Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
62
50 Cent
70
AFI
65
Air
70
Alice In Chains
53
Kris Allen
78
Amerie
79
Annie
76
Anti-Pop Consortium
86
The Antlers![]()
75
Arctic Monkeys
68
As Tall As Lions
82
Atlas Sound![]()
77
The Avett Brothers
67
Backstreet Boys
59
Bad Lieutenant
68
Devendra Banhart
71
Lou Barlow
88
Baroness![]()
69
Basement Jaxx
81
David Bazan![]()
72
Beak>
72
Brendan Benson
84
Biffy Clyro![]()
72
The Big Pink
95
Big Star![]()
46
Billy Talent
75
The Black Crowes
72
The Black Heart Procession
68
Blitzen Trapper
75
BLK JKS
53
Bon Jovi
76
A.A. Bondy
65
Boys Like Girls
76
Brand New
73
Tyondai Braxton
83
Brother Ali![]()
72
Ian Brown
75
Michael Buble
77
Built To Spill
61
Colbie Caillat
78
Califone
69
Mariah Carey
81
Brandi Carlile![]()
72
Julian Casablancas
83
Rosanne Cash![]()
71
Castanets
65
The Cave Singers
82
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis![]()
64
Exene Cervenka
79
Vic Chesnutt
75
Choir Of Young Believers
81
Circulatory System![]()
67
The Clean
84
The Clientele![]()
72
Cold Cave
85
Converge![]()
71
Eric Copeland
76
The Cribs
79
Cymbals Eat Guitars
62
Dashboard Confessional
71
Datarock
59
Dead By Sunrise
76
Dead Man's Bones
77
Del The Funky Homosapien & Tame One
88
Destroyer![]()
73
Do Make Say Think
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
67
Bob Dylan
58
Echo & The Bunnymen
61
Electric Six
44
The Entrance Band
69
Fanfarlo
71
Jay Farrar And Benjamin Gibbard
63
Felix Da Housecat
68
Fink
66
Orenda Fink
79
The Flaming Lips
66
Flight Of The Conchords
79
Florence And The Machine
67
John Fogerty
83
Fuck Buttons![]()
71
Nelly Furtado
47
Gary Go
68
Ghostface Killah
79
Girls
69
Gossip
62
David Gray
66
David Guetta
65
Calvin Harris
79
Richard Hawley
74
Mayer Hawthorne
66
Headlights
79
HEALTH
77
Joe Henry
67
Hockey
67
Whitney Houston
80
Hudson Mohawke
68
Imogen Heap
59
Jack Ingram
79
Islands
74
Jamie T
65
Jay-Z
51
Jet
68
Daniel Johnston
76
Norah Jones
77
Karen O And The Kids
72
Toby Keith
69
Kid Cudi
75
Kid Sister
66
Kings Of Convenience
62
Sean Kingston
64
KISS
63
Mark Knopfler
73
Kris Kristofferson
68
KRS-One & Buckshot
76
La Roux
85
Miranda Lambert![]()
72
Ledisi
71
Sondre Lerche
56
Juliette Lewis
62
Leona Lewis
82
Lightning Bolt![]()
74
Little Dragon
44
Pixie Lott
83
Patty Loveless![]()
73
Lyle Lovett
79
Lucero
75
Baaba Maal
77
Madness
84
Madonna![]()
85
Manic Street Preachers![]()
61
Maps
73
Mario
55
Massive Attack
57
Matisyahu
62
John Mayer
67
Reba McEntire
66
Tim McGraw
65
Brian McKnight
79
Mew
75
Mika
68
Amy Millan
76
Mission Of Burma
75
Molina And Johnson
80
Monsters Of Folk
66
Morrissey
85
Mount Eerie![]()
76
The Mountain Goats
62
Múm
72
Muse
66
Willie Nelson
82
Nirvana![]()
96
Nirvana![]()
80
No Age
71
Noah And The Whale
75
Noisettes
79
Nudge
64
OneRepublic
47
Dolores O'Riordan
74
Os Mutantes
78
Osso
67
Alec Ounsworth
81
Owen![]()
73
Paramore
78
Pastels And Tenniscoats
54
Sean Paul
80
Pearl Jam
69
Jemina Pearl
72
Jack Penate
65
Phish
82
Pissed Jeans![]()
61
Pitbull
79
A Place To Bury Strangers
79
Polvo
72
Porcupine Tree
72
Port O'Brien
79
Q-Tip
79
R.E.M.
88
Raekwon![]()
69
Rain Machine
70
Ramona Falls
75
Dizzee Rascal
74
The Raveonettes
79
Real Estate
76
Jay Reatard
81
Rodrigo Y Gabriela![]()
66
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
78
Russian Circles
69
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
78
Say Anything
61
Sally Shapiro
78
Shudder To Think
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
72
Six Organs Of Admittance
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
78
Soulsavers
77
Speech Debelle
58
Spiral Stairs
58
Squarepusher
55
Steel Panther
75
Sufjan Stevens
52
Rod Stewart
68
Joss Stone
83
Barbra Streisand![]()
77
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74
Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
79
The Swell Season
80
David Sylvian
83
Taken By Trees![]()
80
Tegan And Sara
68
The Temper Trap
78
The Dutchess & The Duke
71
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
74
Them Crooked Vultures
72
Themselves
82
They Might Be Giants![]()
67
Third Eye Blind
66
J Tillman
69
Times New Viking
57
Tokio Hotel
67
Trey Songz
73
Frank Turner
71
The Twilight Sad
60
Carrie Underwood
56
The Used
68
Various Artists
69
Various Artists
77
The Very Best
70
Kurt Vile
65
Vivian Girls
71
Volcano Choir
73
Rufus Wainwright
78
Wale
57
Weezer
81
White Denim![]()
76
Why?
