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Lady Gaga has been slammed by Billboard for allegedly gaming the charts in order to boast her new single ‘Applause.’

She was photographed this week sporting several mainstream looks — a far cry from her usual over-the-top hair, makeup and fashion statements. May we suggest that she was attempting to channel rival Katy Perry with a bouncy black wig?

The entertainer is planning her most “physically challenging performance ever” tonight when she opens the MTV Video Music Awards at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

She isn’t nominated in any of tonight’s categories, but she is desperately hoping to re-establish herself with ‘Applause,’ from her upcoming third studio album, ‘Artpop.’

They say timing is everything. In this case, Gaga had the misfortune of releasing her latest tune on the heels of Katy Perry’s song ‘Roar.’ The ‘Born This Way’ singer had a disappointing first week of sales — failing to land on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

She received negative press after attempting to artificially increase the single’s chart placement with the help of her fan base.

Billboard Editorial Director Bill Werde hit Twitter to diss the singer, “An artist tweeting out and Facebooking a link that enables a fan to hit play and leave their computer is not in the spirit of what we chart. We hate to see anyone try to game the charts, be it fans or artists. it’s not in the spirit of what we do, which is celebrating success.”

We’ll be keeping our eye on Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke tonight. These artists are up for a collective 18 awards.

Photos: WENN