When the Nielsen SoundScan numbers come in on Wednesday, Katy Perry will come out on top after an unexpected sales battle between the pop singer and Lady Gaga.
After Gaga's "Applause" leaked online, she was forced to release the track to radio on the same day Perry unleashed "Roar" to iTunes. Immediately, industry watchers relished over the possibility of two singles debuting in the same week with over 400,000 copies, something that's never been done before.
A week later, the story is much different. Despite initial concern from some of Perry's fans about "Applause" perhaps stealing the singer's thunder, Gaga's numbers haven't matched the hype. Whereas "Applause" began tracking in the 200,000-range for first-week sales, "Roar" surpassed early expectations of 400,000 and grew well beyond 525,000 as the week went on.
On iTunes alone, "Roar" sold 544,000 copies in its first week, according to the digital retailer. That is enough to give Perry the highest sales week of her career, without even factoring in Amazon MP3 and any others. Her previous record was with "Firework," which sold 509,000 copies in December 2010.
To be fair, Gaga's song arrived to retail a day after Perry's, but being outsold 2-to-1 is hardly the kind of difference a day makes. Feeling the pinch, Gaga even launched a Twitter contest, urging fans to take it up a notch and even purchase multiple copies of her single.
This is all from the singer who many critics have praised for years as the "new Madonna." Her last album's lead single (and title track), "Born This Way," debuted with a staggering 448,000 downloads in only three days. Although the final numbers have yet to arrive (due Wednesday), it's highly unlikely she'll approach that number with "Applause"—with nearly a full week's worth of sales this time around.
While neither singers offer anything groundbreaking in their new singles, some critics have whittled it down to lyrical content: Gaga's "Applause" is self-praising and boastful, while Perry's "Roar" is simply a bare-bones, radio-ready cut with a self-empowerment theme that just about anyone can relate to.
Of course, this is merely one "battle." Gaga is still a force to be reckoned with in pop culture. And it remains to be seen how her ARTPOP album and Perry's Prism record will perform this fall. But after all the hoopla over Gaga as the supposed heir apparent to pop's throne, is she starting to let the crown slip away? Or was it ever in her grip to begin with? Stay tuned.