the biggest artists in youth culture: Ariana Grande and Blackpink. Grande sings alongside Gaga on "Rain on Me," the album's second single, which has already surpassed "Stupid Love," while Blackpink, a Korean pop group, appears on "Sour Candy."

"Women will be at the forefront of this culture," said Daouda Leonard, manager of BloodPop, a producer who worked on much of the album. "Women are at the forefront of dance music and will start a new revolution."

(In an earlier version of this story, the name of the single "Stupid Love" was misspelled.)

Fuente: Pollstar, Spotify, Nielsen Music/MRC, CrowdTangle y YouTube

Design, development and data by Christopher Cannon, Julian Burgess and Alex McIntyre.

Methodology:
Bloomberg ranked the world's most influential pop stars based on six criteria:

  1. Show en vivo gross sales quarters
  2. 30-day ticket sales for live shows
  3. Four Week Album Sales
  4. Four-week digital music trail streams
  5. 30-day tracking of total interactions on Instagram
  6. Views on YouTube in the last four weeks

The data of the live shows are provided bypoll star, which ranks the top 100 artists by average gross sales per show and the top 75 artists by average number of tickets sold per show. Both data sets are released weekly, and Bloomberg uses the latest weekly releases for that month. From this universe of artists, Bloomberg calculates the total gross for the past three months and total ticket sales for the previous 30 days for this date.

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Album sales data provided by Nielsen Music/MRC Data. The figures are published weekly in theBillboard Top 200 Albumsbased on "Total Activity" defined as Albums, Track Equivalent Albums and On Demand Streaming Equivalent Albums combined. To build the universe of artists eligible for this month's rankings, Bloomberg includes all artists who are in the top 100 in any given week. Bloomberg then adds up each artist's total activity for the month. Figures for a specific week are included as long as the last day of that week falls within the calendar month.

Digital music streaming data is provided bySpotify. Numbers for the top 200 songs are released weekly. To build the universe of artists eligible for this month's rankings, Bloomberg includes all artists who are in the top 100 in any given week. Bloomberg then adds up the total number of streams from each artist over the course of the month. Figures for a specific week are included as long as the last day of that week falls within the calendar month.

Instagram data is provided bymultitudenredo. Interactions are measured during the calendar month, from the beginning of the first day of the month to the end of the last day of the month. The top 100 artists qualify for inclusion in the ranking.

YouTube publishes weekly data on the 100 most viewed artists and videos. Bloomberg uses artists from the"The best songs in the world"Build the universe of artists who qualify for the ranking. Bloomberg then adds up the total views for each artist for the month. Figures for a specific week are included as long as the last day of that week falls within the calendar month.

For shows, songs, or albums where multiple artists collaborate, each artist is considered a separate entity and is credited with the total amount of revenue, ticket sales, song streams, or views associated with the collaboration. When an act is an established duet or trio, the act is treated as a unit. Artists featured on a soundtrack album (as part of "Various Artists") are not included. For the March, April and May 2020 rankings, contributing artists were not included in the Spotify and YouTube data. They will be included in the ranking from June 2020.

Comedians, models and other artists who appear in the top 100 in six metrics (top 75 in 30-day box office earnings) but do not have a music career will be removed from the final universe. Each artist's ranking within the six variables reflects her position on this final list of eligible artists. An artist who did not rank for any of the six metrics means that they did not appear in the top 100 (top 75 for 30-day ticket sales) at any time in the previous month.

When the universe is set up, each artist is ranked based on each metric. Artists are rated on a scale of 0-100 for each metric based on their relative position in the metric's ranking. The best artist receives a score of 100, the worst artist receives a score of 0, while all other artists are rated proportionally based on their position between the best and worst artists. All six metrics are weighted equally and are calculated for a final score between 0 and 100.

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Note: Two changes have been introduced with respect to the April edition of the ranking:
1) Most artists have canceled or postponed tours due to the coronavirus, so there is no new ticket sales or box office data. It is not clear when that will change. The remaining four metrics each have a 25% weighting in this new version.
2) For data published weekly, the ranking now includes all data whose week ends in the specified calendar month. Previously, one week's worth of data was used when published in the calendar month.

FAQs

Who is the worlds biggest pop star ever? ›

Michael Jackson

As the King of Pop, it makes sense to begin the list with Michael Jackson. The legendary singer achieved fame at a young age through his musical family and their group the Jackson 5.

Who is the #1 pop star? ›

Billboard's Greatest Pop Stars of 2022: No. 1 — Bad Bunny.

Is Lady Gaga the biggest pop star? ›

Gaga was the biggest pop star in the world this past month, according to Bloomberg's Pop Star Power Rankings, dethroning Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny after a three-month run. Gaga surged to the top thanks to interest in her new record “Chromatica,” which was the best-selling album in the U.S.

