Britney Spears’ latest release Britney Jean struggled during its first week of release.
Although the singer poured her every inch of her heart and soul into the creation of the album, apparently people weren’t willing to shell out their hard-earned money to bring the songs home. According to Headline Planet , Britney Jean only sold approximately 107,000 copies during its first week on shelves.
Unfortunately for Spears, these are easily the worst first-week numbers of her career. The latest collection of tunes debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. The singer found her album trumped by releases from Garth Brooks, One Direction, and Kelly Clarkson.
The folks over at Idolator point out that, with the exception of 2007’s Blackout , none of Britney Spears’ releases have debuted lower than number two on the Billboard charts. Even her first album reportedly sold more copies than Britney Jean . This certainly doesn’t bode well for her upcoming Las Vegas shows.
In addition to generating lackluster sales figures, Britney Jean also failed to make a good impression on critics. As of this writing, the album has a Metacritic score of 50 . Reviews of the singer’s new batch of tracks were mixed at best. While hardcore fans seemed to unconditionally love the songs, most reviewers seemed to think they were wholly forgettable.
The Inquisitr previously reported that Britney Spears’ father and managers have worked around the clock to shield the singer from the plethora of negative reviews the album received in recent days. Since they fear these bad write-ups would affect her plans for Las Vegas, they’ve reportedly prevented her from reading these critiques.
“Britney’s manager, Larry Rudolph, and father, Jamie, won’t allow her to see any of the bad reviews. Britney doesn’t even have access to the internet and lives in a bubble! Her team will allow her to believe that the album is being well received,” an insider told Radar Online .
The anonymous source added, “No one wants to upset Britney. If she were to read anything negative, it could send her into a bad tailspin and both Larry and Jamie know that can’t happen with her upcoming shows in Vegas about to launch.”
Britney Spears isn’t the only singer whose latest release failed to meet sales expectations. Fellow pop star and possible collaborator Lady Gaga’s new album Artpop also struggled to find an audience in the crowded marketplace this year. To make matters worse, Mother Monster reportedly had a marketing budget of $25 million at her disposal. Perhaps that rumored duet with Spears could help rescue their respective releases.
Are you surprised that Britney Spears’ new album only sold 107,000 copies?
