SINGER
STAGE OF GLOBAL CONQUEST: The blogosphere erupted earlier this year with debate over whether Gaga’s single “Born This Way” was a shameless rip-off of Madonna classics “Express Yourself” and “Vogue.” It doesn’t really matter, given that it scored a million digital downloads over five days in February after she performed it live at the Grammy Awards. Three months later fans downloading her third album crashed Amazon’s servers. With 12 million Twitter followers and 42 million Facebook fans, Gaga is a mega-phenomenon across the socialmedia landscape.
BRAND EXTENSION: In the space of four months, the pop sensation appeared on 60 Minutes, modeled 24-inch elevated shoes and a see-through bodysuit at a Paris fashion show, announced a deal with Zynga to promote herself on a FarmVille spin-off (it’s called GagaVille), and received the “Icon” award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.
WORLD-DOMINATION WATCH: This spring she supplanted Oprah atop *Forbes’*s most-powerful-celebrity list, thanks to her impressive tour revenues ($227 million) and her rabid Web following.
COOL FRIEND: Steve Jobs. Last year, Gaga and her tech-savvy manager, Troy Carter, visited Jobs at the Apple campus to try out Ping, Apple’s social network for music lovers.
STAY TUNED: Gaga, along with Eric Schmidt, has invested in Carter’s start-up Backplane, which aims to blend technology and entertainment by creating online communities around celebrities’ media presence. Gaga has a 20 percent stake in the company and will also serve as a creative adviser.
Fans downloading Lady Gaga’s third album, Born This Way, crashed Amazon’s servers.
