"Circus" to top Billboard 200!

Photo credit: Jive Records
According to hitsdailydouble.com and other album sales predictions, Britney Spears' sixth studio album, titled "Circus", will top the Billboard 200 chart this week. Far exceeding expectations of 300,000 copies, "Circus" is looking to sell between 450,000 and 500,000 copies in its first week of release, making it one of the years top selling albums (and second highest female debut of the year). The astounishing figures come thanks in part to a flurry of media appearances including Good Morning America, New York & Los Angeles' tree lightining ceremonies, MTV's VMA's, Madonna's Los Angeles tour stop, and a documentary titled "For The Record" which was one of the most watched shows on MTV this year. First single "Womanizer" has been topping the charts for several weeks now and shattered several records, new single "Circus" is already picking up a lot of spins on radio. Spears' last effort, "Blackout", opened with about 290,000 copies but quickly experienced a decline in sales because an enormous lack of promotion (other than the tragic 2007 MTV VMA's performance) and negative press left and right which saw the pop star lose custody of her kids, shave her head entire bald, drink and drug fueled episodes all over Southern California and multiple involuntary psychiatric stays in the UCLA mental health facility. Akon's new album is expected to come in behind Spears with the 2nd highest debut with sales in the 80,000-90,000 range.

Update: "Circus" sold 505,073 copies in its first week of release in the U.S.

Here's the video for her new single "Circus":