Britney Spears is back on the charts where she belongs.
The singers new duet with Elton John, “Hold Me Closer,” made a No. 6 debut on the Billboard Hot 100 on Tuesday.
It is Britney’s 14th top 10 song — and her first in nearly a decade.
via Page Six:
The “Toxic” singer, 40, and John, 75, released “Hold Me Closer” — a reimagining of the Rocket Man’s classics “Tiny Dancer” and “The One” — on Aug. 26.
The dance track quickly shot to No. 1 on iTunes in over 40 countries and earned praise from critics as well as Spears’ attorney, Mathew Rosengart.
“No one should be surprised that her first foray [since her conservatorship ended] is a smash success,” the former federal prosecutor told Page Six at the time, adding that he was “so very proud” of his client.
John, meanwhile, shared his hope that the song’s instant success would restore his collaborator’s “confidence in herself to get back into the studio, make more records and realize that she is bloody good.”
Prior to “Hold Me Closer,” Spears had 13 top 10s on the Billboard Hot 100 under her belt, including 1998’s “…Baby One More Time,” 2008’s “Womanizer,” 2011’s “Hold It Against Me” and 2013’s “Scream & Shout” with Will.i.am.
She has also had six No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200: 1999’s “…Baby One More Time,” 2000’s “Oops!…I Did It Again,” 2001’s “Britney,” 2003’s “In the Zone,” 2008’s “Circus” and 2011’s “Femme Fatale.”
Spears announced a hiatus in January 2019 and later described it as a work strike, explaining that she did not want her family, namely her estranged father, Jamie Spears, to continue benefitting from her lucrative career during her conservatorship, which began in February 2008.
After Britney called her conservatorship “abusive” in court in June 2021, a Los Angeles judge suspended Jamie, 70, as her legal guardian that September before terminating the arrangement altogether in November.
The “Toxic” singer has since hinted that she plans to get back to work, writing on Instagram in July, “I haven’t shared my voice in an extremely long time … maybe too long.”
Welcome back, Britney!
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