Who is the biggest star in music history? ›

Artists by reputed sales
  • 250 million or more records. The Beatles. Elvis Presley. Michael Jackson. Elton John. Queen. Madonna. Led Zeppelin. Artist. Country. Period active. ...
  • 200 million to 249 million records. Eminem. Mariah Carey. Taylor Swift. Beyoncé Whitney Houston. Eagles. Celine Dion. Artist. Country. Period active.

Who is the biggest female pop star of all time? ›

Madonna is believed to have sold the most records among any female music artists in history, with 335 million records sold worldwide, recognized by the Guinness World Records and other major media outlets while the best-selling Latin artist of all time is Shakira with more than 90 million certified records sold.

Who is the king of pop in all world? ›

Michael Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer who was the most popular entertainer in the world in the early and mid-1980s. Even today he is widely regarded as the “King of Pop.”

Who is the best singer in USA? ›

25 Of The Greatest And Most Famous American Singers Of All Time
  • Aretha Franklin.
  • Elvis Presley.
  • Whitney Houston.
  • Madonna.
  • Bruce Springsteen.
  • Stevie Wonder.
  • Tina Turner.
  • Patsy Cline.
May 19, 2022

Who is the No 1 male singer in the world? ›

The unequivocal King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is and the most decorated singer in history, with 13 Grammys and 40 Billboard Music Awards, to name a few.

Who is more successful Lady Gaga or Beyonce? ›

Lady Gaga is the leading celebrity on Forbes' list of the world's 100 most powerful women, beating Beyonce by several places. At number 11, the singer has fallen several places since last year, when she was placed at number 7 - but she is still the highest-ranked celebrity. Beyonce is the next big star at number 18.

How many #1 does Lady Gaga have? ›

Let's take a look at the 5 times Lady Gaga reached the #1 spot!

Is Lady Gaga Queen of pop? ›

Lady Gaga: Queen of Pop is a biography of American singer Lady Gaga.
...
Lady Gaga: Queen of Pop.
Book cover, UK edition
AuthorEmily Herbert
Publication date2010
Media typePaperback
Pages288
6 more rows

What is the biggest selling music single of all time? ›

According to Guinness World Records, Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" (1942) as performed by Bing Crosby is the best-selling single worldwide, with estimated sales of over 50 million copies.

What album sold the most ever? ›

Michael Jackson's Thriller, estimated to have sold 70 million copies worldwide, is the best-selling album ever. Jackson also currently has the highest number of albums on the list with five, Celine Dion has four, while the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Madonna and Whitney Houston each have three.

Who sold more records Elvis or Michael Jackson? ›

Elvis Presley – 146.5 million units. Eagles – 101 million units. Billy Joel – 82.5 million units. Michael Jackson – 81 million units.

Who are the 3 biggest female artist? ›

Best selling female artists like Beyonce, Madonna, Rihanna, and others have ruled the billboard top list. Madonna is on the top with 300 million record sales till now.

Who has the best female voice ever? ›

Aretha Franklin

The Queen of Soul was unrivalled for decades when it came to having the best singing voice on the planet.

Who is the queen of pop of the world? ›

Queen of Pop is a nickname most commonly associated with American singer Madonna.

Who is the pop queen of all time? ›

Dubbed the "Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, and visual presentation. She has pushed the boundaries of artistic expression in mainstream music, while continuing to maintain control over every aspect of her career.

Who is considered the prince of pop? ›

Canadian singer Justin Bieber is referred to as the "Prince of Pop".

Who is the most loved singer? ›

Popularity rankingArtist
01DrakeTrack artist
02RihannaTrack artist
03ColdplayTrack artist
04EminemTrack artist
94 more rows

Who is the most famous singer alive? ›

fame is defined by the % of people who have heard of a contemporary music artist. Find out more
  • 1 Miley Cyrus97%
  • 2 Beyoncé97%
  • 3 Lady Gaga97%
  • 4 Taylor Swift96%
  • 5 Katy Perry96%
  • 6 Justin Timberlake96%
  • 7 Justin Bieber96%
  • 8 Rihanna96%

Who is No 1 singers? ›

Arijit Singh is the best singer in India in 2022, he has won a National Award and a total of six Filmfare Awards. He's often referred to as the “King of Playback Singing.” In his early days, he worked for music composer Pritam.

Who has the best vocal range of all time? ›

But it's Mariah Carey who takes the prize for the largest vocal range of all. She can reach a low F2 and hit an unbelievable G7, a note that dolphins would envy, and that only some dogs can hear. If playback doesn't begin shortly, try restarting your device.

Who is the queen of music? ›

Michael Jackson and Madonna have been closely associated with the terms "King and Queen of Pop" since the 1980s.

