Britney will appear on two special covers of iconic fashion magazine, Pop Magazine, out in the UK on 1st September. Both issues feature covers shot by Takashi Murkami, often referred to as 'the Andy Warhol of Japan', influenced heavily by Japanese Manga. "I especially liked how he took high-end fashion and incorporated with Japanese manga. We looked at a lot of characters and artwork before we shot, so I could get a feel for what he was looking for. I was in Japan on my past promo tour, and I loved it." In the interview, Britney declares her love for another Japanese culture lover, Lady Gaga, saying, "I'm a big fan of hers" and that "anything's possible" with regards to another collaboration.

Britney has shot a guest appearance in "Glee," featuring her starring as Madonna in a recreation of her 2003 hit single, "Me Against The Music," with the character, Brittany, starring as Britney. Britney has Tweeted images from the set, one with Ryan Murphy, the show's creator, and one saying, "All my GLEEKERS in the crowd, grab a partner take it down!" It is rumoured that "Stronger," "...Baby One More Time" and "Toxic" will also feature in the episode.

Six Britney Spears tracks will be featured in a special episode of the hit TV show, "Glee," which airs on E4 and Channel 4 in the UK. The first season had an incredibly successful tribute to Madonna, and now Britney will get her turn in the show's second series. Ditzy cheerleader, Brittany, will be the main focus of the episode to be titled "Britney/Brittany," with the episode due to premiere in September. Teacher and glee-club leader, Mr. Schuester, played by Matthew Morrison, will 'refuse' to sing a Britney song in the episode, with Morrison having played down the idea of doing a Britney themed episode at all. Creator Ryan Murphy said, "Schuester is saying 'I don't want to do Britney!' for the entire episode - we're doing it in a really fun, halluciongenic way" and when asked if Britney Spears will appear in the episode herself, due to be filmed this week, he said, "I can't say! Isn't that terrible? That will launch a thousand news stories!" Britney Tweeted on 22nd July that she was "watching 'Glee' on Fox' before asking 'what are you guys doing tonight?'

This September sees the launch of a further collaboration between Britney Spears and Elizabeth Arden entitled Radiance; a new scent with 'top notes of wild berries and soft, dewy petals' that smells very 'feminine,' bursting with 'tuberose, jasmine, orange flower and iris'. The range will launch in the UK before Christmas 2010.

"At 28, she has five number one albums and yet another sold-out tour under her belt, proving that this superstar is as awesome as ever. Now Britney is enjoying some strict downtime... but she made an exception for Cosmo. After 97 performances around the world, Britney spent her final night under the big top in November and decided to take a well-deserved break from music. Since then, she's turned her talents to fashion and created a flirty clothing line for Candie's. "I had a lot of fun," Britney tells us. "I've never designed clothing before,and I really loved the creative process." At the moment, she's racking up as much family time as she can. "Things are pretty quiet right now," she says. "I've been spending a lot of time at home with my boys. They just started karate class, which is supercute!" We were lucky enough to drag her away from 4-year-old Sean Preston and 3-year-old Jayden James just long enough for her to pose for a cover shoot and take one of our famous quizzes:
I'm dreading the moment when my sons ask me how babies are made
If I had to wear one style of shoes for the rest of my life, I'd choose flip-flops
Stage fright is something that Still bothers me
The one stage prop I wish I still had is the flying pink SUV from my "Do Somethin'" video
If a guy wants to make me laugh, all he has to do is fall down
If my sons told me they wanted to be in entertainment, I'd lock them in their rooms until they turned 30
The thought of turning 30 in a year and a half makes me reflect on my life so far
I perform my best when I'm amped
The TV show I'd most love to make a cameo on is Gossip Girl
Even though I've already accomplished so much, I'm driven to achieve more because I genuinely love what I do and the company I keep is so much fun
My preferred fashion style when I'm performing is exciting, different and always stands out
But when I'm offstage, it's flattering yet comfortable
I feel most powerful when I'm working out
I attribute my career's longevity most to hard work
Having people constantly taking my picture is something I always knew would come with the job I chose
I've found that a great way to deal with nerves before a performance is to move around
When I'm feeling down, I find that I'm always cheered up by coffee & ice cream
The person whose opinion matters most to me is my family
The song I sing to lull my boys to sleep is always different
At this point in my life, what's most important to me in a guy is personality
The most difficult adjustment to motherhood I had to make was teaching my boys potty training
If an up-and-coming young performer asked me for advice, I'd tell her "life is short, have fun!"
The most heroic (crossed out heroic and wrote horrific) thing I've ever done is broken my knee
The one thing I wish I'd known 10 years ago about men is to say what you want. Speak your mind!
I know it's a little weird, but i think it's hard to cook
The best advice I ever got was "be yourself!"

