nice try but no, Adele is about the least cocky person ever to walk on a stage

i'm no Gaga fan but as with all artists these days people get more caught up in their career trajectory than they care about the music (it was a sad day for music when sales figures became common knowledge week on week).

Artists are supposed to try different things out and do what they feel, some works out better than others, if people didn't really like this stuff of Gaga's it doesn't mean the next won't do better. It's not all a downward or upward curve, it comes and goes, always has done, even The Beatles or Elvis or whoever had their unpopular periods.

I'd advise her to go away for a (fairly lengthy) re-think, and simply write some better songs for next time

Spot on. BTW won't sell another 4 million over the next 12 months. That is seriously wishful thinking. It could probably sell another 2 million over the next year but as you say all her bulk sales happened too early on. Albums that perform this way usually have their sales die out due to the mass rush at the beginning. This isn't anything new. Its just the way it always happens.

You're also right about there being no big killer single this era. Edge Of Glory could have been but the video killed it. You & I could also have been but its too different for the usual pop of 'Gaga' which is why with the video she had to sell it with everything but the kitchen sink! she didn't have the balls to just sell it as herself with a simple piano. Which had she done so she would probably have appealed to a bigger mass audience as music ''snobs'' would have taken notice and may have bought the album. So again she let herself down on that front.

Excuse me? May I refer you to her weekly WW sales:

#5 [113.000]
#4 [106.000]
#6 [87.000]
#4 [84.000]

Her decreases have been smaller and smaller over time and she's looking to see an increase soon due to the VMA effect. She's already at 4.2M on the UWC, and with 18/19 weeks left, you don't think she can sell 800k? You don't think she can average 42-44k per week through Christmas?

Research your statistics before making outrageous, baseless remarks like that.

I DO think Gaga is struggling.

This album campaign has transpired into a chaotic "I'll throw everything at the kitchen sink and see what sticks" type of affair.

When this campaign started I really thought she was going to go somewhere with the prosthetic horns, 'new race' thing and that that would be her visual focus for this era. But then she dumped that idea for no apparent reason and moved onto about 50 other ideas.

This inconsistency might not have been a problem if the music itself was of a higher quality (because at the end of the day, great music trumps everything else) but that hasn't been the case either. The underperformance of this era is further emphasised by the hyperbolic statements Gaga was making in the build up to this album (greatest album of the decade, cultural anthem etc etc....)

I think for her own sake, she needs to not be as arrogant in the future and to have a clearer focus at the outset when releasing albums.

Whenever I dress cool,
My parents put up a fight
And if I’m a hotshot,
Mom will cut hair at night
In the morning I’m sure of my identity
I scream Mom and Dad
Why can't I be who I wanna be?

She's still doing really really well, she has huge sales but I think the hype is finally dying down. Adele has really taken over this year. But I think Gaga has enough fans now to be quite a successful artist for years to come. Her debut was a smash hit and the follow up has done really well, she's got a huge fan base and has sold out concerts all over the world. I'm not a big fan of Lady Gaga at all, but I do think she's here to stay for atleast another 4-5 years.

The only thing baseless is the claims she will sell another 5 million of BTW between now and the end of next year. This is never going to happen in a million years. Those two users are in principle spot on in everything they have said.

I love your posts. You have all of Gaga's problems nailed. She could do with someone like you advising her.

What a rather aggressive and frankly, daft post. So wearing a dress made out of meat which you claim is worthless (try telling that to the starving in the world) was like a protest against the world's Governments and how the Governments are eroding our freedoms and rights?

So she isn't free in the States to express her freedom of speech, to perform without permission, to make political statements, to wear bizarre outfits and say bizarre things. She hasn't got the right to protest, to vote, to make something of herself? Please! Like the United Kingdom, these freedoms and rights are in place to take advantage of. Wearing a meat dress wouldn't suggest to me any political statement. All it suggests is "Look, I'm Lady Gaga and I'm wearing a dress made out of meat! Aren't I odd!?"

Anyone who believes any reason or statement regarding the dress are deluded.

Errrr...................I think I have managed, in my 43 years of life, to grasp how album sales work. Funny how you forgot to mention the 85% drop in her album sales during the second week of release.

BTW will likely sell 5.6 million -6 million copies. Most who want the album have got the album. Of course more copies will sell, but the initial sales are what is important, and it is initial sales that gauge estimates of what the overall sales are likely to be. That's exactly why record companies specially pick release dates. They are looking for the period that will have the biggest impact.

As I said, if Madonna's so called flop albums can muster up sales of 5-6 million, then Gaga selling 6 million for BTW is not particularly fantastic!

Btw, Madonna's True Blue has sold 21 million copies. Ray of Light has sold 15 million copies. You really need to look at what other artists are selling before you jump down people's throats and accuse them of not having any idea how record sales work.

I partly agree.People are always examining the numbers and reaching conclusions based on them, but they forget that an album's success is determined based on how much the label gained.The BTW promo campaign was extremely costly and people tend to ignore that.Supposing that the label spent 12 million dollars to book promo, get studios for rehearsals, get her around the world to promote, pay the writers and the producers, fund her videos and of course pay GaGa too then even if the album sells 7 million dollars they won't be fully satisfied and the sales will be considered mediocre.Let's not forget that the label manufactured millions of copies and that process is expensive too(and many people forget that too when reviewing numbers and chart runs).
However, I should point out that it's kind of invalid to bring up Madonna's 80's and 90's sales.Those 2 decades were the ultimate peak for album sales.Noone can sell like that anymore, because the sales have decreased massively.There hasn't been an album that sold more than 20 million since Britney's debut and that was 1999...

