How Selena Gomez Pushed Jay-Z Off The Billboard Top Spot

So let’s get straight to the point… just how did Selena Gomez manage to beat one of the greatest acts in hip-hop and for that matter in music? If you haven’t heard, this week Selena Gomez  bumped Jay-Z’s “Magna Carta Holy Grail” off the top spot on the Billboard 200 outselling H.O.V.A  97,000 copies to 77,000 copies respectively. And just like that defeats hip-hop’s 5-week reign and makes pop music the king. Let’s just call it a combination of extremely faithful fans and smart marketing.

Here’s how it was done:

Selena has been collecting fans before she was even in the fifth grade. She has been on television since the age of 10 starting with “Barney & Friends” and had various cameo roles in films. Most of her following comes from her own Disney Channel series “Wizards of Waverly Place” which lasted from 2007 till 2012. These fans have grown up with the star and have followed her and her career since the start. In turn, Selena has always been very humble and fan conscience, especially on social media (17,037, 365 twitter followers and 44,761,214 likes on Facebook) always sending them love through videos, pictures, and thank you messages.

Let’s just say fans love her so much they named themselves Selenators and in 2012 they were even nominated for Favorite Music Fan Following for The People’s Choice Awards.

People also love Selena because she does everything. The 21-year-old is not only in film, television, music, but also in fashion. So now, let’s get into the smart marketing section.

Selena has been warming up audiences for the release of “Stars Dance” since April when she put out the promotional single “Come and Get It” which surprised Selenators, in a good way, by featuring a mix of electro-pop and Bhangra. People loved it so much it reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 (her first top 10), No. 2 on the Pop Songs chart and No. 1 on Dance/Club Play Songs chart, according to Billboard. On July 15, she also tweeted: StarsDancePreview.com , her album’s preview website.

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In terms of fashion, on July, 9 the singer launched her new Adidas NEO Label by holding a unveiling event in Berlin, of the line’s 53 rocker-inspired pieces. During the event she used Vine to do a Q&A with fans. On July 24 she also launched “Dream Out Loud” her new clothing collection for Kmart.

On top of it all on July 22, Selena turned 21, and the next day released the video for “Slow Down” and performed it live on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Basically, she and her team made sure to release all of her projects on nearby dates and close to her birthday ultimately guaranteeing that the success of a previous event would carry on to the next.

As if all of this weren’t enough, the young star is always in the media. Whether it is doing an interview with Ryan Seacrest or a gossip site talking about her on-and-off relationship with heartthrob Justin Bieber, she is always front-page.

In short, Jay-Z hasn’t done half of what Selena has done this month alone, so what did you expect?

Selena will embark on her “Stars Dance” tour this Aug. 14 starting in Vancouver, BC and will stop at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Oct.16.