2004: Britney This Years Winner In The Battle Of The Pop Princesses

Contributed Anonymously:

2004, in terms of media attention this may have been a bad year for Britney, but when it comes to her career, she has lots to celebrate about. Wining awards, selling millions of albums, having 3 world wide smash hits, breaking records (Three times to be exact to be exact). Unlike Christina Aguilera, in which 2004 is a year she ( and her fans) would probably like to forget.

Lets start with the records she has Broken:

1) First International Singer to have an album go Diamond in Brazil since Madonna in 1983:

Britney Spears’ ‘In The Zone’ is back to Brazilian’s Top 40 CD Sales again this week (#37), and now ‘Hot100Brasil.com’ (Brazilian Official Chart) posted that ‘In The Zone’ has been DIAMOND Certified, confirming ‘Notícias Musicais’ Unnofficial Chart, which means sales of above 500,000.

Britney is the first International Artist to receive the Diamond Certified since 1983 when Madonna received it, so she was the most successful artist this year here in Brazil, and probably since 1983. So she is the most successful international artist in Brazil since 1983.

2) Fastest selling Greatest Hits album for a female artist in UK chart History:

Britney Spears’ ‘Greatest Hits: My Prerogative’ album has had the biggest selling first week for a greatest hits album by a female artist in UK chart history – with 115,341 sales. The album, which is currently No.2 in the album chart, smashed the first week sales of previous high profile collections from Whitney Houston, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Shania Twain.

Britney tops the female chart as follows:

#1 - Britney Spears ‘Greatest Hits: My Prerogative’ – 115,341
#2 - Whitney Houston ‘Greatest Hits’ – 89,359
#3 - Madonna ‘Greatest Hits: Volume 2’ – 88,529
#4 - Celine Dion ‘All The Way – A Decade Of Songs’ – 74,680
#5 - Janet Jackson ‘Design of a Decade 86-96’ – 54,415
#6 - Shania Twain ‘Greatest Hits’ – 53,162
#7 - Mariah Carey ‘No.1’s’ – 37,959
#8 - Kylie Minogue ‘Greatest Hits 87-92’ – 30,855

3) Biggest seller of merchandise for a female artist for the last 5 years:

Spears rakes in $30M in tour merchandise

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Britney Spears fans don’t just bring their enthusiasm to her shows, they bring their wallets. Signatures Network, which handles merchandising for Spears’ concert tour, says she’s pulled in over $30 million for her Onyx Hotel tour. That makes her the biggest seller of merchandise for a solo female artist in the last five years.

The pop princess sold $188,000 worth of merchandise in Los Angeles alone, $166,000 in Chicago, and $162,000 in New York.

The best-sellers are the pink baby doll T-shirt that says “Toxic” on the front, the Onyx Hotel fashion jersey and the tour programs and posters.

Christina Aguilera has broken zero records this year, well, she has hardly broken any records in her whole career, only a handful.

Now, lets take a look at how Britney and Christina’s current singles are doing in the world chart, according to mediatraffic.de:

7
5 / 4
week 7 My Prerogative - Britney Spears
Jive

26
31 / 34
week 3 Tilt Ya Head Back - Nelly & Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera’s chart run for the single ‘Tilt Your Head Back’ is quite pathetic.

Week#1: 34
Week#2:31
Week#3: 26

By the second week of the release of My Prerogative Britney Spears was already in the top 5. Carwash is currently out of the top ten while My Prerogative is still in the top 10. Which goes to show that even if Christina Aguilera releases 2 singles at the same time, Britney Spears can still beat her with one single.

Lets take a look at the Euro end chart, for the biggest songs in Europe this year. Britney Spears have 3 entries which are all higher than anything Christina Aguilera has released this year. Britney has entries at #10 with ‘Toxic’, #13 with ‘Everytime’ and in the top 65 with My Prerogative. ‘Tilt Your Head Back’ did not even make to top 100 list, ‘Carwash ended up at #71 and ‘The Voice Within’ ended up at #81. Pathetic. This only serves as more evidence that Britney is winning the battle of the pop princesses.

