Were you?

Yes. BTW started off with very strong airplay but Judas received hardly any. Go back to the Hot 100 radio airplay chart last year and see for yourself. As the OP pointed out, Judas entered the top 10 on BB Hot 100 off a very strong download base, but you can't perform well on this chart without radio support. In some ways I prefer the UK singles chart which is not distorted/manipulated by radio airplay.

How do you think Katy Perry managed to score 5 no.1 singles off the same album?

'Judas' wasn't great, though. The verses weren't radio friendly and the chorus was too bubblegum and sounded so 2009, like a bad copy of 'BR'. When the single fell apart in the chart during the 2nd week, radio started hesitating, like they did with Rihanna's 'YDO', so they increased the spins at a slow pace. And also, her performance on 'Ellen' was dreadful, so that didn't help her either.

Actually, I believe that its quality wasn't the only reason why 'Judas' underperformed. The main reason was that the buzz was dying down fast after 'BTW' (the single) got a lukewarm reception. 'BTW' would have received much less airplay if it wasn't the lead single and if it didn't receive Grammy promo, imo.

Yes I agree. BTW did well based on the hype alone. Judas was a very poor choice for a follow-up single. It should have been Edge of Glory or even Hair, which were much more radio friendly tracks.

I agree about 'EOG'. It should have definitely been the 2nd single. But even as the 3rd single, despite the mess that was its release date ( first released as a promo single, then confirmed one month later), could have been a huge hit and salvaged the era if it had a better video. The 'EOG' video was the ultimate buzz killer! And then Joe popped out of nowhere and this is when the era became subpar

Oh Judas. That was such a mistake on their part. I like the song well enough, but by god was that the wrong second single. It actually could have faired decently had it not been cock-blocked a week(?) later by TEOG. Gaga thinking she needed promo singles would be endearing if it hadn't messed things up.

I used to disagree that BTW should have been the first single, but now I think it was the right choice. She got the message out there, the crux of the album, and also got the bit of backlash out of the way first. Had it been followed by TEOG though, we'd be looking at a different campaign. It was a huge hit as it was, but could EASILY have slayed.

Oh well, you live and you learn (hopefully).

Totally agree about preferring UK charts. It's an immediate reflection of what people are buying that week, whereas radios can just play whatever they want (or are bribed to). Imagine if we had the same system, we'd forever have R1 endorsed singles charting despite minimal interest from music buyers.

TEOG could've easily debuted at no.1 if it had been released as the 2nd single. The reason it didnt go no.1 because the music video messed it up. Judas was the best music video of the era. I think TEOG was gonna be the lead single but it still would've kicked it off in style and if BTW had been the 2nd single it would've debuted at no.1 still. There lots of reasons why this era was a minor disappointment, it can go either way. I think it can depend on who you talk to about the BTW era.

Katy Perry is probably the radio version of Mariah Carey where you receive strong airplay with your singles and your songs will go no.1 easily. But she dont have the talent that Gaga or Mariah have. She's overshadowed internationally though by Gaga so that's why Katy is just pictured as the American girl type. Actually Katy can be even bigger in America than Gaga is though Gaga has more Twitter and Facebook followers than her but the radio proves that Katy is bigger.