Celebrity Circuit
By

Devon Thomas /

CBS News/ July 6, 2010, 1:30 PM

Lady Gaga Beats President Obama to 10 Million Facebook Fans

lady gaga

Lady Gaga, stands for acknowledgement from President Barack Obama, as he speaks at the Human Rights Campaign national dinner, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

NEW YORK (CBS) Lady Gaga might not be running for U.S. president in 2012, but her chances look good if you tally her friends on Facebook.

PICTURES: Lady Gaga's Eye-Catching Style

As of 9 a.m. on Tuesday, the singer had eclipsed the President Barack Obama, to have the most Facebook friends at 10,996,842, according to published reports.

The 24-year-old "Poker Face" singer is the first living person to attract more than 10 million Facebook friends, according to People magazine. President Obama's Facebook friend count currently sits at 9,967,630, and was the former "Facebook Friend" champion.

Although she is the first living person to achieve the 10 million-plus milestone, other (non-living) subjects are at the top of the Facebook totem pole (in ascending order): Family Guy, Mafia Wars, Facebook, Michael Jackson and Texas Hold 'Em Poker -- which, coincidentally, has no relation to the opening lyrics in Lady Gaga's big hit "Poker Face."

It is worth noting that President Obama's page is run by the group Organizing for America, which is part of the Democratic National Committee.

The singer even managed to beat out the president on Twitter. As of Tuesday, the singer has 317,282 more Twitter followers than the President, though who both hover in the 4-million-plus friends range, according to the Top Followers List on Twitaholic.com.

Gaga and Obama rank fourth and fifth, respectively, on Twitter, behind talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, actor Ashton Kutcher and pop star Britney Spears, who has the most followers on Twitter at 5.2 million.


© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
9 Comments Add a Comment
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user000049586849302948602 says:
Where is Sarah "The Quitter" Palin in the standings?
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dimhumb says:
Gentlemen, you are not hurrying to post my comments! Is it an iron curtain again? Two my previous comments haven't popped up in any visible form, half an hour since.
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JayAdlerMusic says:
This statistical conundrum whereas an albeit popular recording artist beats out the Leader of the Free World in a popularity contest does not in and of it of self require any analysis or explanation. Actually in fairness to President Obama who I happen to be very fond of personally although a political critic of and ideological adversary, I would say we should drop this thing because it is embarrassing. I am not a fan of Lady Gaga and not for any negative reasons. I am too old to be interested in her style of performing and I am still grooving to Gary Lewis and the Playboys who for all I know could win the contest also. I was born and raised in New York City and therefore my exposure to many different varieties of individuals may impart on me a kind of intuitive sense, we called it pegging someone.I have seen Lady Gaga once or twice and she seems to be highly talented and a really nice person.There is just a feeling I get,that resembles some things I have heard on talk shows. Whatever people are thinking, if turns out to be true, this Facebook contest could take on a new meaning that will be nothing short of explosive.
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tiredofthebs says:
Lady Gaga Beats President Obama to 10 Million Facebook Fans ........


And?! So?! Social networking is OK some of the time. But if you spend more than twenty minutes a day on the site (FACEBOOK), you need a life. Only celebrities and politicians care how many "fans" they have (VOTES & MARKETABILITY). Well, I suppose losers do too. TWITTER is still the biggest waste of time ever invented!
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jeff77raz says:
Lady Gaga, for Perez.Ya why not, The country is over, No moral, nobody takes marriage vows seriously,married people screw every body. and it's all right.I know 90% of the women who hit on me are married. the good ones don't hit on ya, Ya have to go after them. But that is only 10%. WHO cares what happens any more.Atheist trying thair best to prove thair is no God.Man if you don't believe in God just pretend thair is one It seams like we do better when we believe in God. Ah, whatever I would have better results just banging my head off the wall. Ya know, Quit riot. Bang your head. Gaga for Perez!!
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bradkt1 says:
Why is this even a news item?
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kris001123 says:
I think she should run for president,......why not......she cant do any more damage than what has already been done,....all she can do is fix things now, Gaga for president
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abbe91 replies:
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I agree with you. A pity she didn't run in 2000.
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akazify says:
Hello Devon,

This might be of interest to you:

I have set up a fan page on Facebook called "Can Ghandi get more fans than Gaga?". Now, I know that Ghandi is unfortunately long gone, while Gaga set the record for number of fans of an alive person, but let me explain why I created the page.

It's not anything against Lady Gaga. I'm not exactly a fan of her music, but I'm not opposed to it. Just, to me, at least, it seems that we put way too much focus on celebrities like her, and sometimes forget the heroes of the past (or present, even), that might not be as "glamorous." Ghandi was an inspiration to millions, of not billions, of people, and I am sure there are more people in the world that would like World Peace than there are who like Lady Gaga.

So, the group is not an anti-Gaga page by any means, it's just an attempt to give some recognition to someone great who might not be as news-worthy anymore, but deserves recognition, still.

Regards,

Ariel Zlatkovski
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