The numbers are in, and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way is the 17th album to sell more than a million copies in a week. Surprisingly, Born This Way is Gaga’s first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album chart, and with the official tally at 1,110,420, it earns the distinction of shifting more copies in a week than any album since 50 Cent’s The Massacre in 2005, and more than any female artist since Britney Spears’ Oops!…I Did It Again in 2000.

As record sales tumble year after year, first week sales in the seven figures have become increasingly rare. Taylor Swift did it last year with Speak Now, but when you consider ten albums managed to sell more than a million during the first half of the ’00s (five of them in 2000 alone) while from 2005-2009, only two did, the decline of album sales is apparent.

But the fact two artists have sold more than a million in a week only six months apart proves that it’s still very possible, even in the supposed twilight of the record buying age. But while Swift was able to do it by rallying her base and building a broad coalition of consumers and radio programmers, Gaga pulled it off thanks to Amazon’s promotional 99 cent pricing.

It’s hard to believe that only 31 months ago, Lady Gaga was an underground electro-pop artist struggling to get her songs played on American radio. She sang about losing her phone and turning her shirt inside out, and she seemed destined to be the type of artist celebrated by the blogosphere but ignored by mainstream pop (an American Robyn). She’s since become the most important pop star on the planet, and today, released one of the most anticipated records of the 21st century.

The promotion Born This Way has received is unrivaled by any album in recent memory, thanks to Gaga hyping it long before we even knew what it would be called (She said she wrote the “core of it” more than a year ago). She went as far as to call it the “greatest album of this decade,” fueling the anticipation, and showcasing a hubris we’ve come to expect from the likes of Kanye West and pre-fatherhood Brandon Flowers. While self-promotion is an essential skill for every pop star, Gaga’s unprecedented plugging threatened to backfire – the entire project buckling under the weight of  unrealistic expectations and self-importance – unless she delivered the groundbreaking opus she promised.

With my iTunes on shuffle, I read the latest issue of Newsweek, a rush released edition on the death of Osama bin Laden. Out of the countless hours worth of music in my library, it was quite the coincidence when songs from Green Day’s American Idiot, Madonna’s American Life and Bloc Party’s Weekend In The City all played, and I couldn’t help but reflect on the impact the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the War on Terror and the Iraq War had on the music of the ’00s.

The music, much of it anti-war or anti-Bush, drew its inspiration from the protest music of the 1960s. But artists criticizing the Bush administration and Iraq War never seemed to reach the same level of cultural importance or relevance that those who did the same for the Vietnam War four decades earlier did. A thousand “American Life” or “Wake Me Up When September Ends” couldn’t pack the same punch as a single “Fortunate Son” or “Gimme Shelter.” Still, these artists’ work serve as primary documents cultural historians will use to make sense of the opening decade of the new century.

Immediately following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Americans were unified. Jimmy Eat World, on the verge of a breakthrough with their self-financed and unfortunately named Bleed American, quickly retitled the album and song of the same name, not wanting anyone to mistake their music as disrespectful or un-American.

Katy Perry clenches the No. 1  spot for a fifth non-consecutive week with “E.T.” featuring Kanye West, and it’s become painfully obvious that Perry’s fourth Teenage Dream chart topping single is not a flash-in-the-pan.

“E.T.” is coming off its best sales week ever two weeks ago (344,000) and is down slightly this week with figures slightly north of 300,000.  In total, “E.T.” is on track to be the top-selling song of 2011 to date. Its 2.48 million sales are hot on the tail of Cee Lo Green’s 2.49 million sales of “F**k You.” Sales of “E.T.” are on par with last summer’s smash “California Gurls” feat. Snoop Dogg, and they might even eclipse her ode to the Golden State, becoming her best-selling single ever.

“E.T.” becoming the juggernaut it is is startling considering it is the fourth single from a nine-month-old album, but it is proof of the position Perry plays in the pop landscape today – she’s the pin-up poster girl for singles artist. People love her songs more than they love her. Although I’m sure Perry and Capitol would like to change this perception over time, it doesn’t hurt her on the Hot 100. Rihanna has been in a similar position most of her career, and that has helped her amass ten No. 1s in just over five years.

Perry and West’s sales numbers this week  put them at No. 1 on the digital sales chart as well, but only by a razor thin margin. “E.T.” outsold Adele’s “Rolling In The Deep” by roughly 500 downloads this week – the tightest margin since the week of December 24, 2005 when Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and Eminem’s “When I’m Gone” each sold approximately 41,000.

British recording artist and U.K. X Factor judge Cheryl Cole has been announced as the third judge for the American edition of X Factor alongside Simon Cowell and record executive L.A. Reid.

It’s doubtless that many people will assume they know who Cheryl Cole is upon hearing her role on the upcoming show. She’s the one who dated Lance Armstrong and sang that one song about soaking up the sun, right? Wrong. You’re thinking Sheryl Crow. Although both ladies make music and are known for their high profile relationships and subsequent breakups with professional athletes, the similarities end there.

