Britney Spears top of the pops with Circus

Britney Spears’ new album Circus has debuted at No. 1 on the charts in the US and five other countries.

Circus sold 505,000 copies in the US for the week ending 7 December 2008, making it one of the biggest album debuts for the year. The album also hit No. 1 in Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico and Switzerland, and top 10 in seven other countries.

Of 6 albums, Spears has hit the No. 1 spot 5 times, with her previous album Blackout released during her breakdown in 2007 managing to debut only in second spot with 290,000 copies.

Spears starts her world tour in New Orleans next March and more than 400,000 tickets have been sold in the United State alone.