83
Wild Beasts![]()
80
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
69
Robbie Williams
59
Andrew W.K.
65
Wolfmother
84
The xx![]()
79
Yo La Tengo
83
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band![]()
52
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59
Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Blackout

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 24 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 216 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Jive
Release Date: 30 October 2007
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Pop, Dance
Summary
Britney newest release includes tracks written by T-Pain and Pharrell Williams.
Also By This Artist: Britney Circus In The Zone Oops!... I Did It Again
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Observer Music Monthly
Britney has delivered the best album of her career, raising the bar for modern pop music with an incendiary mix of Timbaland's 'Shock Value' and her own back catalogue.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
Every song counts as markedly progressive and strange, from 'Get Naked (I Got A Plan)' (which sounds like intergalactic R&B filtered through The Cure's "Pornography") to 'Freakshow,' which gets by on little more than serpentine snaps, wub-wub bass, and Britney sounding synthetic and irresistibly at home.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly
Poetry it's not. Still, there is something delightfully escapist about Blackout, a perfectly serviceable dance album abundant in the kind of bouncy electro elements that buttressed her hottest hits.
Read Full Review >Sputnikmusic
Overall the album is consistently strong and evenly balanced between sexy club tracks and sexy pop tracks.
Read Full Review >NOW Magazine
The production is glossy and futuristic to a nearly avant-garde point, yet every song is a hit.
Read Full Review >Blender
Spears’s fifth studio album is her most consistent, a seamlessly entertaining collection of bright, brash electropop.
Read Full Review >Hot Press
For all the state-of-the-art urban production, there’s something distinctly unsavoury about Blackout. And yet, the truly bizarre thing is, the music is top notch.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Blackout is state-of-the-art dance-pop, a testament to skills of the producers and perhaps even Britney being somehow cognizant enough to realize she should hire the best, even if she's not at her best.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone
She's gonna crank the best pop booty jams until a social worker cuts off her supply of hits.
Read Full Review >The Phoenix
Blackout may be more a tribute to the skills of the A-list producers who guided her through the disc than to any of her own talents.
Read Full Review >Slant Magazine
For every hot, of-the-moment track, though, there's something like the nonsensical 'Hot As Ice,' which was co-penned by the thoroughly talentless T-Pain and might have worked two albums ago but just sounds retrograde here.
Read Full Review >Drowned In Sound
At times the levels of raciness reach Spinal Tap levels of hilarity, as on 'Ooh Ooh Baby's' slinky Glitter Band stomp.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
Blackout is business as usual. Courting publicity more shamelessly than that infamous kiss with Madonna, Britney writhes, moans and generally gives good pillow talk for the duration of an album where crunk, glitches, squeaks and clubbed-up beats dominate.
Read Full Review >Billboard
It's defiant like a bad drunk, uncomfortably oversexed and more at home in a seedy after-hours club than a celebrity ultra-lounge.
Read Full Review >PopMatters
Right down to its utterly garish cover, Blackout is utterly disposable and ultimately forgettable.
Read Full Review >Hartford Courant
Blackout is her fifth and most hilarious record, thanks largely to the contrast between the often-brilliant musical production and Spears' steadfast insistence on taking herself seriously and expecting you will, too on songs called 'Get Naked (I Got a Plan),' 'Freakshow' and 'Why Should I Be Sad?'
Read Full Review >The New York Times
The electronic beats and bass lines are as thick as Ms. Spears’s voice is thin, and as the album title suggests, the general mood is bracingly unapologetic.
Read Full Review >Sputnikmusic
The biggest failure of these songs, and the most confusing thing about this album, are the melodies.
Read Full Review >New Musical Express
From 'Gimme More's' heavily treated vocals that sound like a sex addict's cry for help to the electro throb of 'Piece Of Me', where fembot Brit tackles the paps with laser eyes, it could really do with a few more human touches.
Read Full Review >Q Magazine
'Piece of Me' is a blast at the paparazzi, but her principle target is, inevitably, ex-hubby Kevin Federline. Not all pop stars give up their secrets so readily. [Jan 2008, p.112]
Uncut
Sighing, panting and smouldering her way throufgh a dozen digitized come-ons, she maintains the fiction of a robo-pop nymphomaniac while all around her, Rome burns. [Jan 2008, p.102]
Prefix Magazine
This album will sway neither the faithful nor the unbelievers from their positions along the borders of her stalled momentum.
Read Full Review >cokemachineglow
It wants to be danceable, sexy, and a defiant response to the media shitstorm. It's not even that danceable.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 216 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Joshua S gave it a10:
You could stick on this album at a party and dance all the way through. It is just full of songs you wanna shake to!
Victor C gave it a10:
Britney's best album yet. Very good from beginning to end.
J. M gave it an8:
Overall there are a lot of great tracks on the album, but when listening you get the feeling she just doesn't care about the music anymore.
Anonymous gave it a9:
Welcome back, Britney, we missed you! Blackout shocked me from start to finish. At first, I thought: "Oh, crap, another comeback album." But it's more. It's a defiant, in-your-face sucker punch to the media's gut. Full of catchy beats, unusual synth sounds, and fearlessly sexy lyrics, Blackout may just be Britney's best work yet. Piece Of Me, Gimme More, and Break The Ice are the best tracks, but Toy Soldier and Freakshow are well done, too.
maruz ha ha ha gave it a10:
This is a legend should sound like One of the good album welcome back Britney.
Beto A gave it a0:
Bad!! If I wolud have heard it before I wouldn't have bought it!!
Enzo P gave it a9:
Perfectly produced and sang: Spears' voice sounds amazing on beats by Danja, Bloodshy & Avant and others. Her best album so far.
