Lady Gaga Becomes Fifth Female Artist to Go Platinum in First Week

Despite allegations that she's stealing styles from artists of color, Lady Gaga mania continues.

By Jamilah King Jun 01, 2011

Despite our occasional hating, we can still be impressed by some — notably not all — things Lady Gaga. The singer recently became only the fifth female artist to pass the platinum mark in a week. Hollywood Reporter notes that her new album "Born This Way" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with 1,108,000 copies sold in its first week. Over 600,000 of those came from digital retailers. Here’s more:

Gaga is only the fifth woman to notch a million-plus week. The record frame for a woman is held by the bow of Britney Spears’ Oops! I Did It Again, which started with 1,319,000 upon its release in May of 2000. The Bodyguard soundtrack, driven mostly by Whitney Houston songs, was the first SoundScan-era album to shift a million, and it did so over the busy Christmas shopping week of 1992 (1,061,000). Later, Norah Jonas’ Feels Like Home debuted with 1,022,000 in 2004, and then the aforementioned Swift sizzled just last year.

Last year, iconic singer Grace Jones criticized Gaga for jacking her style. "I’d just prefer to work with someone who is more original and someone who is not copying me, actually," Jones quipped to reporters when asked if she’d consider a collaboration with Gaga. Sri Lankan-born singer M.I.A has leveled similar criticisms. Back in February, Jorge Rivas called the rising fashion queen the latest "poser Chola-in-Chief" after the Gaga’s title track "Born This Way" made explicitly referenced the term "choler."

Controversy aside, Lady Gaga continues to sell records and occasionally make bold political statements. And frankly, that’s a lot more than what can be said for most other mainstream artists.