Gaga Hits 1,000,000 Sales

© Nick Knight

It was was announced today by album-sales tracker Nielsen SoundScan, Lady Gaga's latest album Born This Way, which was released just over a week ago, succeeded in selling 1.11 million albums during its first full week at retailers, outselling the top 20 of the Billboard 200 combined. Born This Way is only the 17th album to sell over one million copies in a week since SoundScan began in 1991, and has become the ninth fastest-selling album in the U.S. ever!

The outstanding sales are the highest since 50 Cent’s The Massacre sold 1.14 million copies in March 2005. The overall record remains in the hands of ‘NSYNC, whose No Strings Attached sold a superior 2.42 million records during its debut week in 2000.

Of course, Amazon.com’s controversial decision to sell the record for just 99 cents to draw interest to their new "cloud" service no doubt helped increase the numbers, as it’s estimated that the online retailer sold upwards of 440,000 of the album at the bargain price. Lady Gaga’s manager Troy Carter does not view the deal as a chart manipulation, but rather as an opportunity to get more fans listen to the music legally. “Although we weren’t aware of Amazon’s deal, I applaud them for their efforts,” he said. “Anytime we can get people to purchase music legally, it’s a good thing for the business.”

Online purchases in general helped fuel Lady Gaga’s success. Digital sales totaled 662,000, a hefty 60 percent of the album’s first week total. It is the biggest week for a digital album in SoundScan history.

CONGRATULATIONS GAGA!

P.S. Who called it?