By Associated Press

LOS ANGELES, California–The Eagles beat Britney Spears for the top spot on the Billboard 200 Top Albums chart this week.

The band’s new album “Long Road Out of Eden” debuted at No. 1 on the chart by selling 711,000 copies during its first week of release, Billboard.com reported Tuesday.

Spears’ album “Blackout” sold 290,000 copies.

The Eagles’ first album in 28 years landed on top after Billboard revised a policy which considers albums sales even when they’re only sold exclusively by one retailer.

Billboard changed its policy after Wal-Mart, which had exclusive rights to sell the Eagles album in its stores and on its website, agreed to release its sales numbers, Geoff Mayfield, Billboard’s director of charts said.

By Nekesa Mumbi Moody
Associated Press

Britney Spears
“Blackout”
Jive Records

JUST when it seemed safe to write off Britney Spears as a punchline only capable of entertaining people through tabloid escapades, she goes and gets all musically relevant on us.

“Blackout,” her first studio album in four years, is not only a very good album, it’s her best work ever — a triumph, with not a bad song to be found on the 12 tracks.

Granted, a Spears rave should be put in its proper context — it’s not like we’re talking Bob Dylan here. Spears is a lightweight singer who only flourishes when she has great songs and great producers to supplement her minimal vocal talent.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Agence France-Presse

LOS ANGELES, California–The parent company of Britney Spears’ record label filed a lawsuit Thursday against online gossip website PerezHilton.com after the blog leaked recordings from the pop star’s new album.

A statement from Zomba Recording, which owns Spears’ Jive Records, said the website had illegally obtained and posted material from Spears’ new album “Blackout,” to be released later this month.

The lawsuit accused the website’s owner, Mario Lavandeira, of breach of copyright after 10 completed tracks and unfinished demos from Spears’ comeback album appeared on the blog.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By Joey Alarilla
INQUIRER.net

COMPLETE versions of the “leaked song” of Britney Spears that found its way to the Web over the weekend have been posted on YouTube. And if the lyrics are correct, the Philippines has earned a special mention, heh

The new song, which is supposed to be titled “Piece of Me” (some reports say the title is “Pieces of Me” or “Everyone Wants a Piece of Me”), blasts the media. The song supposedly contains the following lyrics, according to this clip posted by etsgetloose.

I’m Miss American Dream (Editor’s note: the articles have said it’s “Mrs. American Dream”) since I was 17
Don’t matter if I step on the scene
Or sneak away to the Phillipines (sic)
They still got pictures of my derriere in the magazine
You want a piece of me? You want a piece of me…

Anyway, you can listen to it yourself.

Thanks to reader nat for the heads up.

So Britney, do you really want to sneak away to the Philippines?

HOURS after the judge in her custody case ordered Britney Spears to undergo random drug and alcohol testing, what does she decide to do? Why, go club hopping, of course.

Check out this video from CelebTV.com.

And another one from TMZ.com.