André

I think you guys are seriously underestimating her. 100k-150k? Isn't that what Plan B did a year ago? I think she'll do 200k. She has a huge fanbase and she'll surely do some heavy promo in the UK.

I seriously doubt they won't release the video for Girls. It was a HUGE production, with a HUGE budget and they were the first to get the Bad Romance video director since he did Bad Romance. And, considering the guy is now a Hollywood movie director (he directed "Water for Elephant"), that was not an easy feat. So rest assured the video will be released.

First of all: you're completely missing the point. Madonna's success has to do with MARKETING. That's the base of her career, that's what kept her on top for so long, that's the reason why people are still interested in her. I am a Madonna fan but music, love her or not, isn't the reason why she became a worldwide phenomenon. Her music is catchy and are good pop tunes but they aren't revolutionary in any way and, without all the scheme behind it, it wouldn't be the gigantic thing it turned out to be. Sorry but, if you REALLY remember Madonna "for her music", you are in the minority. People remember her for her outfits, for her groundbreaking videos and for controversy, in addition to her music. It's that simple. To compare the WHOLE marketing strategy, the way those girls are branded and sold to the public, to a comment like"Ke$ha copied Gaga cause they wore similar outifits" is stupid. I like Rihanna and Katy Perry but their music is not what made them big worldwide and kept them on top during those last few years. It's controversy, it's flashy outfits and videos, it's huge production concerts. Of course catchy songs are essential, that's what made the public pay attention to them in the first place, but that's just the starting point. Rihanna and Katy Perry success goes much, much deeper than their music. And I say this as a huge fan of pop music. Madonna was the one who created this, every other successful female pop singer followed her guidebook (be it musically or not), therefore, they wouldn't be here if Madonna had not paved the way. It's PRETTY simple. So there you go, it has nothing to do with them crediting her as "musical inspiration" or not (and this "musical inspiration" thing is pretty dumb since the ones who are "inspired" to create their music are Stargate, in Rihanna's case, and Dr. Luke, in Katy Perry's case. So you should ask THEM what their musical inspiration is). And yes, Rihanna and Katy Perry have amazing people making their music Their songs follow the formulas that are popular right now because, guess what, that's part of a marketing strategy. Rihanna releasing the eurodance sounding "Only Girl" and "S&M"? MARKETING, because eurodance is what's hot on the radio worldwide right now. And yes, Katy Perry CO-writes her songs, alongside other 10 people, it's not something extremely impressive. Anyway, that's my point: Rihanna, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Britney wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Madonna. And I'm pretty sure all those girls would agree if you asked them (they probably have aknowledged that in the past numerous time). And back on the original topic: I agree the huge ones right now are Rihanna, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. The first two are more single sellers (except Rihanna in the UK. But Katy Perry is a COMPLETE single seller: her album is doing pretty mediocre compared to the amount of huge smash hits it has spawned) and Gaga is more popular in both areas which, of course, make her the biggest right now. Britney isn't at her peak anymore and, imo, the reason why she doesn't promote it, is because she can't perform anymore and every performance is a disapointment for her fans (and, besides, I don't think she has much interest in her career anymore, she probs dgaf about her sales numbers), not to mention her songs are doing pretty well in US radio and, in America, that's what matters, more so than TV promo. Beyoncé will release her single in a few weeks and she'll probably make a huge impact once again since she's a pretty steady single and album seller, not to mention the best performers out of all those girls (she rivals, and tops imo, Gaga). Anyway, there's nothing wrong with marketing. That's part of what makes pop so fun. You're naive if you think it's mostly about the music. If that was the case, people wouldn't give a damn about album covers, music videos and flashy TV performances and, as pop fans, I think we would all agree that's part of the fun. Obviously, every single artist has marketing. Marketing is needed to sell albums; no marketing, no sales. All I'm saying is: most top 40 pop female singers follow Madonna's guidebook in which music is just a mere detail, alongside outfits, videos, evolving image and production, etc., while Adele follows a complete different guideline. Adele's marketing is based around her voice and her songwriting skills (and her approachable personality and looks), more in line with adult pop singers like Dido and David Grey in the past. Adele and Katy Perry/Rihanna are two complete different sides of the spectrum although, of course, both have marketing behind them.

LOL, right, cause Rihanna's and Katy Perry's success are based on their amazing musical talent, not marketing.

What? Are you guys serious with this whole thing? Madonna invented the whole business model every female singer follows today. I thought that was common sense, how old are you guys? 13? The whole "reinvent your image with each album", big concerts, high budget videos etc. became mainstream thanks to her and Michael Jackson. Rihanna, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, etc. OWNS A LOT to Madonna, even if they have never been ~inspired by her (and seriously "The only way they'd "not be here" if it wasn't for her is if she's one of the artists that inspired them to go into music" is a ridiculous statement). Anyways, back on topic now...

