Pick a Day

Stefani Germanotta enters the world in New York City. She is born this way, but rises to fame under the name Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga releases her first single, "Just Dance," co-written with Akon, who sings on the track. It catches on in clubs and gradually climbs the pop chart, landing at #1 in January 2009.

After two years performing in the New York City club scene, 22-year-old Lady Gaga releases her debut album, The Fame, a look at how fame is all about attitude. Thanks to the hits "Just Dance" and "Poker Face," it makes her famous worldwide, not just in her mind.More

Lady Gaga releases The Fame Monster, the follow-up to her debut album, The Fame. It comes with a new perspective on celebrity, as Gaga is now very famous. The album includes her monster hit "Bad Romance" and her Beyoncé collaboration "Telephone."

Lady Gaga wears a dress made of raw meat to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, where she wins Video Of The Year for "Bad Romance."More

Lady Gaga performs the first of two shows at Madison Square Garden that will make up the footage of her HBO concert special in May.

Lady GaGa's "Born This Way" makes history, becoming the Billboard Hot 100 chart's 1000th number one. "It is a tremendous honor," GaGa tells Billboard. "To be the 1000th number one on Billboard. I would be silly not to say this is the greatest honor of my career."

Lady Gaga, a huge and still-rising star thanks to hits like "Poker Face" and "Bad Romance," releases another hit-packed album: Born This Way. The title track becomes an anthem of inclusivity and one of her signature songs.

Lady Gaga's HBO concert special airs. The show is made up of two February concerts from Madison Square Garden on her Monster Ball tour. Those who remember Madonna's Truth or Dare notice a lot of similarities.

Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Usher all perform at Bill Clinton's 65th birthday celebration at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Gaga turns her hit song into "Bill Romance" for her performance.

Lady Gaga's 90-minute A Very Gaga Thanksgiving special airs on ABC. Gaga directed the program, which features her singing, eating, visiting her old school, and being interviewed by Katie Couric.

During celebrations in Times Square, Lady GaGa shares a kiss with New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg just after the ball drops.

Lady Gaga is forced to cancel a scheduled concert performance in Jakarta, Indonesia, after Islamic protesters threaten to stop the show themselves. Bearing banners saying "Go to hell, Lady Gaga," the protesters cite the singer's loose morals and revealing costumes as evidence that she is corrupting the youth. The island of Bali remains a predominantly Hindu enclave within Indonesia, with much of the rest of the population Islam, Christian, or Sikh.

Lady Gaga appears on The Simpsons, where she tries to help Lisa improve her social standing in the episode "Lisa Goes Gaga."

MGA Entertainment, the toy corporation behind the "Bratz" line of dolls, files a lawsuit against Lady Gaga, alleging that she and her managers delayed approval on marketing a Lady Gaga doll. MGA calls it "breach of contract" and is asking for $10 million - this, only eight months after the deal was struck.

Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro gets into hot water for his slurs against Lady Gaga. The extensive rant consists, in part, of "There's Gaga. Here's this, this, I would call her a slut. This slut is influencing many, many children."

Lady Gaga makes her movie debut playing shape-shifting assassin La Camaleon in the Robert Rodriguez action-crime flick Machete Kills.

During her performance of "Swine" at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, Lady Gaga has a performance artist vomit green liquid on her repeatedly. It's a statement on processing rage and rejecting the norms of pop music, but fans are more repelled than intrigued.

Lady Gaga gets engaged to actor Taylor Kinney. She confirms the news two days later by posting a photo of the heart-shaped diamond ring on Instagram with the caption, "He gave me his heart on Valentine's Day, and I said YES!" A year later, they break off the engagement.

At the Oscars, Lady Gaga is introduced by Vice President Joe Biden and performs "Til It Happens To You" joined by a group of sexual assault survivors. A few minutes later, it loses the Best Song award to Sam Smith's "Writing's On The Wall."More

30-year-old Lady Gaga finally gets her driver's license.

Lady Gaga opens the Super Bowl halftime show with a verse from "God Bless America," followed by the song Woody Guthrie wrote as a parody, "This Land Is Your Land."More

Lady Gaga cancels the remainder of her Joanne tour, citing severe pain caused by fibromyalgia. She later reveals the cause to be a psychotic break, telling Rolling Stone, "I completely crashed. It was really scary."

In light of the Surviving R. Kelly miniseries, Lady Gaga pulls her 2013 R. Kelly collaboration, "Do What U Want," from streaming services and issues a statement supporting his accusers.

Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and several other stars perform from their homes on the One World: Together At Home concert to support frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lady Gaga is the big winner at MTV Video Music Awards, taking Artist of the Year, Song of the Year (her Ariana Grande collaboration "Rain On Me") and the Tricon Award, formerly the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. With the coronavirus lockdown still in place, two new categories are awarded: Best Music Video From Home ("Stuck with U" by Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber) and Best Quarantine Performance (CNCO: Unplugged at Home).

At Joe Biden's inauguration, Lady Gaga sings the national anthem and Jennifer Lopez belts out "This Land Is Your Land" before he is sworn in. At night, Bruce Springsteen, John Legend, Demi Lovato, and Tim McGraw all perform on a socially distanced concert special capped by a massive fireworks display on the National Mall as Katy Perry sings, of course, "Firework."

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga play the second of two sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. It's Bennett's last performance; a week later the 95-year-old singer, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2016, announces he's retiring from performing.

Tony Bennett, 95, releases an album of standards with Lady Gaga called Love For Sale, making him (according to Guinness) the oldest person to release an album of new material.

The Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga duet "Die With a Smile" goes to #1 in America on its way to landing as Billboard's top song of 2025. It's the ninth chart-topper for Mars and the sixth for Gaga.