Ah, how the pop culture masses are so easily dazzled by glitz, glitter and meat dresses.

Lady Gaga secured her reign of the world with the release last week of her CD, "Born This Way," an album that obliterated record sales — impressive, considering we live in a time when no one really buys records anymore (we no longer have time, apparently, to listen to the artistry of an entire CD; hit singles are all we need, thank you very much).

''Born This Way" is projected to sell about 1.15 million albums its first week, which would make it the best-selling CD since NSYNC's "Celebrity" in 2001 generated sales of 1.88 million in its first week.

In fact, Gaga just about brought down Amazon when the Internet sales giant decided to offer her CD for just 99 cents. The rush of desperate downloaders, some 440,000 of them, overloaded the system.

If you doubt her popularity, just look to Forbes magazines' latest list of the most influential celebrities. For only the third time in seven years, it isn't the all powerful Oz ... er, Oprah, rather who commanded the top spot.

Gaga came out on top in Forbes' 2011 most influential celeb issue. She brought down Oprah — flower girl dress flower girl dress; yes, Oprah — who turned in a hefty $290 million in earnings in 2010 (expected to be about $25 million less this year, since Oprah just wrapped up her daytime talk show). Gaga herself made far less than Oprah discount wedding dress discount wedding dress, about $90 million on her latest tour, but showed more moxie in the popularity realm, thanks to her 32 million Facebook fans and 10 million Twitter followers.

Lady Gaga as the most influential entertainer? More influential than Oprah herself, who owns a network princeses wedding dresses princeses wedding dresses, launched the careers of celebs like Dr. Phil, and had such power she could make a book a No. 1 hit just by recommending it to people?

I'm not so sure about that title.

If that's the case — and if the power of social networking is now part of the success formula instead of just wealth — who knows who might rise up next.

Maybe Rebecca Black, the 13-year-old singer whose song "Friday" — Panties mother of bride dress ; called the "worst song ever" by its critics — huge selection of stylish and cheap blue prom dresses, with the latest styles for 2011 and uk delivery. click to find your perfect dress became a viral hit after Black's mom supposedly paid $4,000 to have the single and video put out as a "vanity release." It's ironic, considering the song received millions of "dislikes" but has still given its teen singer considerable popularity.

True, Gaga is fascinating. She's like a visual carnival ride when it comes to fashion — the meat dress dress , the arrival at the Grammys in a giant egg.

She touts just as much visual pow in her music videos. She's styled to avant-garde perfection in cellphone hats and Day of the Dead costumes, and seems like something out of a Quentin Tarantino movie or a birthing film.

But stripped of all those stunning visuals, what does that leave us, really?

It leaves us fairly simple dance music that isn't any more special than the scores of other innocuous dance tunes out there.

Like Madonna and Cher before her, forever yours bridesmaid dresses Gaga isn't so much a musical genius as she is a spectacular entertainer who manages to elevate her fluffy dance tunes by distracting everyone with the pretty bow that's her artistry. The only thing left to do is sprinkle in a little shock value for good measure.

So with all this talk about record-breaking record sales, it's really more about the meat dress .

And what does that say about us?

Does it mean we're so simplistic that we're easily fooled by a few pretty lights and outrageous costumes?

In the case of Rebecca Black, does it mean anyone can buy into that social media popularity with a mere $4,000, even if it is with the worst song ever wedding dresses sale wedding dresses sale mother of bride dresses ?

Lady Gaga the most influential entertainer in the world? For now, maybe. But the social masses are fickle. Today's meat dress and today's "Friday" might just as well be Monday's takeout.