I know it's early days, but judging from the way things are going, and considering how much she has sold in this climate, it's safe to say things are looking up for her.
Yes that's impressive, but she's technically still on her first album. There's a lot of things that can go wrong on the second one. But I don't think so, GaGa always talks like she's going to release music which is "risky" for her target market but she always ends up playing it safe.
Just to clear things up.
MOTS is anywhere from 1.5-2 mill WW.
AGLM is 3-3.5 mill WW.
GGGB is 8 mill or more.
Rated R is 2.5-3 mill.
Loud is almost 1 mill.
Thats 15-17 mill WW.
Rihanna sold half of what Katys total is in 3 weeks, with one week of promo in the US.
Katy has had way more, but what makes up for that is the fact that Rihannas been around longer.
So basicially they are selling equal, Katy is on her 3rd #1 but selling less than Rih because shes been around shorter.
But it isnt fair to compare any album before GGGB to Katy's, because Rih wasnt at Katy's popularity level of OOTB's till GGGB.
AGLM was successful, but she wasnt as big as Katy was on her first album, and Im a true stan so I can say that.
MOTS was a whole different sound/image, so its not really fair to compare that to anything.
Both are doing great, and theres no need to constantly compare.
Both will def go Platinum in the US, and it looks like Rihanna might do a little better WW, and probably both of them will end up at 1x-2x platinum in the US unless Katy re-releases.