After Christina Aguilera’s shares fell recently owing to her massive US Super Bowl final fail last month, Britney Spears has, once again, beaten her long-time chart rival to the post.

With a number-one single ‘Hold It Against Me’ preceeding the release of this month’s new album, Femme Fatale, her profile and longevity has enjoyed another much-needed boost.

The new disc took nearly two years to realise. Because the paparazzi have a field day at her and her two kids’ expense as she struggles to get her act together, Britney’s got a lot riding on this, her seventh studio album release in a little over 12 years. Having sold close on 70-million albums cumulatively worldwide, she must be hoping this will be the one to return her to the top, where she spent more than a decade.

The first single allows fans get to pick up from the highs of her last studio album, 2008’s Circus. Her 30th birthday is coming up in December, and between now and then everyone will have a good nine months to sink their teeth into this bright, and compelling comeback to chart territory.

She considers this her ‘best album to date,’ and says it’s true to where she is now, personally and professionally. Executive producers Max Martin and Dr Luke were close at hand throughout the new album’s recording, and with director Jonas Åkerlund’s video for ‘Hold It Against Me’, one of YouTube’s most watched clips since it dropped last month, Spears shows she’s still peerless among her contemporaries – no matter what’s happening at home.

Image: SONY MUSIC