Britney Spears' new album 'Britney Jean' arrives at No. 4 on Billboard Hot 100, losing top spot to Garth Brooks, One Direction

By Carolyn Menyes c.menyes@gmail.com | Dec 11, 2013 12:15 PM EST

There's some bad news for Britney Spears. Her new album Britney Jean failed to debut at the top of the Billboard 200. In fact, the pop princess' eighth studio album failed to surpass three more seasoned releases, landing at No. 4 on the US album sales chart.

Indeed, despite her rabid fan army, Spears' album is somewhat of a flop. Led by singles "Work B----" and "Perfume," which have been moderate successes, Britney Jean sold a mere 107,000 copies in its first week and winded up falling slightly short of industry sales projections, according to Billboard.

Despite the bad week for Britney, the post-Black Friday sales week treated some of music's other big stars slightly better. Garth Brooks tops the Billboard 200 this week with his box set Blame It All On My Roots. The Walmart-exclusive collection, which was released on Thanksgiving Day, sold 146,000 copies in its second week, which was enough to cinch the top spot on the chart.

This No. 1 is a massive success for Brooks, who now ties the Rolling Stones and Barbara Streisand for the third most No. 1 albums at nine.

Between Brooks and Spears comes last week's No. 1 album One Direction's Midnight Memories at No. 2 (117,000 copies) and Kelly Clarkson's Wrapped in Red (No. 3, 112,000 copies).

And then, there is the previously mentioned No. 4. Britney Jean is Spears' smallest selling debut week to date (previously, her first album ...Baby One More Time held that title with 121,000 copies in 1999). So, why did Spears fail to reach the sales numbers of her fellow pop divas such as Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry or Lady Gaga?

The answer seems to fall in her Las Vegas contract. In the United States, Spears is barred from performing outside of Planet Hollywood through 2015. Though the singer has a lucrative contract in the City of Sin for the next two years, it's kept her from giving live performances of her singles "Work B----" and "Perfume." Though Spears has done plenty of press surrounding Britney Jean and released two music videos, interviews and relatively safe music videos don't have nearly the same impact as, say, a gig on Saturday Night Live.

And even though Spears has released two singles from Britney Jean, they failed to make a huge splash with audiences. According to Billboard, as of last week, "Perfume" only landed on the Hot 100 upon its debut, peaking at No. 76. Meanwhile, while "Work B----" is at No. 80 on the chart after 11 weeks, it peaked at a mere No. 12 after its saucy music video launched.

That, blended with the so-so reviews for Britney Jean, just spells trouble.

But of course, more albums charted on the Billboard 200 this week.

The Duck Dynasty Robertson family's Duck The Halls fell one spot to No. 5 (105,000 copies), Eminem's MMLP2 fell four whole spots to No. 6 (84,000 copies) and Pentatonix's PTXmas EP sold 60,000 units and rose 22 spots to No. 7.

The holiday season is treating Michael Buble well. His 2011 album Christmas sold 57,000 copies and landed at No. 8 this week. Similarly, Mary J. Blige's holiday effort A Mary Christmas rose five spots to No. 10.

Katy Perry's Prism came in between those two sets with Prism, which moved 51,000 copies this week.

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