Lady Gaga’s iconic album Born This Way celebrated its 10 year anniversary yesterday, To commemorate and recognise its cultural impact, the City of West Hollywood declared May 23 as Born This Way Day, and celebrating with a street painting on Robertson Blvd in tribute to the LGBTQ+ community and the album.
When it was originally released in 2011, Born This Way shattered records around the world. To date, the album has more than 5.8 billion global streams, 5.2 million physical albums sold, and 31 million digital tracks sold. Born This Way was Lady Gaga’s first #1 album and it debuted at #1 in 25 countries. It was named one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and is certified 4x Platinum in the U.S.
Mayor Horvath also presented a Key to the City to Lady Gaga with a note of thanks: “Thank you for encouraging us to love ourselves and be proud!” Concurrent with the unveiling of the colourful street painting is the kick-off of Pride season in West Hollywood with the annual One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival, which runs from Harvey Milk Day (May 22) through the end of June Pride month (June 30).
The Haus of Gaga has put together a series of surprises that will roll out over the next month to celebrate 10 years of the album, the community of fans around the world, and of course Lady Gaga herself. The anniversary celebration will include a very special collection of tracks from the album reimagined by prominent artists from the LGBTQ+ community and allies, as well as various partnerships, products, and merchandise that will be announced shortly. In addition, the Born This Way Foundation is working closely with New York and Youth Pride, sending goods and monetary donations along with notes of kindness to LGBTQ+ centres across the United States to assist in their Pride celebrations.