Whilst she is currently in and out of the studio and enjoying downtime, Britney has commented on her Twitter account about the one-year anniversary of her tour, The Circus Starring Britney Spears, saying, "The first date of my Circus tour was one year ago today. Thanks again for an amazing year filled with amazing memories!"

Britney, who has dyed her hair back to blonde, is currently recording a new album, with Britney.com, her official label site, posting, "Y’all have been bombarding me with questions about Britney’s mysterious seventh studio album… but I don’t really blame you. I CAN’T WAIT EITHER! Rest assured that an album IS in the process of being recorded, and it’s going to be sick. But a release date has not been confirmed or officially announced. As I always say, if it’s not on Britney.com or BritneySpears.com, take it with a grain of salt. Eye-wink I’ll give you new music details as soon as I can. For now… I’m dying to hear your thoughts. What would you like to see/hear on B’s next album? xx♥"

Billboard has announced the top 40 moneymakers in music for 2009, "from 4th January 2009) through to the last tracking week of the calendar year, ended 3rd January 2010," with statistics "based on the artist's share of revenue as opposed to total dollars generated by each artist in the ranking. Our figures do not include revenue from merchandise sales, sponsorships, synchronization deals and songwriter performance royalties." Included in the tally for money cashed in, Billboard took into account concert grosses, all album and single sales, tethered downloads, streams and ringtone sales. Britney ranked at #5, with $38,885,267, with them saying, "It seemed unlikely that Britney Spears could ever recover professionally from a series of bizarre events that led up to her 2008 "Circus" CD. But the album bowed atop the Billboard Top 200 in December 2008, and the pop star's success continued into 2009 with an arena tour that earned her $36.4 million and album sales that totalled 763,000 copies in 2009 alone. Digitally, Spears sold 7.5 million downloads; the largest seller was the racy Max Martin-produced single, "3," which moved 1.6 million downloads. U2 ranked at #1, Madonna at #3, P!nk at #6 and Beyonce, who was reportedly the overall biggest earner, at only #13.

The RIAA, the recording industry body for America, recently released a tally of the decade's highest Gold and Platinum award achievements, with Britney ranking #1 on the decade-end honours, as the female solo artist with the most album certifications (23 in total) during 2000-2009. "We've seen a decade of major music milestones and extraordinary artist achievements as part of our historic Gold and Platinum program," says Mitch Bainwol, CEO of RIAA. Britney ranked six Gold awards and 18x Platinum awards for her albums released through the decade, so her debut wasn't even included.

 
Britney Spears and her current boyfriend, Jason Trawick, attended the 52nd Grammy Awards last night, wearing a stunning sheer black bodice with lace tights, unfortunately she didn't win the award for Best Dance Recording, for which "Womanizer," was nominated, with the award going to Lady Gaga's "Pokerface" instead.

Marcella Araica AKA Ms. Lago, who wrote with Danja on tracks for Britney's "Blackout" album in 2007, has posted on her Twitter account about the new Britney album, responding to the question about when the Britney 'storm is coming', saying, "Soon! And when it's coming... Be sure to hear about it!" Kiis FM has claimed the album will be released in early Summer 2010, with a David Guetta-produced lead single hitting radio stations in March!

