Justin Bieber overtakes Lady Gaga in Twitter follower race

Justin Bieber. AP

LOS ANGELES—It took two days longer than expected, but Justin Bieber succeeded Tuesday in overtaking fellow pop idol Lady Gaga as the most followed person on Twitter.

“After putting up a great fight (which took longer than we expected), Justin Bieber took Lady Gaga’s crown this early morning,” Twitter Counter, which tracks and monitors Twitter usage, reported on its blog.

By mid-day, the Biebs had 33,342,299 followers, against 33,333,682 for the Mother Monster, followed by Katy Perry, Rihanna and, a day after his public second-term inauguration, President Barack Obama with 26,183,711 followers.

Last week Twitter Counter had forecasted that, according to its algorithms, Bieber would clinch first place last Sunday.

Bieber and Lady Gaga — who had led the Twitter pack since 2010 when she outpaced Britney Spears for the top spot — are currently on tour in the United States.

“So proud of @justinbieber and all the Beliebers!” Lady Gaga graciously tweeted her Canadian-born rival last week. “I’m only happy to see your fans growing in size, you all deserve it!

Monsters support you!”