Justin Bieber may have a gigantic fanbase, but he's no longer Twitter's most popular celebrity. With over 46,477,000 followers at the time of this writing, Katy Perry has taken the lead. Both stars are still adding new followers every minute, but Perry seems to be rising faster. She's presently maintaining 2,000 more followers than Bieber, and barring a backlash, could keep on climbing higher.

Katy Perry (@katyperry) is now the most followed user on Twitter, passing Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) who held the title for nine months. — Eli Langer (@EliLanger) November 3, 2013

Lady Gaga was long the queen of Twitter, holding the crown since 2010 and setting a number of records in the interim. Bieber took the lead in January, when he surpassed Gaga at the 33.33 million follower mark, and Katy Perry passed Gaga at around 39 million followers some six months later. With 40 million devotees, Gaga still holds the #3 slot, followed by President Barack Obama at 39 million and Taylor Swift at 36 million.

Katy Perry's social media star has been rising for some time, but it's possible that recent events pushed her over the top. OneDirection singer Niall Horan jokingly proposed marriage to Perry on Twitter last month.

"I feel like I've learned how to tame that social media dragon."

Perry tweets quite a bit less than Bieber, but in an interview with USA Today, she said that's part of her strategy. "I feel like I've learned how to tame that social media dragon," she told the publication.