The Essential Britney Spears

The Essential Britney Spears
Greatest hits album by
Britney Spears
ReleasedAugust 20, 2013 (2013-08-20)
Recorded1998–2012
GenrePop
Length117:08
LabelRCA
Producers
Britney Spears chronology
Playlist: The Very Best of Britney Spears
(2012)		 The Essential Britney Spears
(2013)		 Britney Jean
(2013)

The Essential Britney Spears is the fifth greatest hits album by American singer Britney Spears.[1] It was released on August 20, 2013, by RCA Records and Legacy Recordings, initially as a Walmart exclusive.[2] It was later released on digital platforms the following year. The compilation was produced by Jeffrey James and Darren Salmieri, and it was mastered by Seann Brennan at Battery Studios in New York.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStarHalf star[3]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the length of the compilation, noting "Where other Britney compilations ran no longer than a single CD, this is a double-disc set with over 30 tracks -- more than enough space for all of her hit American singles", and noticed the absence of singles such as "Born to Make You Happy" or "Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know". He also compared The Essential with its predecessor, indicating that "Skeptics might suspect shorter is better for Britney -- and those looking for a quick blast of hits will be well-served by Playlist and pointed the portrayal of Spears's career being reflected in the two discs of this compilation: "this double-disc set reveals that she had two strong, distinct phases to her career: the bubblegum pop ingénue of the new millennium, followed by the blackout club diva of ten years later."[3]

Commercial performance

The Essential Britney Spears debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number 185 on the week of March 11, 2017, four years after its original release.[4] It debuted at number 95 on the Billboard Canadian Albums Chart on April 25, 2020, and it peaked at number 37 on the week of October 16, 2021, spending a total of 27 weeks on the chart.[5]

Track listing

Disc one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."...Baby One More Time"Max Martin3:31
2."Sometimes"Jörgen Elofsson3:56
3."(You Drive Me) Crazy" (The Stop! Remix)Elofsson, Per Magnusson, David Kreuger, Martin3:17
4."From the Bottom of My Broken Heart"Eric Foster White4:34
5."Oops!... I Did It Again"Martin, Rami Yacoub3:31
6."Lucky"Martin, Yacoub, Alexander Kronlund3:25
7."Stronger"Martin, Yacoub3:24
8."I'm a Slave 4 U"Chad Hugo, Pharrell Williams3:24
9."I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman"Martin, Yacoub, Dido Armstrong3:51
10."Overprotected" (The Darkchild Remix)Martin, Yacoub3:20
11."Boys" (The Co-Ed Remix) (featuring Pharrell Williams)Hugo, Williams3:46
12."Me Against the Music" (featuring Madonna)Britney Spears, Madonna, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Thabiso "Tab" Nikhereanye, Penelope Magnet, Terius Nash, Gary O'Bryan3:45
13."Toxic"Cathy Dennis, Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg, Henrik Jonback3:19
14."Everytime"Spears, Annet Artani3:50
15."Outrageous"R. Kelly, Trickster, Magnet3:27
Total length:54:20
Disc two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."My Prerogative"Bobby Brown, Aaron Hall, Teddy Riley3:33
2."Do Somethin'"Karlsson, Winnberg, Jonback, Angela Hunte3:23
3."Gimme More"Nate Hills, James Washington, Keri Hilson, Marcella Araica4:11
4."Piece of Me"Karlsson, Winnberg, Klas Åhlund3:32
5."Radar"Ashton Cole, Jonback, Balewa Muhammad, Candice Nelson, Ezekiel "Zeke" Lewis, Patrick "J. Que" Smith3:49
6."Break the Ice"Hills, Washington, Hilson, Araica3:15
7."Hot as Ice"Faheem "T-Pain" Najm, Hills, Araica3:17
8."Womanizer"The Outsyders3:44
9."Circus"Lukasz Gottwald, Claude Kelly, Benjamin Levin3:11
10."If U Seek Amy"Martin, Shellback, Savan Kotecha, Kronlund3:36
11."Out from Under"Shelly Peiken, Arnthor Birgisson, Wayne Hector3:54
12."3"Martin, Karl Schuster, Tiffany Amber3:25
13."Hold It Against Me"Martin, Gottwald, Bonnie McKee3:49
14."Till the World Ends"Martin, Gottwald, Kronlund, Kesha Sebert3:58
15."I Wanna Go"Martin, Kotecha, Shellback3:30
16."Criminal"Martin, Shellback, Amber3:45
17."Scream & Shout" (will.i.am and Britney Spears)Jean-Baptiste Kouame, Tulisa Contostavlos, Jef Martens, William Adams4:13
Total length:62:05

Charts

Certifications and sales

Certifications and sales
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ)[11] 2× Platinum 30,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[12] Silver 60,000‡
United States — 60,000[13]

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release history and formats
Country Date Format Label
United States[14][15] August 20, 2013
Various July 29, 2014 Digital download

References

  1. ↑ Jacobs, Matthew (August 2, 2013). "'The Essential Britney Spears' Marks Another Greatest-Hits Album For The Singer, Will Arrive Before New Studio Project". The Huffington Post. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
  2. ↑ "A New Album! Sort Of..." HuffPost. August 2, 2013. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  3. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Britney Spears - Playlist: The Very Best of Britney Spears Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Britney Spears Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  5. 1 2 "Britney Spears Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Official IFPI Charts – Top-75 Albums Sales Chart (Week: 35 (31-35)/2023)". IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on September 6, 2023. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Britney Spears". Hung Medien. Retrieved December 1, 2025.
  8. ↑ "2017년 23주차 Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on June 18, 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  9. ↑ "2017년 23주차 Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on June 18, 2017. Retrieved January 20, 2024.
  10. ↑ "2014년 08월 Album Chart" (in Korean). Gaon Music Chart. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved April 5, 2026.
  11. ↑ "New Zealand album certifications – Britney Spears – The Essential Britney Spears". Radioscope. Retrieved June 18, 2026. Type The Essential Britney Spears in the "Search:" field and press Enter.
  12. ↑ "British album certifications – Britney Spears – The Essential Britney Spears". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Formats field. Type The Essential Britney Spears Britney Spears in the "Search:" field.
  13. ↑ Trust, Gary (May 15, 2020). "Britney Spears' Career Sales & Streams, In Honor of 20 Years of 'Oops!...I Did It Again': Ask Billboard Mailbag". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved September 5, 2024.
  14. ↑ "The Essential Britney Spears". Amazon. 2014.
  15. ↑ http://www.amazon.com/The-Essential-Britney-Spears/dp/B00EE0OLAW
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