France Album Sales: Lady Gaga
Born This Way (2011) Era
Returning after an incredible two years that saw her drop eight smash singles in a row, Lady Gaga was absolutely everywhere in May 2011 for the release of her Born This Way sophomore album. The follow up effect as well as the utterly aggressive promotional campaign created what was at that point arguably the most hyped album since 2004/2005 mastodons from U2, Eminem, Coldplay and Madonna. When everything was said and done, this record someway disappointed, how?
The title track was definitely successful, peaking at #2 for a couple of weeks and granting seven weeks inside the Top 10. Released a full four months prior the album release, the song created hype for sure but wasn’t able to give legs to the album as it was too old already. #7 peaking second single Judas did well but nothing extraordinary yet, it also came out almost two months prior the album release.
Those two songs secured a predictable #1 debut for Born This Way with a very solid 55,000 sales. The airplay peak already passed / quickly reached for the two hits prevented the album from holding well yet. In spite of the huge score in week 1 in the middle of very weak June sellers, the record was out of the Top 20 after ten weeks.
Both The Edge Of Glory (#36 peak only as proper single although it went #7 as a buzz single a few weeks earlier) and Yoü And I (#98) failed to gain traction during the summer, letting the album plummet during their era. Out of the Top 100 by the start of November, Marry The Night was called to boost the album during the Christmas season. Hitting no better than #50, the song was unable to help. Those difficulties to get a new real hit during this era concluded on 165,000 albums sold by the end of the year, only three times more than first week sales, highlighting the album lack of consistency. Incredibly enough, minus the big sales reached during its first fortnight, the album hasn’t sold more than The Fame Monster in 2011 as this record shifted 90,000 units for the year. By the first week of 2012, the debut album jumped ahead of its follow up in weekly chart and outsold it more often than not since.
Just like the previous era, this one saw the release of a remix album, Born This Way, The Remix. It performed nowhere near the first one yet, peaking at #71 and selling 5,000 units. Both studio albums sold around 20,000 units during 2012.
Top 3 Most Streamed Tracks on Spotify
- Born This Way – 62,022,000
- The Edge Of Glory – 43,338,000
- Judas – 33,929,000