INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Did Lady Gaga Game Her Way To Number One On iTunes?

By Page Mackinley
Published on: 14:23 PST, Oct 23, 2013

On Monday (Oct. 21), Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift, went head to head against each other with new single releases on iTunes.

Gaga’s “Do What U Want ft. R.Kelly” topped iTunes US and several countries for nearly two days, with Bieber’s “Hold Tight” reaching No. 2 in the US and No. 1 in other territories. By Wednesday, Lorde’s long player “Royal” reigned once more.

However, it turns out Gaga’s ‘instant grat’ incentive was the real fuel behind the fast ascent of “Do What U Want” to No.1. Translation: anyone who pre-ordered her upcoming ARTPOP album automatically received a free download of DWYW when they launched iTunes.

Many artists would probably do the same. However, Bieber and Swift didn’t have a pre-order boost behind their singles on Monday morning, whereas Gaga did.

Billboard and iTunes reportedly recently changed their policies on letting free downloads chart, as opposed to paid/on demand streams which have been allowed for some time. But, sales of DWYW will not count towards Billboard’s final digital sales tally next week.


But while iTunes might not consider Gaga’s marketing tactics as a manipulation, across the pond it’s a different matter.

Earlier this morning, during the mid-week chart update, the UK’s Official Charts Company declared DWYW was ineligible in their Top 40 chart. According to the organization’s rules, only one ‘instant grat’ promotion per album can be counted in UK charts. Because Gaga promoted her lead single “Applause” the same way, DWYW counts as the second ‘grat.’

DWYW will become chart eligible after ARTPOP is officially released. The OAC’s statement can be read here.

In a since deleted tweet, the Official Charts Company wrote, “Want to know why Lady Gaga isn’t in the #ChartUpdate? The label decided to release ‘Do What U Want’ in a way that makes it chart-ineligible.”

While it’s unlikely either Bieber or Gaga would have been able to stave off Lorde’s mighty “Royals” for long, without DWYW’s ‘instant grat’ factor the Canadian’s “Hold Tight” might have claimed the No.1 on iTunes US — even if only briefly.

The official Charts Company’s policy, which was agreed and backed by the British music industry, isn’t the first time Gaga has been called out for questionable chart assaults.

Before “Applause” dropped in August, the singer held a contest encouraging fans to buy multiple copies. She told her Twitter followers the two fans with the most “purchase/gift screenshots, radio requests, ‘Applause’ selfies/video” would be flown out to meet her and attend the iTunes Festival in London to watch her perform.

Gaga also tweeted out a specific link which enabled users to watch the music video for “Applause” on Vevo 150 times in a row. Since February, views on Vevo (who work closely with YouTube), now counts toward streaming data used by Billboard and the Recording Industry Association of America for chart rankings and digital sales respectively. [Note: Gaga later deleted the link.]

At the time Bill Werde, Billboard’s editorial director, posted a series of Tweets about Gaga inflating Vevo views. “An artist tweeting out and facebooking a link that enables a fan to hit play and leave their computer is not in the spirit of what we chart,” he wrote.

In what was a lengthy discourse, Werde added, “I just hate to see anyone try to game the charts, be it fans or artists. It’s not in the spirit of what we do, celebrating success.”

Ultimately, we’ll never know if “Do What u Want” would have have still soared to No.1 without those pre-orders. But at least Bieber and Swift honestly offered their songs to market and let buyers call the tune. The takeaway? Gaga’s past and present gaming of the system makes a mockery of her previous declaration.

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