3 days ago
Britney Spears Earns Her First New Album Debut In Almost A Decade
Britney Spears's Oops!... I Did It Again returns thanks to a twenty-fifth anniversary edition, ... More debuting at No. 41 on the Official Album Downloads chart. The singer performing on stage at Paris Zenith. (Photo by Jeremy Bembaron/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)
A quarter-century ago, Britney Spears changed pop music forever when she released her album Oops!... I Did It Again. The full-length proved she was a true force to be reckoned with in the top 40 space, and it signaled that she would be sticking around for quite a while. The singer's sophomore set produced some of her most familiar tunes – including the title track – and fans still love everything about it to this day.
The set is a bestseller again in the United Kingdom, and this week, it appears on multiple charts… and even manages to earn Spears her first new placement on one list in almost a decade.
Oops!... I Did It Again debuts on this week's Official Album Downloads chart, which ranks the top downloaded full-lengths and EPs across the country on platforms like iTunes, Amazon, and others. Spears's set opens at No. 41, narrowly missing out on becoming a top 40 bestseller.
Amazingly, this frame marks the first time Oops!... I Did It Again has appeared on this ranking. When the project was first released, streaming didn't exist, so there weren't separate rankings for sales and general consumption when it came to songs or albums. That means older efforts, like Oops!... I Did It Again, sometimes debut on tallies such as this one well after their heyday.
Spears earns her career eighth appearance on the Official Album Downloads chart this week. Oops!... I Did It Again brings the singer her first win on the list since September 2016. Just under a decade ago, Glory debuted that month and rose to No. 4, spending just three weeks somewhere on the tally.
As it debuts on the Official Album Downloads chart, Oops!... I Did It Again also manages to return to the Official Albums Sales list, though it's not new to that ranking. In fact, the title has now spent three frames on the roster. It launched in 2020 and last appeared on the tally — which looks at all forms of purchases in the country — in April 2023, when it reached its all-time peak of No. 52.
To celebrate Oops!... I Did It Again turning 25, Spears released a special anniversary edition of the album on May 16. The project, available digitally as well as on collectible vinyl, included multiple alternative recordings and remixes, expanding the set considerably.