Madonna can sell a stadium anywhere in the planet, her albums ALWAYS cause huge interest, not to mention all those ladies wouldn't EXIST if it wasn't for her. So yeah, she's definitely up there. Seeing how Beyoncé is an album seller -- which neither Katy or Rihanna are (Rihanna is in the UK but not in the US etc) -- in addition to a single seller, she's also undisputedly one of the biggest imo. Bigger than Katy and Rihanna.

Wtf, xenophobia isn't racism

In Brazil, Mexico, UK, France and a bunch of other countries you can't. I mean, you can see the most recent ones (HIAM, Waka Waka, Sale El Sol) but that's it, you can't access the old videos. There's another chanel, BritneySpearsSME and ShakiraSME, for people in those countries to watch the videos (and I think those channels are blocked to those who can see it on VeVo). So no, Russia isn't on "most of the world" label, sorry. It's just one country out of a bunch, duh.

Worth noting most videos in ShakiraVEVO and BritneySpearsVEVO are blocked in most of the world.

Doubt it. The album was never high on Amazon or Play.com til 2 days ago. It's probably Gold on shipments though. It'll do well but I doubt it'll surpass 100k. It'll probably be #2, behind Adele.

Every single Black Eyed Peas song.

LOL, OK, Gaga song may not be original but PUH-LEASE, Jessie J's song is just a generic Dr. Luke track. Hardly original either.

Oh, they're not flops. It's just naive to think they're on the same level of popularity as Lady Gaga currently. Or to think they're close to being the biggest acts of the planet right now. They don't have good first week sales, they don't have a stable fanbase, their new album underperformed and they had to cancel plans of a stadium tour so there... not exactly the biggest. Still extremely popular of course. Didn't I already clarify I wasn't talking solely about their UK sales?

LOL, it didn't did half as well as expected, face it. It didn't even reach #1 at the HOT 100 and its sales in the US, and in most of the planet, were nothing to write home about, especially considering how well their previous singles sold. The SuperBowl halftime perf, which was watched by 75% of the US population, will prob help the song sales but still...

In terms of worldwide success? Black Eyed Peas' album is a big flop, This Time didn't did HALF as well as expected and they had to cancel plans of a stadium tour due to lack of interest (the only place they're playing stadium is Paris 'cause France is the only market where they still legit huge). Worldwide, I can name a few artists that are bigger than Black Eyed Peas. Eminem, for example, is bigger. Even Justin Bieber is currently a bigger franchise. And anyway, the Black Eyed Peas are big hit-makers. But they doesn't have a big stable fanbase AT ALL. Britney Spears, even when she doesn't have a big hit, is still able to have huge first week sales. The Black Eyed Peas' first week sales are PATHETIC. And I know lasting sales are more important but first week sales are where we measure how truly big an artist fanbase is (especially worldwide. The UK is one of the very few places where this isn't necessarily true). That's why Eminem, Britney and Gaga are considered the biggest acts worldwide.

Gaga is, without a doubt, bigger. Yes, BEP had I Gotta Feeling and two other mega hits in the same album, but Bad Romance and Poker Face were bigger than any of them with the exception of I Gotta Feeling. Also, there's the little fact that, um, BEP are flopping with their new album and, to a record company, that's what matters at the end of the day: ALBUM SALES. So yeah, Gaga, currently, isn't even on the same level as the BEP.

There's NO WAY in hell this list is true. At all. NO SONG sold close to 13 million, PUH-LEASE. The UK + the US are more than 50% of the sales of any Western act and if you add sales numbers for this 2 countries, the sale numbers are still EXTREMELY far from 13 million.

An advert. I've just seen it on 4 on Demand.

Congrats. And their sales will be huge the next few weeks considering the fact it's getting closer to Christmas and that they'll be at The X Factor and at the Strictly Come Dancing finale.

It's really depressing this equals "the whole world" to some people. Oh well... Shame Cheryl passed Rihanna.

Bruno Mars' song is unbelievably overrated. Oh well... Not really undebatable. Her latest album was, after all, a huge flop worldwide.

I'm reading the thread and do you guys SERIOUSLY think JLS stands ANY chance? I mean, with Robbie they somewhat did. It seemed unlikely but Robbie wasn't on top anymore, his image was a little tarnished and JLS were the new hot thing. But with Take That? They're completely, unquestionably on top (unlike Robbie was last year) and their last album had record-breaking first week sales. This album still has an "extra" bonus, with Robbie back with them again. Honestly, I think Take That will sell twice as much as JLS.

Take That handsdown. It's a good strategy for JLS though: those "chart battles" always increase sales. Unlike Take That or Robbie Williams, they doesn't have much to lose by not getting a #1 album, therefore, even if they miss out the top, they'll still be on advantage. It's win-win. But yeah, they have absolutely NO CHANCE against Take That who'll surely do over 300k (maybe even over 400k. They did it with The Circus). And JLS new album certainly won't sell as well as their previous, so I'm thinking less than 200k.

I don't think it's confirmed but I guess it's common sense... it's her new single after all, the video is already shot...

Maybe due to the fact her new video got so much media coverage in the last 24hrs?