The lead single from Spears' birthday-targeting album, opened at No. 96 based on airplay alone last week. This week, digital sales and expanded radio rotation helped "Womanizer" rewrite the record books with a historic jump to the top of the charts.
The song's 95-spot jump to No. 1 is the biggest in Billboard history and marks the third time the record's been broken in the past seven weeks. T.I.'s "Live Your Life" made a 79-spot jump to the top last week and his "Whatever You Like" made a 70-spot jump in late August. Before that, Maroon 5's "Makes Me Wonder" held the record for 15 months after leaping 63 spots to No. 1 in May 2007.
"Womanizer" also set a record by selling 286,000 digital copies. That not only tops the singer's 179,000-copy debut for 2007's "Gimme More," it's also the biggest digital debut for any female artist since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking digital sales five years ago. Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" previously held the record.
For all her success, Spears had topped the Hot 100 just once before, with her debut single, "…Baby One More Time," in January 1999. Her albums, on the other hand, have consistently topped the charts with 2007's Blackout being the lone exception. Blackout bowed in at No. 2 behind the Eagles' Long Road Out of Eden.
Spears will drop Circus on Dec. 2, her 27th birthday. She's also set to hit the road again in spring, marking her first tour in over four years.
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(E! Online)
