Why Is Lady Gaga's "ARTPOP" Back on the iTunes Charts?

The divisive album was released in 2013.

It's official people: Lady Gaga's controversial record ARTPOP is back on the charts eight years after its initial release. 

The singer "lives for the applause" (soz, not soz), so please put your hands together and recognise this extraordinary achievement. 

If you've got absolutely no idea why ARTPOP is receiving such intense attention right now, that's pretty fair. After all, it has been considered a flop for a long time. 

So, let's unpack why the pop record is back on the iTunes charts. 

Hold up. Why did Artpop flop in the first place? 

Ah, good question. 

Basically, ARTPOP failed to reach the same heights as Gaga's previous album, 2011's Born This Way (one of the best albums ever, don't @ me). Many critics viewed it as the performer's attempt to hold onto the pop throne, with Rolling Stone labelling the synth-heavy tracks as "bizarre". 

While songs on the album including "Applause", "G.U.Y" and "MANiCURE" still satisfied a lot of her fans, the record simply didn't receive the same mainstream attention as The Fame Monster or Born This Way did. 

Additionally, it didn't exactly help that Gaga set expectations so high. Having previously described Born This Way as "the album of the decade", she then referred to ARTPOP as the "album of infinite" during a press cycle.

Gaga has since highlighted that she felt "depressed" during the ARTPOP era. In an interview with Bazaar, she revealed that she was "exhausted fighting people off" by the end of 2013.

Of course, one could argue that the world simply wasn't ready for ARTPOP back in 2013, which experimented with synth-pop, EDM and R&B-influenced sounds. 

Okay. So, why is it back on the iTunes charts? 

Gaga has essentially been teasing ARTPOP Act II since 2012, when she told MTV News that she had enough tunes to split the album into two volumes. 

"I can't decide how to tracklist it yet. Sort of thinking that volume one should have all the commercial songs and save the experimental material for volume two," she said. 

The singer's comments were revived following an April Fool's Day joke made by Artpop producer DJ White Shadow. He shared on social media that he would be releasing a song—rumoured to be from Act II—called "Tea" as an NFT. From there, he encouraged Little Monsters to petition Gaga to release Act II.

Soon after, a Change.org petition emerged—created by Gambit Tricontoutsold—calling for Gaga to finally drop ARTPOP Act II. At this stage, over 46,000 people have signed it. 

Dying for the Chromatica remix album but also can we get Artpop Act 2 pleaaaaase

— wet nurse of death (@joeymag49) April 13, 2021

Due to the surge in popularity, ARTPOP is now sitting at No.2 on both the US and Australian iTunes Chart (honestly, not something I ever expected to happen eight years after its release). 

Gaga took to Twitter to thank her fans for showing the album so much love.

"I fell apart after I released this album. Thank you for celebrating something that once felt like destruction," she wrote.

"We always believed it was ahead of its time. Years later turns out, sometimes, artists know. And so do little monsters. Paws up." 

Will Gaga release ARTPOP Act II? 

Possibly. 

DJ White Shadow took to Instagram to report that he's spoken to Gaga and they'll discuss future plans after she returns from filming House of Gucci in Italy. 

"I talked to LG last night and she shared my incredible joy. We made a plan to get together after Italy and discuss your wishes," he wrote. 

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by DJWS • WHITE SHADOW (@djws)

It looks like we'll have to wait for an answer on this one. Until then, just keep listening to the album on repeat.

Header Image: Kevin Mazur / Contributor / WireImage via Getty Images