"Circus" to top Billboard 200!

Photo credit: Jive Records
According to hitsdailydouble.com and other album sales predictions, Britney Spears' sixth studio album, titled "Circus", will top the Billboard 200 chart this week. Far exceeding expectations of 300,000 copies, "Circus" is looking to sell between 450,000 and 500,000 copies in its first week of release, making it one of the years top selling albums (and second highest female debut of the year). The astounishing figures come thanks in part to a flurry of media appearances including Good Morning America, New York & Los Angeles' tree lightining ceremonies, MTV's VMA's, Madonna's Los Angeles tour stop, and a documentary titled "For The Record" which was one of the most watched shows on MTV this year. First single "Womanizer" has been topping the charts for several weeks now and shattered several records, new single "Circus" is already picking up a lot of spins on radio. Spears' last effort, "Blackout", opened with about 290,000 copies but quickly experienced a decline in sales because an enormous lack of promotion (other than the tragic 2007 MTV VMA's performance) and negative press left and right which saw the pop star lose custody of her kids, shave her head entire bald, drink and drug fueled episodes all over Southern California and multiple involuntary psychiatric stays in the UCLA mental health facility. Akon's new album is expected to come in behind Spears with the 2nd highest debut with sales in the 80,000-90,000 range.

Update: "Circus" sold 505,073 copies in its first week of release in the U.S.

Here's the video for her new single "Circus":

Lady Gaga - The Fame

Photo Credit: Interscope Records

Lady Gaga (real name: Joanne Stefani Gabriella Germanotta) is preparing to release her major label debut album and there is quite a buzz around this singer/songwriter. Her album, The Fame, is being released in the U.S. on 10/28/08 and the major online presence of the artist is predicted to propel the album nationally. First single, "Just Dance", which features Akon and Colby O'Donis and was produced by RedOne, has over 13 million hits on YouTube. Lady Gaga's MySpace Music profile also has over 13 million plays on the songs posted on site.

Lady Gaga is a singer songwriter from New York who has written songs for various artists including Britney Spears, The Pussycat Dolls and New Kids On The Block. Her album features electro, glam rock, reggae, dance, piano ballads, 80's music, with quirky lyrics and most of the songs are beat driven - she's found a way to integrate varying styles and actually makes it work to her advantage. Her songs have been featured on many hit shows including "Just Dance" on the MTV hit show The Hills, "Poker Face" on The CW hit show Gossip Girl, "Beautiful Dirty Rich" on ABC hit show Dirty Sexy Money, and "The Fame" on the Australian version of Make Me A Supermodel. Her production company Haus of GaGa has garnered Lady Gaga a wide array of exposure through media, technology and fashion - she has performed on various TV shows like Rove, Jimmy Kimmel, So You Think You Can Dance? Sommerkrysset, and the Miss Universe Pageant.

Lady Gaga, who attended various music schools (including NYU) and learned to play piano by the age of four, started out at New York clubs performing with bands and other artists and built a small empire through word of mouth and internet self promotion which has reached catastrophic levels that garnered her a record deal with Interscope Records.

Official Site: http://www.ladygaga.com/
MySpace Music Profile: http://www.myspace.com/ladygaga
YouTube Channel: http://www.blogger.com/youtube.com/user/ladygagaofficial?ob=4
MTV Profile: http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/lady_gaga/artist.jhtml

"Just Dance" music video: