Katy Perry became a runaway success thanks to her 2008 major label debut, One Of The Boys. The album scored her a No. 1 hit ("I Kissed A Girl") and two GRAMMY nods — but no one could have foreseen the world-conquering, record-breaking blockbuster that followed two years later.
Indeed, 2010's Teenage Dream instantly launched the former Christian singer into the realm of generation-defining superstars, spawning six monster hits, the second highest-grossing concert film ever by a female artist, and a general popcultural dominance arguably not seen since the days of "TRL." In fact, the demand for all things Perry was so insatiable that The Complete Confection, a reissue featuring three additional tracks from the vaults, was released while the original was still on the charts.
And Perry was no doubt ecstatic with the response. After all, while on the promotional trail, she acknowledged to The Guardian that unlike many of her too-cool-for-school peers, she was more than happy to aim squarely for the mainstream: "I want to sell out, but just not in the 'I've sold out' kind of way. I want to sell out arenas and sell millions of records."
She certainly did that, with Teenage Dream shifting 12 million copies worldwide, bagging a total of seven GRAMMY nominations (including Album and Record Of The Year) and its accompanying tour playing to more than one million people. Although they've both achieved bigger sales, not even Adele, nor Taylor Swift, have enjoyed such a sustained period of chart success with the same album. And with modern audiences becoming more fractured than ever, it's perhaps unlikely that any artist ever will.
As Teenage Dream celebrates its 15th anniversary, here's a look at 10 reasons why it remains an unforgettable and undeniable milestone in pop.
It Was a Chart Behemoth
You could almost fill an entire tome with Teenage Dream's remarkable chart stats. It spent 400 weeks on the Billboard 200, reached the year-end Top 40 three times in a row, and last year became one of the few LPs from the 2010s to be certified diamond.
Perhaps the most impressive evidence of Teenage Dream's blockbuster status is that itspawned five No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 — joining Michael Jackson's Bad as the only two albums in history to do so. Remarkably, she achieved the feat with the album's first five singles ("California Gurls," the title track, "Firework," " E.T. ," and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"); its sixth single, "The One That Got Away," still reached No. 3. And she even notched another No. 1 with "Part Of Me" from its deluxe edition, The Complete Confection, with its follow-up single, "Wide Awake," reaching No. 2.
It Spawned A String Of Iconic Videos
Perry's ability to visually match the tone of the song was integral to Teenage Dream's long-running success. In fact, its eight videos (including those for reissue singles "Part of Me" and "Wide Awake") have now amassed an astonishing total of nearly eight billion YouTube views. The two most watched are the aptly self-empowering, pyrotechnic-fueled "Firework," and the cameo-filled "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)", an '80s throwback inspired by the movies of John Hughes; each have over 1.5 billion views a piece as of press time.
Elsewhere, the head-over-heels euphoria of the title track was accompanied by a sun-kissed romance that perfectly captured the feelings of falling in love. The sci-fi hip-pop of "E.T." saw Perry play a Medusa-like alien drifting into outer space. And who can forget the whipped cream-spouting conebras and dancing gummy bears of the frothy "California Gurls"?
It Perfectly Captured The Zeitgeist
Sometimes a record comes along which, whether intentionally or not, serves as a perfect snapshot of its era. And Teenage Dream is a prime example. From its internet terminology ("Think I need a ginger ale/ That was such an epic fail") to its video appearances from viral sensation Rebecca Black and Glee's Kevin McHale and Darren Criss, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)" couldn't have been more early 2010s if it had tried.
Likewise, "Firework" which combined the in-vogue sound of soaring EDM with lyrics that could have been cribbed from an Insta-poetry post ("Do you ever feel like a plastic bag/ Drifting through the wind"), and "California Gurls," was arguably the West Coast native's answer toJay-Z andAlicia Keys' 2009 love letter to New York, "Empire State of Mind." A guest appearance fromKanye West and a dedication to Perry's then-husband Russell Brand ("Hummingbird Heartbeat") — both of whom were then more provocative than deeply problematic — also adds to the time capsule feel.
