Lady Gaga Albums Ranked

Lady Gaga Albums

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Our Lady Gaga albums ranked list takes a fun look at the series of studio albums Lady Gaga has released so far during her legendary musical career. Hands down, Lady Gaga is simply one of the most exciting, original and most astonishing creative musical artists to arrive on the music scene in the past twenty years. If you took Elton John, David Bowie, Madonna and Prince and blended them all together in one super mix, you get one very fine artist such as Lady Gaga. Her impact on culture from both a musical and stylistic standpoint combined the best of all those artists with a unique and very original flair. Artists like Lady Gaga do not come along very often.

Our Lady Gaga albums ranked list looks at the albums released so far by one of the most popular musical artists and personalities of the past 10 years. It’s safe to say that this list will have to be updated frequently because Lady Gaga is still such a young artist that we can only guess has so much more to say. We just hope that her acting career does not too get too much in the way of her music. She is wonderful on screen, but it’s on that concert stage and in the studio recording new music where we love her the best. Lady Gaga has always been unique in the genre of dance music and pop. Any musician can hear that Lady Gaga is a trained professional musicians who learned her craft in the clubs having to entertain audiences as an unknown singer. That’s when you have to be really good to entertain people because they don’t care who you are, they just want to enjoy well performed music.

Lady Gaga eventually got her big break and was able to escape from the clubs when her debut single Just Dance hit number one in multiple countries around the world including the United States at the end of 2009. The single sparked the sales and awareness her debut album The Fame which went on to to become a monster hit with the released of five huge singles. The album would quickly be reissued as The Fame Monster with the inclusion of an handful of more new songs that would also become big hits including the smash Bad Romance.

Lady Gaga followed up her album The Fame and Fame Monster with a brand new studio album entitled Born This Way released in 2011. The album was so huge it seemed to hit number one in every country around the world. Lady Gaga was sort of like the new Elton John. In 2013, Lady Gaga released her third album entitled Artpop. While not as successful as her first wto it still hit number one in various countries around the world including the United States and the United Kingdom. A year later Lady Gaga showed off how just how brilliant and talented she was as a vocalist when she released a duet albums with one of the greatest vocalists of all time in Tony Bennett. The album entitled Cheek To Cheek hit number one in the United States. It was nice to have a jazz standards album at the top of the charts. It had been a long time since that had happened.

In 2016, Lady Gaga returned with a new studio album entitled Joanne. This was a stripped down Lady Gaga album that explored many different genres of music and was met with some resistance by certain Lady Gaga fans. In the ne d what the album really did was set up a transitional phase for Lady Gaga as she stepped into an entire new charter when she took a starring role opposite Bradley Cooper in yet another remake of the motion picture A Star Is Born. The two stars lit up the screen as the movie and soundtrack were a huge success thus opening up an entire new career for Lady Gaga as an actress. The original song and single from the soundtrack entitled “Shallow,” would go on to become on of Lady Gaga’s most successful singles of her career.

Lady Gaga’s most recent studio album was released last year in 2020 and titled Chromatica. Once again the album hit number one in multiple countries around the world including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Italy, Switzerland and New Zealand. She recently just released her second album with Tony Bennett entitled Love For Sale.

Our Lady Gaga Albums ranked list will present all the Lady Gaga studio albums that she has released so far. We will keep this list updated when she releases new material. We have not included any of the great remix albums, live records or compilations. We have only included the studio albums that presented newly recorded material. This was a fun one to do as every single one of her studio albums is a joy to listen too. Believe me we have listened to them many times, as we are huge fans of her extraordinary abilities as a songwriter, musician and performer.

# 8 – Cheek To Cheek and Love For Sale

At first we were weren’t really sure if we should include these two albums on our Lady Gaga albums list. These are great records that we love but there are really not Lady Gaga albums as far as Lady Gaga the songwriter goes. Yet, they are Lady Gaga albums in terms of Lady Gaga the singer. Of course these records were not just about Lady Gaga’s voice and musical talents. It was about her collaborations with one of the most legendary voices of all time.Lady Gaga’s teaming up with Tony Bennett was a brilliant move on the part of these mega stars.

