Lady Gaga is about to kick off a new era of her career as one of the biggest pop stars on the planet. Her new single "Disease" is expected to arrive in a matter of hours on Friday (October 25), and it will reportedly bring her back to her dark dance-pop roots.
Just before the world gets to hear the new tune, Gaga's recent album is on the rise. The singer delivered Harlequin a few weeks ago, as it was tied to her new movie Joker: Folie à Deux. The set wasn't the blockbuster she's used to producing, but it's earned a second life on the charts.
Harlequin returns to multiple charts in the United Kingdom this week. The set doesn't just find its way back to several lists, it rises higher than ever on every tally it reappears on this period.
On the main albums ranking, which uses a methodology that combines streams and sales to show which titles the population is listening to, Harlequin nearly cracks the top 10 for the first time. The set lands at No. 11 this time around.
The same set is also back on the list of the bestselling albums in the country. Harlequin does manage to find space inside the highest tier on the Official Albums Sales chart, where it re-enters the race at No. 5.
Those are new peaks for Harlequin on the U.K. charts. The set debuted at No. 59 on the main albums list and just barely broke into the top 40 on the sales-only roster. Gaga's latest has now spent just two frames on both tallies it finds its way back to this week. The set debuted on them earlier this month and then immediately disappeared.
Weeks after it was first made available to stream and purchase via download, Harlequin was finally released on physical formats on October 11. That spurred many fans to buy the title, and once it shipped to those who pre-ordered the project, all those sales counted toward its chart performance.
Harlequin was not promoted as a proper Gaga album, so it's not too surprising that it hasn't turned out to be the commercial juggernaut the world has come to expect from her. The singer didn't push any singles from the project, and she made it clear via advertisements and comments in the media that it was a stopgap set. At times, it was even referred to as LG6.5 -- something between her sixth and upcoming seventh releases.