Christina Aguilera has tried to compete with Britney in the merchandise business, but sorry Christina, Britney OWNS the merchandise business when it comes to singers and merchandise. Christina releases her ‘bound- to be a flop’ fragrance Xpose, how come we hear nothing about its progress ( or lack of)? When Curious was released it was reported almost immediately that this fragrance is a smash hit. It is the #1 selling fragrance in Australia, Canada and of course the USA:

‘Curious’ Still Reigns As The #1 Most Sold Perfume

Curious, the first fragrance by internationally acclaimed music star Britney Spears was the #1 beauty product sold on Amazon.com, which is linked through Sephora, for the month of November,’ announced E. Scott Beattie, Chairman and CEO of Elizabeth Arden. ‘Additionally, it is currently the top- selling fragrance in U.S. department stores.’ The fragrance launched in September 2004. ‘curious [BRITNEY SPEARS(TM)] will be our number one launch for the fall season and, without a doubt, potentially one of the biggest launches we’ve had with any fragrance-period,’ says Debbie Murtha, Senior Vice President and General Merchandise Manager of Cosmetics and Fragrances for May Co. Added Thia Breen, Executive Vice President of Cosmetics for the Federated Merchandising Division, ‘Of course her name is incredibly powerful, but [the fragrance] also has a fantastic presentation-great packaging, a great juice, great modeling and the TV advertising is breakthrough.’
The curious BRITNEY SPEARS(TM) fragrance was also introduced to select international markets — Canada and Australia, and has enjoyed similar success. Combined with innovative marketing techniques and groundbreaking programs, it was the number one selling fragrance in both markets in every store in which it was launched. In Australia, after only five weeks of sales, curious BRITNEY SPEARS(TM) became the most successful fragrance launch ever at Australia’s largest department store, Myer (becurious.com.au).

Online retailing was up 19% for the month, compared to the same month in 2003, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Instead of battling the crowded shopping malls this holiday season, consumers are spending more dollars on the Internet. Amazon.com expects this year to be one of its biggest holiday seasons ever, according to an Amazon.com spokesperson. Using non-traditional advertising methods to reach their target audience, Elizabeth Arden reached their young consumers on the Internet by banner advertising on teen websites and via an innovative voice-messaging campaign utilizing Britney Spears’ voice.

The curious BRITNEY SPEARS(TM) collection is comprised of Eau de Parfum (3.3 oz & 1.7 oz), Deliciously Whipped! Body Souffle, Lather Me Up! Shower Gel and Write On! Perfumed Shimmer Stick, and retails between $20.00 - $49.50 on Amazon.com. The line will launch in the rest of its international markets in spring 2005, with additional products expected to launch in the U.S. shortly thereafter.

Oh well, not everyone can have as much star power as Britney, especially if that persons name is Christina Aguilera.

In the UK, ( where My Prerogative had a better chart run than Tilt Your Head Back and Charted higher than Carwash) Britney Spears outshines Christina Aguilera in the female calendar sales, from ThisIsLondon:

In the girls’ chart, Britney Spears has outshone her rival Christina Aguilera.

Kylie is first place in the girls’ list, with the Hollyoaks Babes second, followed by Britney and Christina.

Former S Club 7 star Rachel Stevens is fifth in the girls’ list, followed by former Big Breakfast presenter Kelly Brook.

Ex-Brookside blonde Jennifer Ellison is seventh, glamor model Jordan eighth and Canadian rocker Avril Lavigne ninth.

At Virgin Megastores, Phoenix Nights star Peter Kay is more popular than football hunk David Beckham and movie star Orlando Bloom.

1.Kylie
2.Hollyoaks Babes
3.Britney
4.Christina Aguilera
5.Rachel Stevens
6.Kelly Brook
7.Jennifer Ellison
8.Jordan
9.Avril Lavigne
10.FHM Girls Lingerie

And just to add insult to injury, Britney Spears Greatest Hits album has already sold half a million copies according to ChartRefugees in the UK in only 5 weeks with one single, a second single will be released and due to the popularity of Britney Spears she will get to the 1 million mark in the UK with this album. Face it, Britney is taking over the UK. She has dethroned Christina as the leading lady in the UK.

Now, to tour. According to Billboard magazine, Britney’s “Onyx Hotel Tour”
grossed $34,054,960 over 52 dates with 601,040 paying to see the show. This is with the FIRST leg of the tour. While Britney is selling tickets, Christina can only sell 40% of her tickets. For the Stripped tour, Christina Aguilera made £32 million for the WHOLE tour. Even in the USA venues were cancelled from 60 venues to 45 venues due to poor ticket sales. Britney is still more popular. Christina fans need to stop lying to themselves ( like their idol).

In Japan, Britney Spears’ Greatest Hits album is already nearing the 500k mark in just 6 weeks. Admire the power of Britney Spears Christina fans. Admire it. Because that is all you have to do, admire, because in reality you know you idol could never do that. It took 2 years for Stripped to get to 200k. In Brazil, Britney Spears’ greatest hits album sold 50k on the first week ( and went on to go to #1), Stripped sold 50k in 2 years. I would love to see Christina Aguilera sell 4 million copies of her next album in 4 weeks. With her waning popularity she will not achieve that even in 4 years.

All these facts just proves that Britney is here to stay, and it also spits in the faces of fans of Christina Aguilera, the woman who almost became the worlds #1 pop princess).