Lady Gaga rises makes a big jump back into the top 10 of Billboard's Social 50 chart (climbing 14-5) thanks to the momentum generated by her guest appearance on Fox TV's "The Simpsons" (May 20).
The Social 50 chart ranks the most popular artists on YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, using a formula that blends weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with weekly artist page views and weekly song plays.
The new "Simpsons" episode, titled "Lisa Goes Gaga" featured many of the pop star's signature outfits and the debut of a new original song, "You're All My Little Monsters."
However, it was controversy surrounding Gaga's most recent tour dates on her Born This Way Ball tour in the Philippines and Indonesia that became the focal point for online activity pertaining to Gaga towards the end of the charting week. Protests greeted her upon arrival in Manila, Philippines May 19 from young Christian groups deeming Gaga's music and image to be offensive.
According to CNN, she has offended thousands of Christian Filipinos because of the lyrical content of songs like "Judas," where she sings "I'm in love with Judas / Jesus is my virtue and Judas is the demon I cling to."
Similar protests have already taken place by Muslim organizations in Indonesia, where it is still unknown whether or not she will perform her scheduled date on June 3.
She took to Twitter on May 22, tweeting "The Jakarta situation is 2-fold: Indonesian authorities demand I censor the show & religious extremist separately, are threatening violence. If the show does go on as scheduled, I will perform the BTWBall alone."
On the Social 50 chart this week, Gaga experienced a 42% increase in fan acquisition, breaking down into 302,832 new fans on Facebook and a 331,318 jump in followers on Twitter.
Beyonce also climbed the ranks of the Social 50, rising 39-19 due to buzz building around her first appearance on-stage since the birth of her daughter Blue Ivy Carter. The show, which will take place on May 25, is part of a series of concerts at Revel in Atlantic City over Memorial day weekend.
The concerts were promoted with a "Good Morning America" BeyHive Costume Party in Times Square, where registered fans were asked to show off their best black and gold/yellow Beyonce-inspired outfits. A 33% increase in her overall fanbase was led by a 313,147 increase in Facebook fans for the charting week.
Billboard Music Awards' performer Chris Brown experienced a jump as well, moving 21-14 after releasing the single "Don't Wake Me Up" on May 12. David Guetta's Social 50 standing also benefitted (12-9) from the release of "Don't Wake Me Up" -- but for an entirely different reason.
It was reported that Guetta had produced the track because an early release of it on YouTube was labeled as such. As it turns out, he didn't have anything to do with the song. Guetta took to Facebook and Twitter to address the mix-up, simply stating "I'm credited for 'Don't Wake Me Up' on YouTube but I did not produce this record. Best to CB!"
Elsewhere on the Social 50, Rihanna escalated to the No. 1 spot (from No. 4) as her film debut, "Battleship," came out Friday May 18. Adele and Skrillex held fast at Nos. 2 and No. 3 respectively, as social king Bieber tumbled 1-4 in the wake of Rihanna's rise. One Direction falls 5-8 as Nicki Minaj (No. 6) and Katy Perry (No. 7) maintain their rankings from last week. Lastly, Jennifer Lopez winds down 8-10.
