Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

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

sort by namesort by score

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

EMAILPRINTby Britney Spears

Britney Spears reviews
61
7.5 User Score:

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.

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...

100

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 >
83

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 >
83

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 >
80

The Guardian

It's a bold, exciting album.

Read Full Review >
80

Sputnikmusic

Overall the album is consistently strong and evenly balanced between sexy club tracks and sexy pop tracks.

Read Full Review >
80

NOW Magazine

The production is glossy and futuristic to a nearly avant-garde point, yet every song is a hit.

Read Full Review >
70

Blender

Spears’s fifth studio album is her most consistent, a seamlessly entertaining collection of bright, brash electropop.

Read Full Review >
70

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 >
70

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 >
70

Rolling Stone

She's gonna crank the best pop booty jams until a social worker cuts off her supply of hits.

Read Full Review >
63

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 >
60

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 >
60

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 >
60

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 >
50

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 >
40

PopMatters

Right down to its utterly garish cover, Blackout is utterly disposable and ultimately forgettable.

Read Full Review >
40

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 >
40

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 >
40

Sputnikmusic

The biggest failure of these songs, and the most confusing thing about this album, are the melodies.

Read Full Review >
40

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 >
40

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]

40

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]

35

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 >
29

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.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use