Singer Katy Perry looks likely to secure her eighth US No.1 song after selling 450,000 copies of her new single 'Roar' in its first week of release. Lady GaGa, who has also dropped new track 'Applause' within the last few days, is left languishing at 225,000 copies.

Katy Perry
Katy Perry Looks Likely To Secure This Week's No.1 Single.

Gaga's 'Applause' wasn't supposed to be released until this weekend but a leak on Monday (12th Aug) prompted the 'Poker Face' singer to declare a "911 pop emergency" and drop the track straight away to combat the pirates. This sparked a furious chart war between the two popstars who suddenly found themselves competing for the week's best-selling track earlier than intended.

Lady Gaga
Gaga Was Forced To Release 'Applause' Early After The Track Leaked.

Lady Gaga began to frantically tweet, telling her fans that whoever bought the most copies of her track/promoted her new album the most would win a seat on the plane next to her on her way to her iTunes Festival headline on 1st September, as well as exclusive tickets to the show. "The 2 fans w the most purchase/gift screenshots, radio requests, 'Applause' selfies/video, will fly international to meet me+watch the show!" she tweeted. Despite some fans reportedly spending in excess of $300 to get them noticed by the outlandish star, it seems as though she hasn't been able to catch up with Perry.

Katy Perry's 'Roar':

Similarly, in the UK, Gaga might also miss out on No.1 after losing out to raspy-voiced Brit Ellie Goulding with her new single, 'Burn,' that looks set to top this week's singles chart. However, Perry and Gaga's US chart pop fisticuffs is a lot more competitively fought as both seem to revel in their image of outlandish stars with a penchant for wigs, PVC and weird accessories. Both singles represent the lead track from each of their upcoming albums, Gaga's Artpop and Perry's Prism, so high sales are crucial to the entire record's success.

Lady Gaga's 'Applause':

Both popstars have recently toned down their images, with Gaga pictured with natural hair, dark clothes and only a smattering of make-up artfully decorating her eyes, whilst Perry has released a video showing her symbolically burning her trademark blue wig.

Perhaps the world has gone 'roaring' mad this week: the news of a Chinese zoo trying to palm off a dog as a lion has certainly captured everyone's imagination. Could this have given Perry the edge in the fickle world of bubble gum pop?