Britney attended court yesterday for an update on her conservatorship hearing, and for the court to approve the auction of her silver dress, worn to the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, to raise funds for the Haiti Earthquake disaster charities. Britney attended court with her father, Jamie, and the hearing was sealed due to the private personal and medical files discussed. It was also approved that containers of items containing props from Britney's 2009 tour, The Circus Starring Britney Spears, could be disposed of. Her lawyer, Samuel Ingham, said, "Britney is perfectly satisfied with the disposal of property and she is very enthusiastic" about the Haiti donation." Britney was not present for the hearing postmortem due to a previously arranged commitment with her sons, who were dropped off at Britney's home before the hearing. She is "appreciative of the extra time and energy the court has given" to these proceedings, he added.

Marcella Araica AKA Ms. Lago, who wrote with Danja on tracks for Britney's "Blackout" album in 2007, has posted on her Twitter account about the new Britney album, responding to the question about when the Britney 'storm is coming', saying, "Soon! And when it's coming... Be sure to hear about it!" Kiis FM has claimed the album will be released in early Summer 2010, with a David Guetta-produced lead single hitting radio stations in March!

Rodney Jerkins AKA Darkchild, has announced on his Twitter that he is writing and producing tracks for submission for Britney's new studio album, due in the Summer of 2010. Darkchild submitted tracks for "Circus," including a co-write with Lady Gaga, entitled "Telephone," which was rejected and is now being released as a single with Lady Gaga duetting with Beyonce, following Britney's management's denial for her to be featured as a featuring artist. Darkchild posted, "In the studio writing a sick song with Michaela Shiloh to present to Britney, hope she likes it, it feels like a BIG SMASH!"

Billboard have announced their end-of-decade sales lists, placing Britney Spears as the biggest selling female artist of the decade in the USA, and the 2nd biggest seller overall, behind Eminem, and way ahead of acts such as Madonna, Destiny's Child, Beyonce, Alicia Keys and P!nk. Britney also ranks as the #21 biggest touring artist of the decade, having sold out 158/255 shows and grossed $216,229,560, playing to nearly 3.8million people since 2000!

Britney's second compilation album, the follow-up to her million-selling 2004 set, "The Singles Collection" has debuted at #38 in the official UK Top 75 Albums chart, based on sales of the CD and CD+DVD set this week!

 
"The Singles Collection" is out now in the UK, available on three different physical formats - the standard CD, featuring 17 of her biggest hits, including all 5 of her UK #1 singles, and her latest top ten smash, "3"; a CD+DVD set, featuring the standard CD and a 16-track DVD, and a 30-disc deluxe box set, featuring all 29 of her worldwide singles on special 2-track CDs, and a DVD featuring 26 music videos. There are also digital versions, including a 23-track deluxe digital download, featuring 22 hit singles and "3," and the opportunity to download the deluxe box set tracks as 'Digital 45's' or as a set - visit the discography for the full range of releases worldwide, and here to see the versions of "3"!

"The Singles Collection," which is available in the USA on a single-disc, featuring 16 of Britney's biggest hits and her latest #1 single, "3," has debuted at #22 in the US Billboard Top 200 albums, selling over 26,000 copies this week.

Britney's 29th single, "3," her 26th hit to be released in the UK, becomes her 25th song to chart in the official UK top 20 singles chart, and her 20th single to debut within the top 10, as it charts this week at #7, selling 42,000+ copies.

"3" is now available for purchase in the UK on iTunes here, and Amazon MP3 here - it appears the physical CD release, which was due out tomorrow, has been cancelled. A digital EP will be released on 15th November, featuring remixes by Manhattan Clique, Groove Police and Wolfgang, and the instrumental, which was due to appear on the CD.