Gaga, easily.
And by MILES!
Gaga has the respect of the GP & of the industry. Even Legends sing her praises & perform with her. That's something Katy unfortunately does not have.
Even if the GP despises how Gaga acts & dresses, they can never deny how talented she is. Go read the Youtube comments on the videos of Gaga's live performances & Katy's live performances, and you'll know the answer to this question.
There are hundreds of comments on each video where people have written something like...."She is weird, but damn Gaga can singgg" or "She is so talented, why does she dress so weird?" or "OMG I always thought Gaga had no talent, but after watching this performance, I have to say she is very talented and I'm impressed."
^^^ That's just a gist of how most of the comments on Gaga's live performances videos are. That's the GP talking. Go look at the comment section of her Howard Stern interview, that's the GP talking.
Katy is a brilliant Pop Star but that's all. Gaga is a brilliant artist/ Pop Star.
Gaga is held to a very different and higher standard and that's just the truth of it all. Her decline is a big deal, because it's LADY GAGA. People expect nothing but the best from her, even if they like her or not.
Even her "decline" is making more headlines then Katy's "success" and that should tell you something.
And I'm pretty sure if you were to ask Katy Perry this question, she herself will say, "It's Gaga".
Lame monster shade...moving on. Gaga has still sold more records overall so this blabbing on and on about sales and acting like it favors Katy is quite idiotic anyway but even if Katy had eclipsed Gaga's overall sales please tell me how that equates to her being more respected? You can respect an artist and choose to not buy their music. By the same token there are tons of people who buy album just because they enjoy the music and nothing more. "respect" really isn't a big part of album buying most of the time. It's a hard thing to gauge...but I definitely don't think sales is an appropriate way of judging it. Gaga's critical acclaim speaks for itself and shows that she at least has a decent amount of respect. Katy has no critical acclaim and sells because she knows what the public wants and she gives it to them.
Trying to act as if Gaga's antics make her so different and important and trying to make it seem the GP respect her but dislike the music is idiotic. Something about her has turned them off. If they truly respected her they would look beyond the gimmicks and appreciate the talent. Generally when people appreciate and respect things being presented to them for consumer consumption they purchase it. Critics aren't the be all end all. As I stated before, I believe the public respects Katy because her music can appeal to the youngest among us, unlike some of the things Ms. Gaga sing about.