As we’ve come to know, Lady Gaga goes with what she feels is right. And for her the time was right to record a standards album. And who would not want to record a standards album sound with the great Tony Bennett. Lady Gaga held her own and then something with the legendary talent. The album included eleven great standards including the Cole Porter song “Anything Goes,” which was released as the first single. Two Duke Ellington songs were included entitled “Sophisticated Lady,” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing).” And what a swinging  album this was. Highly recommended!

Tony Bennett learned a long time ago about the benefits of reaching out to a younger audience when he he had such success with his MTV Unplugged Concert. Releasing an album with Lady Gaga would put him in front a huge new audience. Although at his gae and with career he has had, the man has as many fans as he would ever need. Yet stars never stop reaching for more. As far as Lady Gaga’s reasons behind working with Tony Bennett? Well of course we can’t speak for her, but it seems pretty logical that any professional vocalist would give almost anything to get a chance to record with a legend such as Tony Bennett. Even someone as famous, powerful and legendary as Lady Gaga.

Outside of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby there really has never been a more successful adult contemporary music singer than Tony Bennett. These are two wonderful jazz standards records that I am sure will make Lady Gaga  very happy she recorded with the man Tony Bennett for the rest of her life. It definitely was a beautiful collaboration.

# 7 – A Star Is Born Soundtrack

Just like the two jazz albums that Lady Gaga recorded with Tony Bennett, the Star Is Born album is not a full length Lady Gaga album but rather a soundtrack record in which Lady Gaga appears on with other artists. We also included this album because of the impact this album had on pop culture with a few of the numbers that Lady Gaga recorded for the film and the soundtrack. Pretty much most people on Planet Earth probably heard the song “Shallow,” a few years back. The song being the centerpiece of the film and the soundtrack was a monster hit across the charts. Additionally, the film’s closing number “Always Remember Us This Way” served as a showcase for the extraordinary vocal talents of Lady Gaga. This was a Lady Gaga variation we had never seen or heard before and it was stunning. We all already knew how talented and groundbreaking she was as a musical artist, but her role in the film and on the soundtrack took her legacy to another level.

# 6 – Joanne

Lady Gaga’s Joanne album was touted as a change of direction by many critics who wrote about her releasing a stripped down more organic album. While that may have been true on certain tracks ike the title cut, the Joanne album did have its share of high energy pop dance style songs that had become Lady Gaga’s trademark. Of course the album’s cover photo also tried to define the image change, but on the record she couldn’t hold back all that energy that has always formed her center, It’s there on the record, just not as much as her previous releases. Standout tracks included the songs  “Perfect Illusion” “A-Yo”  “Diamond Heart,” and the fun “John Wayne.”

# 5 – Chromatica

The Coronavirus Pandemic was raging out of control during the spring of 2019. There was not a lot to look forward to as just about everything was shut down. Yet Lady Gaga brought a smile to a lot of music fans faces by courageously releasing a new album when nobody else was. In May of 2019, Lady Gaga released the grand Chromatica album. After the country sounding songs from A Star Is Born, it was nice to get the old dance hall Lady Gaga back. This was indeed a great one. It was a little more electronica than her previous dance efforts but the same passion filled lyrics, emotional singing and out of this world original melodies fueled each track. Stand out tracks included the album’s first single “Stupid Love,” the raging “Rain On Me,” with Ariana Grande and the title track. And that just got you started. We love this one

# 4 – Born This Way

At the number four spot on our Lady Gaga Albums Ranked list we present the fabulous album Born This Way. The album was released on May 23rd 2011. The album featured guest musicians that ran the gamut of rock and roll from the E Street Band’s Clarence Clemons to Queen’s legendary guitarist Brian May. Five big hit singles were released from the album starting with the lead single “Born This Way.”

Lady Gaga was faced with an enormous challenge in having to follow up the Fame albums. She had lit the pop music world on fire and we all wondered if she could light it up even more, or the heat would start to simmer. Well baby she ignited an even bigger fire in her own way with a sound led by a hit single that paid tribute to both Motown and Madonna in the same breath. The album’s lead single and title track was a marvelous song called Born This Way that was often compared to Madonna’s “Express Yourself,” with a Motown feel. Our favorite cut on the album was the German language tune “Scheiße” which had a totally captivating chorus that was highly addicting,

Born This Way’s opening track “Marry Me,” was also one of the strongest cuts on the album filled with powerful emotion fueled by stella production and a killer dance groove. The album was filled with hit singles besides the ones we already mentioned including “Judas,” “You And I,” and the superb hit “The Edge of Glory.” As far as chart success went, well you can’t do much better than the Born This Way album did, It basically hit number one in every country on planet earth. Well maybe not in Afghanistan and Iran but just about all the other ones, Yeah, it was huge!