Cheryl Cole rose to fame in 2002 at the age of 19 – then Cheryl Tweedy before her marriage to soccer player Ashley Cole – as a contestant on the reality singing competition Popstars: The Rivals. The show whittled down contestants to form two groups, the boy band One True Voice, and the girl group Girls Aloud, who competed on the British charts for the coveted Christmas No. 1 spot. One True Voice released a predictable and boring reality show single, while Girls Aloud dropped the most inventive reality show coronation song ever – “Sound of the Underground.”

“Sound of the Underground” rocketed to No. 1, and as One True Voice faded into obscurity, Girls Aloud developed into the most celebrated British girl group of the ’00s. The girls released five platinum albums and a string of 20 consecutive top 10 singles. Not only were Girls Aloud a commercial success, but the critics loved them too. Their unusually structured “Chemistry” even managed to make Pitchfork’s top songs of the decade list.

The History of Rock ‘N’ Roll is 17 Track’s attempt to squeeze more than sixty years of music onto a mixtape.There are many ways to tell a story, and the story of rock ‘n’ roll is one that has been told many times in many ways. It’s messy, complicated and difficult to follow in some parts, and the entire history of it could fill volumes. But what if you didn’t have volumes? What if you only had a blank CD-R and you had to tell the story through songs? Each song in this list represents a moment or movement in the development of popular music. It’s not a list of the best, most important or most influential songs, it’s exactly what it professes to be – a history.

The second song, Bill Haley and the Comet’s “Rock Around The Clock,” tells the story of rock ‘n’ roll reaching the mainstream, and the challenges it faced along the way.

After spending a single week at the summit, Rihanna’s “S&M” featuring Britney Spears slides to No. 4 as Katy Perry’s “E.T.” featuring Kanye West retakes the No. 1 position with an impressive burst of sales and radio airplay.

In my last Chart Watch column, I compared the battle between Perry/West and Fenty/Spears to a presidential campaign, and likened Spears to the Sarah Palin of pop. Those comparisons aren’t that far off. Def Jam’s last minute decision to add Spears to “S&M” was a calculated Hail Mary. The label correctly assumed that by courting Britney’s rabid fan base, the song could finally break from its No.2  position and overtake “E.T.”

Remember when McCain picked Palin and suddenly, the disgruntled Republican base had someone to cheer for on the ticket? Yeah, it’s kind of like that.

Jason Bourne and Beatrice Kiddo have a Finnish baby daughter who, big surprise, was conceived as some sort of super soldier but is now being sought for elimination by the very agency who created her, thus prompting her to cut a bloody swath of independent vengeance up to the front door of the secret program’s director (directrice, in this case), eh? Well, we’ve already played it out in our heads, but, sure, we’ll buy it. Of course, we will. Formulaic, but it’s the formula for awesome, so sign us up.

Kelly Clarkson announced the completion of her fifth studio album this March, but RCA is pushing the release date to September. One could assume the delay is due to the overcrowded pop market right now. If RCA wants Clarkson to make the biggest splash possible, they’re doing themselves a favor by waiting until the airwaves have calmed down a bit.

For the past several months, the upper echelons of the Hot 100 have been dominated by female pop stars. Katy Perry stays at No. 1 this week with “E.T.” featuring Kanye West, Rihanna comes up short once again with “S&M” at No. 2 and both Britney Spears and Lady Gaga have songs in the top 10.

These ladies’ record labels are working hard to promote their artists and help them stand out in the overcrowded sea of estrogen. It seems like everyday brings news of a music video clip or TV appearance from someone. Of course, the timing of these promotional activities has to be just right. Britney Spears can’t make a tour announcement the same day Lady Gaga is posting a new Gagavision to YouTube. Rihanna can’t pop a “Rih-mix” onto the web the same day Katy Perry releases a music video snippet. The planning involved in these album campaigns almost involves the same level of dedication as a political campaign.

Lady Gaga finally gives up the No. 1 spot after “Born This Way” held tight for six weeks – it’s entire chart lifetime until now. In its place is Katy Perry’s “E.T.” featuring Kanye West. This gives Perry her fifth No. 1 and her fourth from 2010′s Teenage Dream album. Her perfect record – four for four – puts her in an elite club. Excluding compilation albums, Teenage Dream is only the ninth album in chart history to be home to more than three No. 1 songs.

What makes Perry’s feat all the more impressive is that her album is nearly seven months old. That’s a lifetime in the world of pop. Sure, Britney Spears sent “Hold It Against Me,” Femme Fatale‘s first single, to No. 1, but the follow-up, “Till The World Ends,” spent a single week in the top ten (and don’t be surprised if it doesn’t return). Getting a splashy debut with the first single from a new album is relatively easy if the record label plays their cards right. A big enough artist with a large enough fan base will snap up anything the moment it’s released. What’s a lot more difficult is scoring four No. 1s. If you can do that, there’s a lot more at work than just overeager fans.