Britney Spears' Femme Fatale: Will The Album Be #1?

Record is projected to sell 275,000 to 300,000 units in its first week.

Britney Spears' new album, Femme Fatale, is a chugging dance-pop album full of sexual innuendo and thumping beats, made even sexier by Spears' flirty singing style. It's Spears' latest release since 2008's Circus, which sped straight up the charts as soon as Britney's dedicated fans could get their hands on it.

While Spears remained somewhat under the radar for her last release, this time around, the pop star has been on a media blitz, and as of press time, Spears had the #1 album on iTunes. Hits Daily Double Senior Editor Roy Trakin explained to MTV News that judging from sales so far, Spears will likely have the #1 album by next week. 

"We're going out with the projection 275,000 to 300,000 [albums sold]; probably below label projections but those are always inflated. I think everything's kicking in. There seems to be a lot of press attention," he said of the album. "I think this is still a healthy total for her given the market and given where her career has been. This is a good showing." 

Not only have sales been strong, music critics have also been loving the album. "The critical reception seems to be fairly positive, as well. That doesn't have much to do with sales, but the general feeling is positive. She's gonna be #1," Trakin said. "300,000 is the over-under." 

This week, some of Spears' biggest competition comes from Adele, whose 21 has been selling consistently well for weeks, Jennifer Hudson's newest release, I Remember Me, which sits at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart, Chris Brown, whose album F.A.M.E. is currently the #1 album in the country, and this week's other big new release, Wiz Khalifa's debut album, Rolling Papers. 

"Given the state of the market right now, this will probably be, I would think, this will end up being the second biggest debut of the year. Only Adele would be larger this year," Trakin said. "That's pretty good, actually. The real big story this week is Wiz Khalifa with Rolling Papers, with between 190,000 and 215,000." 

Is there any chance of an upset that forces Spears out of the #1 spot? Trakin explains that that is unlikely, saying, "The Wiz Khalifa showing is strong, but it's about 100,000 below what Britney's gonna do.

source : MTV.com