It Cemented The Decade's Biggest Pop Rivalry
Katy Perry and Lady Gaga both released their debut singles in April 2008 ("I Kissed a Girl," "Just Dance") and their breakthrough albums (One of the Boys, The Fame) within two months of each other. And with the former's inherent campness contrasting with the latter's taste for the avant-garde, the press — and their fandoms — were inevitably happy to stoke up competition between the pair. But it was only during Teenage Dream's promo trail that one of the parties themselves appeared to get involved, and with a passive-aggressive social media post that sent the internet into overdrive.
"Using blasphemy as entertainment is as cheap as a comedian telling a fart joke," Perry tweeted in June 2010, with many pop obsessives believing this was a thinly-veiled attack on her fellow superstar's religious-themed video for "Alejandro," a track that was racing up the chart at the same time as "California Gurls." The fact that "The One That Got Away" later broke Gaga's record for the highest number of consecutive Pop Chart No. 1s also added fuel to the fire.
It Elevated Perry As A Live Performer
Perry's previous Hello Katy Tour had been a relatively straight-forward affair (only two costume changes!) in which she let the music do most of the talking. That all changed with the California Dreams Tour, which was more of a jukebox musical than a gig, allowing the star to indulge in all her fairy tale fantasies while simultaneously rattling through her arsenal of hits.
Teenage Dream's uptempo nature was deliberately conceived to help increase the energy levels on tour. Whether Perry envisioned singing with a giant gingerbread man and cosplaying as a butcher-evading cat remains to be seen. But its accompanying 124-date global trek, captured for posterity in concert movie Part of Me, put Perry squarely in the realm of pop's must-see performers. And let's not forget it was performances of "Teenage Dream" and "California Gurls" where her Super Bowl halftime show unleashed the joys of Left Shark!
It Inspired Future Female Pop Stars
Having dominated the pop landscape for the best part of the early 2010s, Perry's third LP inevitably served as a major influence on the next generation of female pop stars. Halsey was particularly enamored, telling Apple Music, "Anyone who's trying to make a perfect pop album is wasting their time because Katy already did it with Teenage Dream."
While promoting Melodrama in 2017, Lorde claimed that the album's title track was truly one of the all-time greats: "When I put that song on, I'm as moved as I am by anything by David Bowie, by Fleetwood Mac, by Neil Young. It lets you feel something you didn't know you needed to feel." Country-pop crossover star Maren Morris seemingly feels similarly, calling "Teenage Dream" a "perfectly written pop song" and even explicitly referencing the track on her GIRL cut "A Song for Everything."
And the influence is still being felt by the current batch of leading pop ladies. Both Tate McRae and Chappell Roan have covered "The One That Got Away," with the former delivering her version on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge and the latter singing it in a couple of shows in 2023.
It Launched Max Martin's Imperial Phase
Proving that she had her fingers on the pulse, Perry also cleverly selected a who's who of behind-the-scenes talent (Stargate, Benny Blanco, Tricky Stewart, to name a few) to help bring her eclectic vision to life. But the most pivotal figure was undoubtedly Max Martin, the long-haired Swede who worked his production magic on four of the album's five No. 1s.
Perry had helped bring the Y2K hitmaker out of his commercial slump on One for the Boys, with "I Kissed a Girl" becoming his first chart-topper in eight years. And while he went on to helm No. 1s for Pink ("So What"), Kelly Clarkson ("My Life Would Suck Without You"), and Britney Spears ("3"), it was his prolific streak on Teenage Dream that truly put Martin back at the top of the pop pyramid. And he never looked back, hitting pole position every year until 2016 — and in 2024, Ariana Grande's "Yes, And" helped him surpass the late Sir George Martin as the Hot 100's all-time most successful producer.
It Birthed Her Defining Look
From the bleached-blonde pixie cut of the Witness era to her bold Balenciaga fit from last year's Paris Fashion Week, Perry has changed up her style as frequently as her sound. But for most KatyCats, her trademark look stems from Teenage Dream.
"Going from Shirley Temple, Betty Boop to more of a Betty Page pop art-sarcastic-fun-Lichtenstein picture," was how the star herself described the makeover first debuted on the album's striking cover. Perry had initially only been looking to buy a "Cotton Candy Clouds" painting from Will Cotton before the artist, recognizing her own burlesque pinup quality, convinced the singer to pose for one instead. Adopting a similar aesthetic throughout, the singer certainly fulfilled her dream to make the CD era "go out with a bang."