Lady Gaga In 2020: Her Year In Review on the Billboard Chart

As Lady Gaga returns to her spot as the top Dance/Electronic Artist, we take a closer look at where she and her music placed on Billboard’s 2020 Year-End Charts. 

Returning to her roots, Lady Gaga began 2020 with the release of, Stupid Love, the first single off her newest album, Chromatica. The tumultuous year saw the release of the second single, Rain On Me, amid a global pandemic. However, this did not dim its success as the song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The initial planned release of her new studio album did not go as planned as Lady Gaga decided to withhold her album to focus on helping the world during the pandemic as well as give space, time, and a platform for the #BlackLivesMatter movement that swept the United States in the spring and summer. 

Norbert Schoerner

The album's eventual release on May 29th saw the album hit number one on the Billboard Hot 200. The success of the singles, album tracks, and the album itself are are all assembled bellow as I have gone through Billboard’s extensive catalogue of its year-end charts and have compiled a list where Lady Gaga appears in the top 50. 

First, we have the main category which consists of the Hot 100 Songs, Billboard 200 Albums, Top 100 Artists, as well as a sponsored Google chart, Google’s Top 200 Hummed Songs. 

• Rain On Me - #48 on Billboard Hot 100 
• Chromatica - #50 on Billboard Hot 200
• Lady Gaga - #50 on Top Artists
• Bad Romance - #20 Google’s Top Hummed Songs 
• Shallow  - #34 Google’s Top Hummed Songs 

Following the main categories, we have the Digital Songs Sales category. This is a category of the best selling songs from pure digital sales like on iTunes or when someone receives a code to a digital version of the album when they buy merchandise off her official store. 

• Lady Gaga - #25 Top Digital Sales Artists 
• Rain On Me - #21 Top Digital Songs Sales 

The Social 50 Artists Chart ranks artists based on their popularity on all major social platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. 

• Lady Gaga - #27 Social 50 Artists 

Radios also enjoyed Rain On Me, as it made the Top 40 Pop Songs list.

• Rain On Me - #40 Pop Songs 

Adults thoroughly appreciated Lady Gaga as the pop category sees her on multiple charts including Top Adult Pop Songs. 

• Rain On Me - #10 Top Adult Pop Songs 
• Stupid Love - #34 Top Adult Pop Songs 
• Rain On Me - #22 US Adult Contemporary Songs

Further down the list we have Lady Gaga dominate the Dance/Electronic Charts. 

• Lady Gaga - #1 Top Dance/Electronic Artists 
• Lady Gaga - #2 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Artists 
• Lady Gaga - #1 Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales Artists  
• Lady Gaga - #1 Top Dance/Electronic Album Artists 
• Chromatica - #1 Top Dance/Electronic Albums
• The Fame - #2 Top Dance/Electronic Albums
• Rain On Me - #3 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs 
• Stupid Love - #6 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs 
• Sour Candy - #16 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs 
• 911 - #27 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs 
• Free Woman - #32 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs
• Alice - #36 Hot Dance/Electronic Songs 
• Rain On Me - #2 Top Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales 
• Stupid Love - #4 Top Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales 
• Sour Candy - #21 Top Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales 
• Poker Face - #22 Top Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales 
• Bad Romance - #30 Top Dance/Electronic Digital Song Sales 

We then have Album Sales, which are charts that track pure album sales and do not include streaming of any kind in its placement. It does however track physical and digital sales. 

• Chromatica - #8 Top Album Sales 
• Chromatica - #9 Top Current Album Sales 
• Lady Gaga - #9 Top Album Sales Artist 

Closing out the chart we have the Top Soundtracks and Lady Gaga’s 2018, A Star Is Born, has made the list as the film saw a release on Netflix as well as being released for viewing on cable networks. 

• A Star Is Born - #4 Soundtracks

Norbert Schoerner

Reclaiming her throne as the Top Dance/Electronic Artist, Lady Gaga has achieved her goal of returning to her dance-pop roots. The charts indicate that the pop titan is able to masterfully keep her fans engaged as Rain On Me and Chromatica debuted at number one. Even her older music has been enjoyed by listeners as Poker Face, Bad Romance, and her debut album The Fame (2008) all have spots on Billboard’s 2020 year-end chart. Also, A Star Is Born continues to captivate audiences as it was the fourth best selling soundtrack of 2020. The single, Shallow,  also continues to charm listeners as it just reached a billion views on YouTube last week. 

In July, Bloomberg Magazine named Lady Gaga the world's biggest star due to the chart success and sales of her Chromatica album. It garnered 400,000 units in the album's first month. During that first month, she also became the most listened to artist on Spotify while simultaneously holding the number one spot on YouTube with almost 189 million views. According to ChartMasters.org, as of December 2020, Chromatica has achieved 680,000 units in the United States. Rain On Me has 542,000 units, Stupid Love is at 264,000 , and Sour Candy is at 194,000 units. 

In Chromatica's first week, Billboard reports that it debuted with 274,000 units as well as having 87.16 million on-demand streams, which at the time was the highest numbers seen for a pop album. When interviewing about making the album, Lady Gaga said:

"I'm a savage when I want to write a pop song".

For more of Lady Gaga’s 2020 interview with Billboard, click here.