Lady Gaga addresses fans boosting ARTPOP up the iTunes chart as Act II petition surges

Rocket No. 9 took off to the top on iTunes — and Lady Gaga watched.

Eight years after its initial release, Gaga's 2013 album ARTPOP has reached the top tier of the United States iTunes album sales chart as a fan petition calling for the singer-songwriter to release B-sides from the LP gains heavy traction on social media.

Shortly after midnight ET on Tuesday, the album had cracked the No. 3 spot on the digital retailer's overall sales ranking, with the petition netting nearly 40,000 signatures and counting. It gained even more steam overnight, hitting the No. 2 spot.

"The petition to #buyARTPOPoniTunes for a volume II has inspired such a tremendous warmth in my heart. Making this album was like heart surgery, I was desperate, in pain, and poured my heart into electronic music that slammed harder than any drug I could find," Gaga tweeted shortly after the album entered the third position. "I fell apart after I released this album. Thank you for celebrating something that once felt like destruction. We always believed it was ahead of its time. Years later turns out, sometimes, artists know. And so do little monsters. Paws up."

ARTPOP producer DJ White Shadow said on Instagram on Tuesday that he'd also been in contact with Gaga, who is currently filming a movie in Italy, after the album's iTunes spike. "You were heard," he told fans. "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. No promises made, but kindness and love are strong as steel. Now is not the time to let up. Go harder. Forget the past. Think about the future. Apply positive pressure to the universe and let's make a diamond. I am so in love with you all."

Before the album's release, Gaga hinted to a fan on Twitter that a followup to ARTPOP — dubbed Act II — was already in the works. DJ White Shadow has since publicly played reported instrumentals from ARTPOP: Act II at several concerts. As the opening act on Gaga's Joanne World Tour in 2017, he unveiled portions of a song called "Tea" to those in the audience, and fans have long discussed other rumored song titles like "Onion Girl" and "Temple" as potential Act II cuts.

Following its release, ARTPOP was regarded by critics as an overall disappointment among Gaga's budding discography, despite the album debuting at No. 1 in the U.S., producing one of her most successful radio singles to date ("Applause"), and eventually receiving Platinum certification in the U.S. for moving over 1 million units. The album — featuring songs made with T.I., Too $hort, Twista, David Guetta, will.i.am, Zedd, and Madeon, among others — has since become a fan-favorite entry among Gaga's releases.

After previously explaining that the behind-the-scenes politics of the album's gestation left him "broken," ARTPOP and A Star Is Born producer DJ White Shadow celebrated the album's resurgence on social media, writing: "What an amazing gift from you all. I am moved. Thank you."

Gaga's most recent album, 2020's Chromatica, also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and produced three notable tracks: Singles "Stupid Love" and the Ariana Grande collaboration "Rain on Me," which hit No. 1 in the U.S. last summer before winning a Grammy in March at the 2021 ceremony, and the promotional banger "911."

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