# 3 -Artpop

Lady Gaga’s Artpop album never really got the love it has deserved. It stood unfairly in the shadows of The Fame Monster onslaught and the mega selling and famous Born This Way album. However we have always preferred Artpop over Born This Way. While Born This Way was a brilliant record which we just argued, Artpop felt more like the sequel to The Fame than Born This Way did. Born This Way stands on its own. Artpop is connected to The Fame. Some would say that’s a good thing while others would say no. We love The Fame so we were happy over the similarities, yet it’s not all the same.

Artpop was darker and seemed to push the boundaries of art ever further than what Lady Gaga had already done. It had the same dance sensibility that The Fame did, but it felt more updated, more electronic but with the same soothing sweet pop melodies dressed in black. It’s just one of those albums your hear the first time and go wait, let me spin that one again. That’s exactly what we have done with Artpop over and over again.

# 2 – The Fame Monster EP

Well, there is nothing like confusing the heck out of everyone. Lady Gaga followed up her incredible debut album The Fame with an EP called The Fame Monster. This was basically a new album filled with just seven songs. Seven amazing songs we should add. It clocked in at about thirty four minutes. Now back in the 70s, an album that clocked in at 34 minutes was typical. There are full length Van Halen albums that are less than thirty minutes long. However, in the CD era or at least the end of the CD era a 34 minute release is pretty much considered too short to be officially ruled as a complete new album. So the record was released as an EP. However what confused everyone was that it was also released as a deluxe edition also called The Fame Monster with the original The Fame album.

A two cd set called the Fame Monster Deluxe Edition was released. For the most part in the United States, that’s what people purchased. Of course being such an international star there were so many versions of The Fame and The Fame Monster released. It became harder than taking a physics class to keep track of of all the variations.

For our Lady Gaga Albums Ranked article we have decided to list The Fame and The Fame Monster as separate albums because that’s what they basically are. We have thrown out the Deluxe Edition nonsense and just took a look at the most important element of The Fame Monster, the new songs.

While The Fame Monster may only be fueled by seven songs, they are seven really good songs. Additionally, a few of them are outstanding songs that will forever stand as some of the best material Lady Gaga has ever released. After releasing such a stunning debut album, Lady Gaga proved she did not intend to be a one hit album wonder artist. The album’s opening track “Bad Romance,” just blew everyone away on first listen. It’s tough to write really original melodies that sound like they are going to be forever standards, but “Bad Romance,” had that stunning original catchy quality that doesn’t come around too often. It’s sort of a “We Will Rock You,” moment. There were many more brilliant new recordings found on The Fame Monster album. Other standouts included the killer track “Telephone,” recorded with Beyonce, the majestic “Alejandro” and the sensational cut “Speechless.”

# 1 – The Fame

We close out our Lady Gaga Albums Ranked list with her debut album The Fame.This was easily one of the most exciting debut albums of the past twenty years. A Star was born on this record and she continues to burn bright ever since. This was just not only a astonishing debut album, it was a record filled with songs that have become dance classics like the legendary Bee Gees songs from the 1970s. Songs Like “Poker Face and “Lets Dance,” have become part of the soundtrack of so many lives growing up during the Lady Gaga era. When writing about The Fame albums, one must also include mention of some of the album’s other stunning songs like the extraordinary “Paparazzi,” the pulsating “Lovegame,” the bouncy pop nugget “Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say),” and the tempestuous “Beautiful, Dirty, Rich.”

The Fame album was first released during the summer of 2008. It was re-released in the fall of 2009 with The Fame Monster EP. The original The Fame album stands as one of the biggest selling albums of all time.  If you take a look at the Billboard Top 200 albums list of all time selling albums, you will find The Fame sitting pretty at number twelve. We can’t even count how many awards it has won over the years. In the end, it doesn’t matter how many awards or how many records it sold, all that matters is how monumental and magnificent this album is. That is one of the easiest arguments we will ever have to make.

Lady Gaga Albums Ranked  article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2021

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