Katy Perry - in case you haven't heard - is coming back.
The biggest and brightest pop star of her generation, Katy has influenced as entire generation of pop stars with her untouchable run of hits from 2008-2013, including her timeless second album Teenage Dream, bringing maximalist pop perfection shaped by Max Martin to the masses.
Having kept quiet since the release of 2020's lockdown record Smile - making herself busy with a stint as a judge on American Idol, as well as a career retrospective Las Vegas residency, and of course starting a family with her fiancee, Orlando Bloom - Katy is now ready to return to the pop arena with her sixth studio album.
Brand-new single Woman's World, teased by a Blade Runner-esque promo image which sees Katy, touselled to the gods, looking like some kind of cyborg gazelle, will be out July 11, and to celebrate we're unveiling for the first time the official Top 40 biggest songs by the lady who put the capital P in pop for its halcyon days in the early 2010s.
But before we reveal the Top 40 in full - let's take a closer look at the Top 10.
Quite literally the one that got away, this hyper-emotional ballad looking back on a lost love was famously the first single from Teenage Dream to not reach Number 1 in the US, denying Katy the chance to break Michael Jackson's long-held record for the most Number 1 singles taken from a studio album (they're both drawn equal with 5).
A mercurial pop moment, the likes of which we will never see again. Teenage Dream was the perfect pop song for the perfect pop star in the perfect pop moment. Teenage Dream has been hailed by many critics as the greatest pop song of the modern-day, and it's hard to argue against it.
T! G! I! F! Katy turned the fun factor up to 11 on this boisterious, 80s-esque banger. Very of its time, the ebuliant music video features Katy dressing up as her geeky alter-ego, Kathy Beth Terry, and contains cameos from Rebecca Black (then at the height of her Friday fame), pop icons Debbie Gibson and Hanson and even the cast of Glee (like we said, very of its time).
How do you not become a one-hit wonder? Release a song as good as Hot N Cold. Refreshingly nothing like I Kissed A Girl in look, touch, taste or sound, the maddeningly bonkers bop was the first hint that Katy loved nothing more than digging into pop's excentricities, something she would only become more adept at as time passed.
Campy, vampy and just a little bit ridiculous, I Kissed A Girl rides a hard, New Wave-edged beat, keeping its tongue firmly in cheek throughout its sharp, concise run time. For Katy, who had already been dropped by one major label, this Number 1 debut single was a hard-won victory, and the start to one of the most celebrated careers in modern pop. Just be thankful it came out in 2008 and not 2024 - can you imagine the discourse?
California! According to pop lore, Teenage Dream the album was done, dusted and wrapped up, but Katy thought she needed one more song. As a fan of Jay Z and Alicia Keys's Empire State of Mind, she wanted to write a song that paid tribute to the West Coast instead. And boy, does it ever. Sand, bikini tops and Daisy Dukes reign supreme in this sun-kissed hit, the inclusion of Snoop Dogg (one of the West Coast's greatest-ever MCs) was something of a magical accident; Katy invited him to lay down a verse after googling rappers from California and his name came up.
The narrative around Katy's releases post-Prism is that she failed to reach the commercial heights of her Teenage Dream apex. And while this would be true for her solo output, she had one last hit in her back pocket, teaming up with Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams and Big Sean for this funky slice, the biggest hit from Calvin;s Funk Wav Bounces, Vol. 1.
As it stands, Feels remains Katy's fifth and most recent UK Number 1 single, and is the singer's second most-streamed song in the UK (167 million).
The second Top 10 hit from Prism, Katy's 'let the light in' post-divorce record, Dark Horse is something of an outlier on its parent album. A dark, bone-shattering trap-influenced beat plays throughout, with almost nonsensical gothic imagery of levitations, witches and enchantments, before Three 6 Mafia star Juicy J bounces in for a spotlight-stealing verse.
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag? Its opening line may be one of the ultimate head-scratching moments in Katy's career (had she been watching a lot of American Beauty at the time? Or doing her big shop in Tesco?) but Firework's heart-soaring chorus is still, more than 10 years after its release, undeniable. Maybe she was on to something after all.
She's got the eye of the tiger! Many expected Prism to be a darker record than Teenage Dream, but Katy smashed those expectations in one fell swoop on the bouncy, bright beat of Roar, a self-empowerment anthem all about finding the hidden lioness inside yourself...or something.
Perhaps people at the time may have assumed Teenage Dream's blockbuster success was a one-off for Katy, but she was happy to prove them wrong. In 2014, Roar is still Katy's biggest song ever in the UK, and her most-streamed too (218 million).
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garyf
Do you have any pure sales figures for the Top 5?