France Album Sales: Britney Spears

Baby One More Time (1999) Era

Barely 17, Britney Spears stormed into the summit of charts all around the world with her debut single Baby One More Time. During the various previous studies, we noticed the large majority of American acts needed multiple albums before even entering the France Album Chart. Britney Spears story was completely different as she was one of the acts in music industry history that was a superstar from day 1.

The single debuted at a very high #6 position and climbed all the way to the top spot during the following month, lasting two weeks at #1 and 17 weeks Top 10.

With the single dominating in April 1999, the album was launched too hitting #20. From that point the promotion kept going very well with one new hit every four months, each sustaining the album well. Second single Sometimes went #13 in August, sending the album to a new peak of #19 after dropping at #55 on its lower point. Third single was (You Drive Me) Crazy, a huge five weeks #2 smash during 1999 Christmas season. This success pushed the album from #38 to #4, a new peak reached on the very last week of the year. This hit right on time for the busiest period of the year exploded sales of the album. On 150,000 units prior this single, a few weeks later by the end of the year the set was up to 350,000 copies and still selling well in January. As it was happening for nine months, when the album started to go down a bit a new single took over, this time Born To Make You Happy. This #9 hit gave Baby One More Time album a last ride into the Top 10 in March 2000, almost one year after its release.

A mere one month after this record last stood into the Top 10, Britney Spears moved to her next album. Still, Baby One More Time was Top 75 by  July, dropping out only because of the short Album Chart. In total, the album sold over 220,000 units in 2000, a to date tally of 550,000 copies. In 2001, when the ranking was extended from a Top 75 to a Top 150, it appeared the album was always selling as it charted in January, but for now let’s move on to the next era.

Top 3 Most Streamed Tracks on Spotify

1. Baby One More Time – 56,099,000
2. Sometimes – 9,992,000
3. (You Drive Me) Crazy – 8,274,000