I almost agree with you. You are right about the 80's and 90's impacting huge record sales. But artists can still muster up 15 million copies of a record. Mind you, your post is so full of very important and overlooked facts and figures that I can't disagree with it at all, even if I wanted to!

(Confessions on a Dance Floor has sold 14 million copies to date!)

I quite like LGG, she's interesting and very talented and her albums are quite good. But she pisses me off a lot too. She just goes too OTT with the publicity stunts, ridiculous videos and stupid costumes (the black and white hair/makeup when she was on American Idol was just disgusting)

But I don't think she's struggling at all. her enormous legion of fans will keep her succesful for years to come. And even though Judas didn't do brilliantly, it did well.

Born This Way went #1 all over the place, and top 5 everywhere else.
Edge Of Glory has done very well too
and You & I looks set to be a smash too.

The album sales are decent too, and her tour will no doubt sell out very quickly.

Would the term brainwashed help? Seriously..

Can you provide examples please. Or are you just posting baseless factually inaccurate bile?

Because I still have a very copy of Q magazine which when reviewing the second Cyndi Lauper album True Colors which said ".... even though she is unquestionably a superior singer one can't help but feel she lacks the vision, imagery and game plan which the hungrier, younger Madonna possesses to be a major pop star for years if not decades to come".

The Beatles "1"
Santana "Supernatural"
Dido "No Angel"
Backstreet Boys "Black & Blue"
Linkin Park "Hybrid Theory"
Norah Jones "Come Away With Me"
Usher "Confessions"

A collection of albums all released after Britney's debut that are reported to have sold 20 million plus. Some may not be completely accurate but I think we can agree The Beatles, Santana and to an extent Norah Jones are pretty much done deals; also bearing in mind Britney's album might be subject to inflated predictions itself.

I agree!! she/he seems to have Gaga totally summed up.

I was mostly talking about pop albums, but I didn't make that clear indeed.However, the market has definetely declined since the 90's, so my point is still valid.If you notice, all those albums that have indeed sold more than 20 million copies (Usher and Norah haven't officially reached 20 million, I believe, but Wikipedia wouldn't mention a number like 19,856,724...) were released during the late 90's and stopped selling in 2000 or 2001, so there hasn't been an album to sell that much for a long time and that was my point

Um. according to EMI (y'know that multinational music company, one of the big 4) Norah has actually surpassed 20 million http://www.emimusicpub.com/news/emi-...orah-jones.php

And yes it was hard to decipher what you originally meant when all you stated was "Britney had the last album to sell 20 million +"
Just sayin'

P.S Come Away With Me was released in 2002

Also, might be less embarrasing for everyone if you actually sourced your sales figures first before you invent them

I know EMI...Anyway, 1999, 2000, 2002, it's not my point.My point is that the industry has declined and that some numbers that could actually be possible in the 90's and the 00's seem like miracles now.Adele has sold 9 million copies ww and 21 is the ultimate smash album.9 millions sold 10 years ago would mean nothing.That was my point.

Btw, you have quoted my phrase incorrectly.That way, it seems like I was talking about Britney and trying to big her up, when all I said is that the last huge-selling album was released more than 10 years ago.

And you think I invented the sales??Most of the albums you mentioned were released around that time and Dido's album was released in most territories in 1999 or 2000.The only album that I should be corrected for not mentioning is Norah Jones' and maybe Linkin Park's too but you're making it such a big deal.My point is that the industry is not the same.

"There hasn't been an album that sold more than 20 million since Britney's debut and that was 1999..."

That was your exact quote. Thats what i was disputing and for some reason you keep changing your point, that was your initial point and that was the point i was debating. Close book.

And for the record Adele has sold that amount in about 7/8 months, so lets wait another 10 years and see what the total sales will be... including the typical Britney-style inflation that gets added

I don't think I have changed my point...not even once.My whole response was about the industry having changed and I posted it to show that we cannot expect Lady GaGa to pull off insane numbers.The 2nd paragraph of my post was about the market having dropped and I used Britney as an example, it's not like the whole post was hyping up Britney's success.I just used Britney's album to give a point.If there was an album released 6 months/1 year/2 years later that sold more than 20 million copies, that was not my point.
And btw I think you're acting like I said that on TV.It's a forum!!We don't need to spend 10 minutes on Google everytime we want to post something.I'd expect a person to just correct me politely and I really don't think that Norah Jones is mad at me for not mentioning her sales...

You are being deliberately obtuse.

It is quite apparent that album sales have declined in the past 10 years. Anyone who argues against that clearly knows very little.

Agreed. Which is why Adele is mullering everybody this year as her sales are turn of the century-esque whereas all the others are recessionary 2011-esque.

So you agree that Gaga is struggling because she's not selling "turn of the century-esque" numbers unlike Adele...i.e. anything short of exceedingly, and very uncommonly, successful is struggling?

Not feeling the logic there.

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. Her album is nearly at 5 million within a couple of months, even if it she doesn't sell a single copy over that figure that's nothing to be sneered at. She's going to have the second biggest album of the year.