Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	6.1/10
Metacritic	64/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	B
The Guardian
The Independent
Los Angeles Times
The New York Times	favorable
NME	5/10
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine
USA Today

Circus is the sixth studio album by American singer Britney Spears. It was released on November 28, 2008, by JIVE Records. Looking to transition from her "darker and more urban" fifth studio album Blackout (2007), Spears wanted to make her next project "a little bit lighter". Spears recorded the record during the summer of 2008, after her much-publicized personal struggles saw her placement under a temporary conservatorship earlier that year. As executive producers, Larry Rudolph and Teresa LaBarbera Whites enlisted collaborators including Spears' longtime colleague Max Martin and Nate "Danja" Hills.

Upon its release, Circus received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented its production but were ambivalent towards its lyrical content. It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of over 505,000 copies, making it her fifth album to reach the top of the chart. The album topped charts in nine additional countries. The record eventually exceeded sales of 4.5 million copies and 15 million digital tracks, in doing so it became Spears' best-selling album since her fourth studio album In the Zone (2003). The project was promoted through a series of television performances and Spears' fifth concert tour The Circus Starring Britney Spears.

Four singles were released from the album, two of which became international successes. Its lead single "Womanizer" peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100 and registered as the largest jump to the top of the chart after debuting at number ninety-six. It became Spears's best-selling song in the country since "...Baby One More Time", and gained a Grammy Award nomination for Best Dance Recording. The second and third singles "Circus" and "If U Seek Amy" peaked at numbers three and nineteen in the country, respectively. Consequentially, Circus became Spears's second album after her debut effort ...Baby One More Time (1999) to have two top-ten singles and three top-twenty singles, also being her first to have two top-five singles in the United States along with five charting songs on the Hot 100.

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Wikipedia