Though critical reception has not been unanimously supportive, music fans have warmly welcomed the pair of new singles from pop divas Katy Perry and Lady Gaga.
At press time, “Roar” and “Applause,” the divas’ respective singles, maintain the top two positions on the iTunes sales chart. Embraced quickly by pop programmers, the two tracks are also building solid foundations at radio.
While both songs show strength, and thus jointly represent an upbeat start to the fall music season, Perry’s “Roar” seems to be taking an early lead with listeners.
According to Digital Sales Data, “Roar” generated roughly 1.7 times more paid iTunes downloads than “Applause” over the past twenty four hours. Early feedback from radio programmers, meanwhile, demonstrates a similar skew.
“Both songs have been well-received by our audience, but when it comes to social media, Perry’s ‘Roar’ has garnered more positive response,” says KXXM San Antonio’s Chase Murphy in an interview with Billboard. “I think, because of its pop appeal and texture, ‘Roar’ will probably be embraced by more formats and will eventually be heralded as a bigger song than ‘Applause’.”
MoJoe Roberts of KHOP has witnessed a similar early pattern, noting that “Roar”‘s empowerment message is resonating very well with female listeners.
Ultimately, however, he sees both as positives.
“The Katy single is phenomenal and the Gaga song is great … and much better than expected,” says Roberts.
Both Perry and Gaga will be releasing their third albums–“Prism” and “ARTPOP,” respectively–this fall. Fueled by juggernaut figures for her debut “The Fame,” Gaga has thus far sold more albums than Perry, although the “Roar” singer has proven to be a stronger performer on the Hot 100 singles chart.
Between the initial and deluxe releases, Perry’s sophomore album “Teenage Dream” produced a whopping six number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Her debut (not counting a 2001 release under the name Katy Hudson) “One of the Boys” produced several hit singles in its own right, including the number one smash “I Kissed a Girl.”
Lady Gaga is no slouch in the singles game, however. She has three number ones to her credit (“Just Dance,” “Poker Face” and “Born this Way”) and achieved a whopping 10x Platinum certification for number two hit “Bad Romance.” To date, Perry’s best-selling singles “Firework” and “ET” have each achieved 5x Platinum certifications.
