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On October 3, 2008, Britney Spears released Womanizer, the lead single off her sixth studio album Circus. Her "comeback single" was written and produced by The Outsyders. It had already premiered on radio on September 26. Womanizer peaked at #1 on the BBH100, breaking the record of biggest jump to #1 at the time, initially debuting at #96 (this record would be broken the following year by Kelly Clarkson's My Life Would Suck Withou You). It was her first #1 since ...Baby One More Time. The song also was a Top 10 hit on every country it charted and in the US it's her best selling song with over 3.5M copies sold. In 2010, the song received a nomination at the 52nd Grammy Awards for the Best Dance Recording category. The song was performed several times in late 2008, including at Good Morning America, The X Factor UK, the Bambi Awards in Germany among others. It's also been performed on her Circus Tour, Femme Fatale Tour, Piece of Me Show (and respective tours) and it was even included on her BBMA's 2016 medley. Next week we'll celebrate the anniversary of its Joseph Kahn directed music video. Now let's move on to 3. On October 2, 2009, Britney Spears released 3, the lead and only single off her second compilation album The Singles Collection: Britney Spears in France and the UK. It was written and produced by Max Martin and Shellback, with additional writing from Tiffany Amber. The song talks about the wonders of the number 3 and its impact in music culture, such as the trio Peter, Paul and Mary . 3 debuted at #1 on the BBH100, being the first one to do so in over 3 years, and the 15th song to achieve this overall. With a duration of 3:33 min, the song had been previously sent to radio on September 29, and it officially came out in the US on October 6. The song has been performed on her Femme Fatale Tour (2011) and the Britney: Piece of Me residency in Las Vegas (2013-2016). In 2015, the song debuted on the Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs chart at #16 after a wardrobe malfunction that happened during the POM performance in October that year. A music video for the song was released on October 29, but we'll celebrate that later this month.

It's not talked about enough by her fans or GP but instantly went #1 and is pop perfection! It debuted at 6AM in NYC on Z100 with fart face back in 2009. I'll never forget staying up all night on Exhale waiting. Iconic. 123. It's the most simple yet deep pop song of all time.

So i've been recently listening again to Britney's discography after ages and i've come to the conclusion that "3" is, and always have been, the perfect pop track that really deserved more high recognitions, such as a Grammy, for the following reasons: - The entire song screams 'Britney Spears' all over it, edgy lyrics, fierce attitude and makes you feel like the $€xiest person alive. - Max Martin proved once again that his production remains unmatched and when working with Britney, magic always happens! - It's one of the few Britney's songs to have a proper solid bridge, one of the best bridges of her entire catalogue, if you ask me...still getting goosebumps from it after all this years! If Britney will ever make music again i just hope Max reaches out to her...Glory was really cool and a lot of fun () but we need the "Britney Banger" once again! Thoughts?

On November 10, 2009, Britney Spears released The Singles Collection, her second greatest hits album. The compilation was released in order to commemorate her 10th anniversary since she entered the music industry. It included singles from her first six studio albums, as well as her latest #1 single which had been released earlier that year, 3. Initially the album was announced to be released on November 23, but it was moved up to November 10 and many versions were released around the world, in different formats: one-disc, CD+DVD and a deluxe box set. The deluxe box set included all of her singles packed individually with their original cover, as well as a DVD with her entire videography (except 3). As opposed to Greatest Hits: My Prerogative, this DVD didn't include any extra content such as alternative versions or cut scenes. This box set included all of her singles from ...Baby One More Time to 3, including the ones from Greatest Hits: My Prerogative and Britney & Kevin: Chaotic, as well as the original B-sides and remixes that were released with each of them, such as I'm So Curious, Autumn Goodbye or Mona Lisa. The CD version of the album didn't include all the singles though: 3 ...Baby One More Time (You Drive Me) Crazy (The Stop Remix!) Born to Make You Happy Oops!... I Did It Again Stronger I'm a Slave 4 U I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman (international version of the CD) Boys (Co-Ed Remix ft. Pharrell Williams) Me Against the Music (ft. Madonna) Toxic Everytime Gimme More Piece of Me Womanizer Circus If U Seek Amy Radar and the iTunes Store deluxe edition added Lucky, Sometimes, Overprotected, Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know and Break the Ice. The album debuted and peaked at #22 on the BB 200 but it went top 15 on Japan, South Korea, France and Mexico.

On October 30, 2009, Britney Spears released the music video for 3, the lead and only single off her compilation album The Singles Collection. The video was filmed in early October in Los Angeles and it was directed by Diane Martel, who had previously worked with a lot of artists including Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Christina Aguilera, Beyoncé, RBD, The Killers, and many more. Tone & Rich were in charge of the choreography and GK Reid worked closely with Britney to design the fashion of the video. About the music video, Diane Martel said The music video starts with Britney putting on mascara and spraying her Circus Fantasy in front of a mirror, and then we see her dancing and singing in front of a white background. The rest of the video is basically Britney in a bunch of different costume changes (mostly leotards), some scenes she's with the male dancers, and in others we see her with the female dancers or all by herself. Also, in the video version of the song, the word "sin" is replaced by "this" Elements of the video, like the metal bar and the barcode-like lights, would be later incorporated in the live performance of the song at her Las Vegas residency Piece of Me in 2013. After a countdown and a little teaser, the video was officially released through her Twitter account, and later in November it was uploaded to her newly created VEVO channel on Youtube, where it has reached 91M views. In MTV Latin America, the music video landed at #73 in the yearly Top 100 of 2009, and it would appear at #44 in 2010. In December 2009, the Director's Cut leaked online, showing scenes that were a bit more provocative and in general a bit more polished edition of the video. Apparently, the official video's edition had to be rushed to made it coincide with the release of The Singles Collection. Related:

It's not as replayed as her other songs, but I remember "3" getting so much overplay in 2010. How did it become a huge hit?