Britney Spears Back On Top
By: Sarah Foegen
Britney Spears new album, Circus, which was released December 2, 2008 is headed toward grabbing the number one spot on the billboard charts. From Britney’s six studio albums this will be her fifth that debuted at number one, her 2007 album blackout came out at number two.
Spears’ nearly ten year career has surely seen its ups and down but it appears that she got it back on track with the release of Circus. After her marriage very publicly failed and she lost custody her two sons, the public’s opinion of Britney changed. She went from being America’s sweetheart to an out of control party girl. After several months of seemingly crazy acts such as shaving her head, beating a paparazzo’s car with an umbrella, not giving her kids back t
o their father at the court mandated time, and being hospitalized, Spears fell off the scene for several months.
Things started to change for Britney in September at MTV’s video music awards. She won her first 
VMA of her career when she won Best Female Video; she also picked up Best Pop Video as well as Video of the Year that night. A few weeks later the first single from Circus, Womanizer, was released. Womanizer went straight to number one, her first single to debut at number one since Baby One More Time in 1999. She also did a documentary, For the Record, for MTV which aired on November 30th. During this two hour special she revealed everything from how she feels trapped by the paparazzi to how the end of her marriage affected her.
Britney Spears was the most searched celebrity of 2008. Now whether people are back to viewing Britney as America’s sweetheart or not is yet to be seen, but she has stepped back into the spotlight in a positive manner.
