The pop world is going gaga.

Lady Gaga, to be exact.

Whether it's her racy stage performances, arresting fashion sense 或者 chart-topping hits, Gaga gets heads turning and sets tongues wagging.

The New York City-born blond performer even piqued the curiosity of the curmudgeonly Barbara Walters, who dubbed her one of her "ten most fascinating people" earlier this month. Gaga also kept court with a queen, bowing to Britain's 皇后乐队 Elizabeth II in a red dress made of latex. She recently was named "woman of the year" 由 MTV, who 说 "there's not much 问题 that 2009 was Lady Gaga's year."

But it isn't all rosy for the woman who "rah rah rah's" her way through hit "Bad Romance."

Gaga's performance style put fear in one of her own family members.

"It wasn't really so easy for my dad, especially in the beginning," Gaga told Walters during the interview that aired Dec. 9. "We didn't talk for months after the first time he saw me play, and my mother told me he was afraid I was, like, mentally unstable."

Wow, scaring your own dad onstage.

For those, and so many other reasons, the artist known as Gaga clinched our Pop Person of the 年 title.

She follows in the footsteps of past winners: The Obamas (2008), Paparazzi aka "Pop Vultures" (2007), and Sacha Baron Cohen (2006), all of whom rocked the celebrity and cultural arenas to their core for reasons good and bad.

So what put Gaga on the tippy 最佳, 返回页首 o' pop?

Our crack team of kinda-sorta social scientists dissected the diva's fashion choices, chart success and cultural impact with the help of some pop culture and 音乐 industry insiders. Check out our analysis:

Her clubby dance hits -- evocative of Gwen Stefani 或者 麦当娜 -- may be the least unique thing about her, but they cannot be overlooked because her debut studio album, "The Fame," got Gaga the greenlight, according to 音乐 experts we talked to.

In fact, her formidable musical talent as a singer and pianist may even be obscured 由 her offerings to date, 说 Jessica Robertson, editor of the 音乐 site Spinner. "Her 音乐 is simply catchy, which is always a winning formula," Robertson said. "But when I hear her play the piano, I can't help but think Tori Amos. She deconstructs her radio performance when she plays the same song on the piano."

Gaga, despite her pop reign, also appeals to the hip-hop community. She was signed 由 rapper Akon, who loved her sound and has called her the "franchise player" on his Kon Live Distribution, according to MTV.

Dee Perkins, editor of a locally based hip hop-culture magazine, credits catchiness for Gaga's crossover appeal. "In Lady Gaga, pop has a 星, 星级 that embodies exactly what a pop 星, 星级 is to be," Perkins, editor of H.A.S. magazine, said. "It seems that hip-hop's current 总体, 整体 state and pop 音乐 are finding the area where they overlap and capitalizing on it. Put a catchy phrase over a catchy beat and there 你 have the recipe for a pop-hop hit."