Circus - Britney Spears

It's easy to laugh at Britney and it's fair to say that once again her actual input into this album will have been little more than turning up to sing the lines she's told to. But you know what? For the second album in a row she's comfortably outpaced Madonna. This is everything that Hard Candy wasn't in terms of a great dance-pop record.

In many ways this is an album of two halves. The first is perfectly acceptable glossy pop that never quite takes off like you would want it to. The likes of Womanizer and Kill The Lights are a lot better than most that is served up to us in the name of American Pop. The album has some even better tracks in it's second half, starting with Unusual You, where it gets more adventurous and actually has something interesting to say (again, unlike Hard Candy).

Ok so it's at least four tracks too long, but Britney Spears isn't necessarily an "album" artist. This has more than enough great singles to ensure her ongoing success and sometimes that's enough, no matter what those "proper" music lovers might tell you.