C”mon. Did anyone really think that the Rapture was going to happen before Lady Gaga put out “Born This Way?” Trust me, if Momma Monster had any inkling that the Rapture might be real, she would have popped that puppy two weeks ago.
As it is, sales of “Born This Way” are proving rapturous for Lady Gaga as it looks like she”ll top out around 1.15 million for her opening week, according to Billboard.
1. Lady Gaga (last week, No. 2): “Born This Way” is a lock to arrive at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 after Lady Gaga does everything but go house to house to promote the set.
2. Scotty McCreery (not ranked): The 17-year old wins “American Idol”s” 10th season. He”s a lot country and not even a little bit rock and roll. We”ll see if he”s more Carrie Underwood than Taylor Hicks with time.
3. Amazon (not ranked): The retailer pushes its cloud service with offering Lady Gaga”s “Born This Way” for 99 cents for the whole album. Not for one, but for two days. Billboard calculates the cost to Amazon is $3.2 million, although the media attention it received in return has to be worth way more.
4. Beyonce (not ranked): Sure, Scotty may have won “American Idol,” but what people were talking about the next day was Beyonce”s killer performance of new song, “1+ 1,” from her forthcoming album “4.” With a few shakes of her hip, she proves that this girl definitely still runs the world.
5. American Idol (not ranked): And while we”re at it. “American Idol” makes the list because of its restored life. While pundits were proclaiming the show”s glory days were behind it following Simon Cowell”s departure, Wednesday”s finale drew 29.3 million viewers, up 21% over last year. That doesn”t sound like dead to me.
6. LMFAO (not ranked): Los Angeles duo”s “Party Rock Anthem” has already spent four weeks at No. 1 in the U.K., but now the U.S. is catching up on what may be the song of the summer. The tune, which features Lauren Bennett and GoonRock, soars 20-8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
7. Rock on the Range (not ranked): God knows it doesn”t get one-tenth the attention of a Lollapalooza or Coachella, but the Columbia, Ohio, 3-day festival wrangled in 70,000 fans in its fifth year to see such headbangers as Avenged Sevenfold, Korn, A Perfect Circle and Disturbed.
8. Pandora (not ranked): The online radio streaming service continues to grow by leaps. Pandora”s first quarter results reveals 94 million registered users up 77% from the same period last year. This Pandora”s box is wide open.
9. “The Book of Mormon” (not ranked): The soundtrack blasted on to the Billboard 200 this week at No. 31, making it the highest-charting cast album in 3 years. How long before we hear about a movie version of the Broadway musical, which was created by “South Park”s” Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
10. Amy Winehouse (not ranked): Troubled singer heads back to rehab and supposedly will be out before her tour starts June 18. Oh Amy, please don”t make it where all we remember you for is the mayhem, not the music. No, no, no.
What do you think of this week’s rankings? Share your thoughts below.