Lady Gaga heading for hit, with Madonna's blessing

Lady Gaga (3rd R) performs her new song ''Born This Way'' at the 53rd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California February 13, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

Lady Gaga's new Madonna-influenced single "Born This Way" is expected to storm the U.S. charts this week after record-setting radio play and more than 450,000 downloads, music industry sources say.

And the dance single also has the blessing of Madonna, Lady Gaga said.

"Born This Way" -- which fans and music critics have likened to the 1989 Madonna hit "Express Yourself" -- had sold more than 450,000 downloads in the first three days since its release on Friday, Billboard said quoting industry sources.

It also had a record-setting 4,602 radio plays in the United States, according to Nielsen. That should see the single debut at No.1 when the Billboard Hot 100 charts are released on Wednesday, Billboard said.

Lady Gaga addressed Madonna's influence in an appearance on the "Tonight Show with Jay Leno" on Monday.

"There is really no one that is a more adoring and loving Madonna fan than me. I am the hugest fan personally and professionally," the 24-year-old singer told Leno.

"Well, the good news is that I got an e-mail from her people, and her sending me their love and complete support on behalf of the single, and if the queen says it shall be, then it shall be," she said.

Lady Gaga, who won three Grammys on Sunday after a headline-grabbing entrance encased in a giant egg, will make her concert debut on cable channel HBO in May.

HBO said on Tuesday that it would tape the singer's Feb 21 and 22 concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York for a May 7 broadcast.

"Born This Way" is the first single from a new Lady Gaga album scheduled for release on May 23.

The singer and performance artist told Leno on Monday that the opaque egg in which she arrived at the Grammys was in fact a "vessel" and said she had been inside it for three days before her performance on Sunday.