Who has the best male voice in the world? ›

The 20 best male singers of all time, ranked in order of pure...
  • Al Green. ...
  • Sam Cooke. ...
  • Otis Redding. ...
  • Frank Sinatra. ...
  • Nat King Cole. ...
  • Michael Jackson. ...
  • George Michael. An error occurred. ...
  • Freddie Mercury. The greatest frontman of all time, also just so happened to possess the greatest male voice of all time.
Jan 3, 2023

What singers can hit 7 octaves? ›

The seventh octave is the range of notes between C7 and C8. It is easier for very high coloratura sopranos to sing in this octave, but some people who are capable of singing in the bass range (like singers Adam Lopez, Virgo Degan, Nicola Sedda or Dimash Kudaibergen) can do it.

Which singer has the most number 1? ›

Mariah Carey (USA) has topped the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on 19 different occasions.

Which male singer has the highest vocal range? ›

glad to see Mike Patton is on top. Patton has the highest range in music, with 6 octaves.

Who has more awards Beyoncé or Adele? ›

In 2021, Beyoncé became the most-awarded female artist in Grammys history, with 28 wins to date, and she's the most-nominated artist at this year's ceremony. Adele has 15 Grammy awards and hasn't lost a single nomination since 2010.

Are Gaga and Beyoncé friends? ›

' Beyoncé and Lady Gaga first struck up a friendship when they appeared in a Thelma & Louise-themed music video to accompany Gaga's 2009 hit single 'Telephone'.

Who is a better singer Lady Gaga or Beyoncé? ›

They're both mezzos, if we talk from a technical standpoint, Beyoncé is a lot better. She carries good breath support and resonance to higher notes in both her mix and head voice, as well as her lows. She is also able to do very complex runs well.

What is Lady Gaga's biggest hit? ›

  • Poker Face. Lady Gaga. 01.03.09. ...
  • Bad Romance. Lady Gaga. 11.14.09. ...
  • Telephone. Lady Gaga Featuring Beyonce. 12.12.09. 04.03.10.
  • Paparazzi. Lady Gaga. 09.12.09. 10.17.09.
  • The Edge Of Glory. Lady Gaga. 05.28.11. 05.28.11.
  • Applause. Lady Gaga. 08.31.13. 09.07.13. ...
  • Alejandro. Lady Gaga. 04.17.10. 06.26.10. ...
  • LoveGame. Lady Gaga. 03.21.09. 06.27.09.

What records has Lady Gaga broken? ›

At present, Lady Gaga holds three Guinness World Records — one for being the most downloaded artist in a single year, awarded in 2009, and another for her song “Poker Face,” which spent a record-breaking 83 weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Hot Digital Songs chart.

How many House does Lady Gaga have? ›

Hollywood Hills

The pop superstar owns two homes in California, and used to rent one in New York City. Gaga owns a $5.25million mansion in Hollywood Hills, just 12 minutes from where the dognapping occurred.

Who is considered the queen of rock and roll? ›

Tina Turner, the iconic singer known as the "Queen of Rock and Roll," has now been immortalized with a Barbie doll in her honor.

Who is Lady Gaga compared to? ›

Lady Gaga and Madonna have been compared to each other since the start of Gaga's career, but the singer is making it clear that she's tired of it. During her 40-minute interview with Beats 1 Radio's Zane Lowe, Mother Monster explained just what makes the two pop stars different.

Why is Lady Gaga so famous? ›

She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenager, singing at open mic nights and acting in school plays. She studied at Collaborative Arts Project 21, through the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, before dropping out to pursue a career in music.

What is the best selling female song of all time? ›

Whitney Houston 'I Will Always Love You'

This single spent 14 weeks at number one making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. It also holds the record for being the best-selling single by a woman in music history.

Who has the most #1 songs of all time? ›

The Beatles, unsurprisingly, lead the way with a record 20 No. 1s, all earned between 1964 and 1970.

Who has a Diamond album? ›

Diamond (10+ million) certified albums and singles
Year of releaseArtist(s)Title
1982Michael JacksonThriller
1976EaglesHotel California
1980AC/DCBack in Black
1971Led ZeppelinLed Zeppelin IV
3 more rows

Who has the most #1 albums in a row? ›

1 studio albums (as of 5 November 2022): Taylor Swift – 11, in 2008-22; Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989, reputation, Lover, folklore, evermore, Fearless (Taylor's Version), Red (Taylor's Version) and Midnights; Jay-Z – 10, in 2002–17; Kanye West – 10, in 2005–21; The Beatles – 9, in 1964–68; Eminem – 9, in 2000–20; ...

Who has the longest number 1 album? ›

Michael Jackson (51 weeks)

1 than any other non-soundtrack album in the entire 1956-2022 period. MJ spent more weeks at No. 1 than any other Black artist. (Houston is runner-up at 46 weeks.)

