Pop diva smackdown: Katy Perry vs. Lady Gaga

Katy Perry and Lady Gaga. Friends? Rivals? Maybe the only time these pop divas have been mentioned in the same sentence recently is when Perry went to see Gaga’s Mexico City concert in April. Otherwise, not so much.

Except they have so much in common, and we’re not talking about releasing a single (Perry’s “Roar” and Gaga’s “Applause”) on the same week way back in 2013 when both were still at the top of the pops.

There are so many parallels in their careers: Each released her first major label album in 2008, each performed a Super Bowl halftime show and a Vegas residency, each has had ups and downs. And both are on tour again, hoping to rebound from bumps in the road by launching their tours in the same city last month.

Oh, they both have stage names. You knew that about Gaga, who was born Stefani Germanotta. But Perry didn’t want to go with Katheryn (or Katy) Hudson because of the actress Kate Hudson (no relation).

With Perry coming to Target Center on Tuesday (and Gaga skipping the Twin Cities thus far on her limited eight-city North American tour), we thought it was a good time to compare these immensely popular pop superstars at their career crossroads.

Age

Perry: 40

Gaga: 39

No. 1 songs

Perry: 9 (most recent, “Dark Horse,” 2013)

Gaga: 6 (most recent “Die With a Smile” with Bruno Mars, 2024)

Grammy Awards

Perry: 0

Gaga: 14

Biggest album

Perry: “Teenage Dream” (2010) 19 million album equivalents, per Chartmasters

Gaga: “The Fame”/”The Fame Monster” (reissue) (2008, 2009) 35.6 million album equivalents, per Chartmasters

Albums that bombed

Perry: “Witness” (2017), “Smile” (2020) and “143” (2024)

Gaga: “Joanne” (2016), “Chromatica” (2020)

Noteworthy movies

Perry: Voice-overs in “The Smurfs” and “Smurfs 2,” “Zoolander 2” (as herself)

Gaga: “A Star Is Born” (she won an Oscar for best original song), “House of Gucci” (she won the best actress award from New York Film Critics Circle)

Super Bowl halftime shows

Perry: 2015 (Rolling Stone ranked hers as the 12th best)

Gaga: 2017 (Rolling Stone ranked hers as the 10th best)

Rio de Janeiro concert

Perry: 100,000 fans (2024)

Gaga: 2.5 million fans (2025)

Twitter followers

Perry: 105.1 million

Gaga: 82.2 million

Key career move

Perry: Served as “American Idol” judge (2018-24)

Gaga: Recorded albums with Tony Bennett (2014 and ’21)

Bad career move

Perry: Blue Origin space flight (2025)

Gaga: “Joker: Folie à Deux” (2024)

Current album

Perry: “143” (rating 37 out of 100 on metacritic)

Gaga: “Mayhem” (rating 84 out of 100 on metacritic)

Opening: Rebecca Black

When: 7 p.m. Tue.

Where: Target Center, 600 1st Av. N., Mpls.

Tickets: $75 and up, axs.com