LEADING LADY

Lady Gaga's Chromatica (Interscope) is on pace for a milestone first week. Gaga's sixth studio LP will be the year's biggest female debut and the first female #1 since Selena Gomez's Rare in January.

Among leading female artists, her projected first-week total of 275k units trails only Taylor Swift's Lover (867k), Ariana Grande's Thank U, Next (360k) and Billie Eilish's WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO (314k) dating back to January 2019.

As for pop albums in 2020, Chromatica's first week will rank second behind BTS' Map of the Soul: 7 (422k).