25 MOST DEVOTED FANS BASES: 8

LADY GAGA 

POPULARITY: Estimated 23 million albums and 64 million singles sold worldwide; the Monster Ball Tour was the fifteenth-highest-grossing tour ever and highest-grossing tour by a debut headlining artist, grossing about $227.4 million over 200 shows. Has 174,103,423 YouTube channel views. 

FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 53 million 

TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 30 million

FAN NICKNAME: Little Monsters

MAIN HANGOUTS: LittleMonsters.com, GagaDaily.com, LadyGagaNow.Net

AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Though her songs appeal to moms, too, the core Monsters are gays and younger women.

DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: On a 2011 episode of SNL, Lady Gaga was in a sketch with Justin Timberlake called “What’s That Name?”, a game show in which the two singers had to remember various people's names. The main joke was that the aloof Timberlake didn't know the names of Chris Kirkpatrick or a girl with whom he recently had sex, yet Gaga not only instantly recognized Alphonse, a random fan who went to her “monster show,” but she then offered to pay for his sister’s medical bills. The point was simple: Lady Gaga is a megastar woman of the people: She’s Mama Monster but also one of them.

Her willingness to be open with her insecurities cements her bond with her fans, many of them high-schoolers going through the most insecure time of their lives: Recently, they rallied around her en masse on her site when she opened up about her history of struggling with anorexia and bulimia, commiserating and empowering her and each other with their own experiences with the disorder. The perception is she'll do anything for her Little Monsters (whether through donating to charities that matter to them or dancing until she throws up), but her frankness about her own issues cues her fans that she needs them as much as they need her: This isn’t just about idolizing a pop star — they’re all in it together. So, they follow — her every word on Twitter — where she has by far the most followers; bring her very personal gifts at arena shows; spend hours Photoshopping her into a fabulous unicorn; and dress up like her at concerts, pride parades, and Halloween. She has been the most popular Halloween costume consistently for the past three years, selling in the millions. Not to mention the many who fabricate their own. It's not an easy costume to make (where will you find all those Kermits?) but, to her fans, it’s less of a costume than a uniform.

From Vulture and Google