Who has more gold records than Elvis? ›

Chris Brown has extended his lead over Elvis Presley as the male singer with the most Gold-certified singles in music history.

Who sold more records than Elvis Presley? ›

Perhaps unsurprisingly, British rock band The Beatles are top of the list for best-selling artists worldwide, with 183 million units certified sales. Second is Garth Brooks with over 157 million units sales, followed by Elvis Presley with 139 million units.

Did Elvis sell 1 billion records? ›

Over the course of Elvis' life, he achieved some of the highest accolades in music and film. It is estimated that more than one billion Elvis records have been sold worldwide, more than anyone in record industry history.

Is Taylor Swift the biggest pop star? ›

Taylor Swift, No. 3 Pop Star of 2022: Greatest Pop Stars – Billboard.

Who is the biggest male pop star? ›

1. Michael Jackson. What is this? The unequivocal King of Pop, Michael Jackson, is and the most decorated singer in history, with 13 Grammys and 40 Billboard Music Awards, to name a few.

Is Harry Styles the biggest pop star in the world? ›

Harry Styles, No. 2 Pop Star of 2022: Greatest Pop Stars – Billboard.

Is Taylor Swift the biggest pop star in the world? ›

As of December 2022, The Weeknd has the most monthly listeners on Spotify for a male artist, and Taylor Swift has the most monthly listeners on Spotify for a female artist. Ed Sheeran is the most-followed male artist, and Ariana Grande is the most-followed female artist.

Who is the Queen of pop Taylor Swift? ›

Taylor Swift now holds the record for most American Music Awards, beating the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson. Swift won six AMAs at the annual awards show in Los Angeles on Sunday night, including artist of the decade, bringing her career total up to 29.

Who is bigger Taylor Swift or Drake? ›

Swift, 32, also took the first place spot in most viral artists globally. Drake came in third place for most-streamed artists globally and first for most-streamed artists in the United States.

Is Taylor Swift a mega star? ›

Back with her 10th album, the singer continues to break records more than a decade into her career.

Who has the best voice ever? ›

The greatest singing voices of all time
  • 1 of 35. Celine Dion. Kevin Winter/Getty Images. ...
  • 2 of 35. Barbra Streisand. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for BSB. ...
  • 3 of 35. Etta James. ...
  • 4 of 35. Nina Simone. ...
  • 5 of 35. Aretha Franklin. ...
  • 6 of 35. Whitney Houston. ...
  • 7 of 35. Smokey Robinson. ...
  • 8 of 35. Mariah Carey.
3 days ago

Who is bigger Harry Styles or Justin Bieber? ›

Personal Wealth. Despite an estimated net worth of US $23 million, Harry Styles is way behind Justin Bieber who recently topped the Forbes' list of the Highest-Earning Celebrities Under 30. The Boyfriend singer has an estimated net worth of US $200 million.

Is Harry Styles bigger than The Beatles? ›

Singer Harry Styles has said One Direction are "bigger" than The Beatles when it comes to fame. He also made it clear the band do not believe their music is in "the same league" as the Fab Four. "We all sat and watched the film of The Beatles arriving in America. And, to be honest, that really was like us.

Who is the biggest pop star of the decade? ›

Let's get started.
  • Taylor Swift.
  • Beyoncé
  • Adele.
  • Lady Gaga.
  • Drake.
  • Ed Sheeran.
  • Kanye West.
  • Ariana Grande.
Dec 10, 2022

Who is more popular Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift? ›

Which is more popular? I guess Lady Gaga is more popular than T. Swift ! Gaga sold like fifteen million albums worldwide and she has been included in Time magazine's annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world...

Is Taylor Swift the most successful singer? ›

Having sold over 200 million records globally, Swift is one of the best-selling musicians in history. She is the most streamed woman on Spotify, and the only act to have five albums open with over one million copies sold in the US.
...
Taylor Swift
Websitetaylorswift.com
Signature
16 more rows

How many #1 hits does Taylor Swift have? ›

With 188 chart entries on the Billboard Hot 100 (including 9 number-ones and 40 top-tens), Swift is the female artist with the most charted songs in the United States.

Videos

1. Bad Bunny ADMITS To Selling His Soul For Fame👁
(NiTris Tv)
2. Taylor Swift - Look What You Made Me Do
(Taylor Swift)
3. Bad Bunny, Taylor Swift Named Spotify's Most Streamed Global Artists Of 2022
(NBC News)
4. Bad Bunny, BLACKPINK & Frank Ocean to Make History as Coachella Headliners | Billboard News
(Billboard)
5. Freddie Mercury - The Great Pretender (Official Video Remastered)
(Freddie Mercury Solo)
6. Lady Gaga - Paparazzi (Official Music Video)
(Lady Gaga)

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