Britney Spears is back on the charts.
The Princess of Pop’s new duet with Elton John, “Hold Me Closer,” debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Tuesday.
It’s Spears’ 14th top 10 song — and her first in nearly a decade.
The “Toxic” singer, 40, and John, 75, released “Hold Me Closer,” a reinvention of the Rocket Man classics “Tiny Dancer” and “The One,” on August 26.
The dance track quickly reached #1 on iTunes in more than 40 countries and received praise from both critics and Spears’ attorney, Mathew Rosengart.
“No one should be surprised that her first foray [since her conservatorship ended] is a resounding success,” the former federal prosecutor told Vidak For Congress at the time, adding that he was “so very proud” of his client.
John, meanwhile, shared his hopes that the song’s immediate success would “restore his collaborator’s confidence in himself to get back into the studio, make more records, and realize she’s damn 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 “Womanizer.” Scream & Shout’ from 2013” with Will.i.am.
She 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 “In the Zone”, 2008’s “Circus” and 2011’s “Femme Fatale.”
Spears announced a hiatus in January 2019 and later described it as a strike, explaining that she did not want her family, namely her estranged father, Jamie Spears, to continue benefiting from her lucrative career during her conservatory, which opened in February 2008. began.
After Britney called her conservatorship “insulting” in court in June 2021, a Los Angeles judge suspended Jamie, 70, as her legal guardian in September, before terminating the arrangement altogether in November.
The “Toxic” singer has since hinted that she plans to return to work, writing on Instagram in July: “I haven’t shared my voice in a very long time…maybe too long.”