Courtesy Jive Records

Britney Spears has taken "3" to 1.

The pop tart's ode to ménage à trois has hit the public's sweet spot, coming in atop the Billboard singles charts and rather aptly giving Brit-Brit her third career No. 1.

"I want to thank my fans for making '3' the No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100," she said.

Not to mention marking the first time in three years (can you spot the theme forming here?) that an artist has debuted in—and not been forced to make the slow climb into—the top spot. Clearly, when it comes to record busting, she doesn't do small: Spears is now also the first non-American Idol winner to reach the chart summit since 1998. (We hope you're proud of yourselves, Taylor Hicks fans.)

 "I am truly blessed with the greatest fans in the world, and I am so happy y'all love it because I do this all for you," Spears said. "I can't wait till you see the video."

The wait won't be long. Taking into consideration both her fans' buying power and her time-tested pop star formula, Spears knows that a successful Britney is a raunchy Britney. And judging by the steamy threesome-happy stills released this week, this is going to be one successful video.

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Britney's back, but has her sartorial sense followed suit? Judge for yourself in our Fashion Spotlight: Britney Spears gallery.

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You can't stop her, you can only hope to contain her. Too bad Twilight fans couldn't even do that.

The unstoppable—and, as it turns out, untoppable—Barbra Streisand surprisingly beat out both Mariah Carey and vampire (and bookmakers') favorite Paramore to top the Billboard album charts this week.

Which means you may not exactly be thrilled, but your (grand)mom sure is.

Babs' Love Is the Answer silenced both Paramore's Brand New Eyes and Mrs. Cannon's Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, marking the singer-actor-director-personal doll shop proprietor's ninth No. 1 on the charts.

But just barely...

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Yup, they're still alive.

And how.

Ending a 13-year drought, Pearl Jam's ninth studio release, Backspacer, debuted atop the Billboard album charts this week, the grunge survivor's first No. 1 since No Code way back in 1996.

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It's pretty clear who's running this town.

Proving that condemnation by Kanyegate association has nothing on Jay-Z's sales appeal, Beyoncé's boy dominated the Billboard album chart this week, with Blueprint 3 taking over the top spot with sales of 476,000.

It's Hova's 11th career No. 1: He has now scored more solo chart-toppers than any other artist, even Elvis Presley.

And all without being party to a rampant display of jackassery.

Jay-Z's chart-topping track record is second only to the Beatles, who've been tops a record book-shattering 19 times. And counting, if this week's sales are any indication.

Chart love for the Fab Four is alive and thriving thanks to their accountant-approved reissues (piggybacked with their hyped Rock Band game) selling a collective 626,000 copies to dominate the catalog chart.

The biggest seller of the week was Abbey Road, followed by Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The White Album.

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Check out the highlights and lowlights (as if you didn't know what those were) in our gallery of the 2009 MTV VMAs.

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Being Bobby Brown's wife didn't help. And we weren't sure about that wobbly Good Morning America performance.

But the fans have spoken, and Whitney Houston is back, baby!

I Look To You, her first studio album in seven years, has debuted at No. 1 on the album charts, selling 304,000 copies. It also topped the charts in Canada, Italy, Germany and Switzerland.

And all that without Oprah Winfrey. Imagine what Whit's sales will be like after she appears on next week's season debut to belt out a couple of tunes and air her dirty laundry in what Oprah has touted as the best interview of her career.

"In search of ceiling repairmen. Cause Whitney just BLEW THE ROOF off of Harpo. Grown men & women weeping in the aisles," Oprah recently twittered.

Get this week's Top 10 albums after the jump.

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Fame Pictures, Inc

Whitney Houston, the Beatles and Jay-Z ought to step aside. Susan Boyle is the new queen bee of the album charts.

Too bad no one will get to hear her record until Nov. 24.

Britain's Got Talent's undeniable breakout star—whether she won the grand prize or not—is nearly three months from the release of her debut album, yet, thanks to presales, stands at the very top of Amazon.com's best-seller list.

Houston's comeback album, reissues of the Fab Four's classics, Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 and even the soundtrack for New Moon are eating her dust.

Talk about dreaming a dream!

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It's hard to believe that even performing on Good Morning America or taking long walks with Oprah aren't enough to be a chart-topper.

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If only Miley Cyrus paid as much attention to promoting the Hannah Montana soundtrack as she did to writhing around on that pole, she might've had a better showing on this week's album charts.

Sure, the release may be as old as her wannabe-Britney shtick, but that didn't stop it from managing a No. 7 finish last week.

So, sorry, Miley fans. It hurts us just as much as it hurts you (OK, maybe not), but your lackluster showing has earned Cyrus a spot as one of this week's biggest music losers.

We hope you're proud of yourselves.

As for the other winners and losers in Music Land...

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Kevin Mazur/Getty Images

You can't stop him, you can only hope to contain his album sales. Or, ideally, just avoid releasing an album of your own for the next few months.

Michael Jackson continued his posthumous domination of the album charts this week, selling enough copies of Number 1s to make the 2003 greatest hits collection the second-best seller of the year, far outpacing Disney's finest underagers, with offerings from Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Ashley Tisdale—especially Ashley Tisdale—falling well behind.

The year's supreme seller for the time being is Fearless from Taylor Swift, an artist with all the appeal of a Disney star but none of those pesky Mouse House associations. Unless you count the ex. And the rotating BFFs.

Guess a bedazzled guitar beats a sequined glove. At least for now...

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AP Photo

Sure, the music snobs here at E! Online prefer Demi Lovato's acid-rock rendition of the Barney theme to anything off her latest CD. But everyone else seems to like Here We Go Again just fine.

The Disneyfied tween queen proved more popular than former American Idol stars Chris Daughtry and Jordin Sparks, debuting at No. 1. It's the first chart-topper for Lovato, whose rookie release, Don't Forget, opened at No. 2.

Speaking of No. 2, that's where Daughtry's Leave This Town is parked this week. Sparks's Battlefield, meanwhile, checked in at No. 7.

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AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian

American Idol might need to bring Chris Daughtry back for a belated coronation.

The brooding rocker failed to make it to the winner's circle in season five, but his namesake band is now a two-champ where it counts—on the album charts. Having previously topped the charts with his 2006 eponymous debut, Daughtry repeats the feat this week with Leave This Town selling over 269,000 copies, per Nielsen SoundScan.

While this gives him bragging rights on the Billboard 200, Daughtry also moved more copies than Michael Jackson's top-seller, Number 1s, giving him the week's undeniable No. 1 album. Jackson's discs are only eligible for the Catalog chart, but he managed to outsell the Billboard 200's No. 1 album each of the previous three weeks.

Who's bad indeed?

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Columbia; Sony

Michael Jackson is still King, but Maxwell and Hannah Montana make for a nice royal court.

Despite big bows from the Brooklyn crooner and the Disney queen, the late King of Pop had the top-selling album in the country for the third straight week, as Number Ones moved another 349,000 copies, per Nielsen SoundScan, making for a 1.1 million-copy tally for all his titles. This is Jackson's best week so far, both for an individual title and collectively, thanks largely to last week's memorial service coverage and retailers finally getting completely stocked up.

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Michael Jackson may be gone, but fans obviously can't stop 'til they get enough.

The week after his death, Jackson sold a whopping 800,000 albums—double the week earlier—easily outperforming any new pop releases and accounting for the entire Top 10 of the catalog chart.

Number Ones led the way with 339,000 copies, followed by Thriller with 187,000 for the week ended Sunday—the first full week since his June 25 death—according to the stat-meisters at Nielsen SoundScan.

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