Fans of Britney Spears are sending her 2011 song Selfish back up the charts after her ex Justin Timberlake released his new single of the same name on Friday.
Spears, 42 – who famously dated Timberlake, also 42, from 1999 to 2002 – released the song 13 years ago on her album Femme Fatale.
Last year, she made a series of explosive revelations about their romance in her memoir, revealing that he urged her to have an abortion when she became pregnant and that he made her look like a “whore who stole the heart of America’s golden boy.” had broken’.
Timberlake was blasted by Spears fans when her side of the story finally came out 20 years later, and The Britney Army now continues to support her by streaming her 13-year-old single instead of Timberlake’s new music.
Selfish (Justin’s version) is the first single from his upcoming album Everything I Thought It Was, his first studio album since 2018’s Man Of The Woods.
Britney Spears fans are sending her 2011 song Selfish back to the charts after her ex Justin Timberlake released his new single of the same name on Friday (pictured in 2002)
The Britney Army has continued to support her after she released a series of explosive revelations about Justin by streaming her 13-year-old single instead of Justin’s new music
Ahead of the release, Spears fans on X – formerly known as Twitter – joked about the Everytime musician who also released her single Selfish on January 25.
A fan account jokingly shared the news, but the Army has since worked their magic and the song has hit the iTunes charts in the US.
One fan commented, “Britney Spears’ selfishness is number 1, while Timberlake’s selfishness is second.”
Another said: ‘I’m in England but I’m streaming Selfish by Britney Spears to support her. I like the song too. I’ve read her book. God bless her, she’s been through hell.’
One fan account wrote: ‘What a force of nature the Britney Army is! Selfish is Top 5 on iTunes. It’s a good day to be a Britney Spears fan. #Selfish.’
Britney fan account @BritneyxyTube spoke with Entertainment weekly about the song’s resurfacing, insisting it all “started as a joke.”
They said: ‘Then we all joined in and said Britney Spears was coming back with a ‘brand new’ song.
“I still can’t believe it’s gotten this big and that we’re seeing the results we’re seeing now.”
They continued, “We are all so happy to see her song coming back after all these years!!!”
Fans have been doing their best to draw attention to Britney’s 13-year-old song Selfish and their efforts have paid off
Spears made multiple accusations against her ex Justin in her 2023 memoir, The Woman In Me, including criticizing his 2002 song Cry Me a River for the way she looked.
When they broke up, his career soared. Albums and songs were promoted under the narrative that Spears broke his heart.
He even used a Spears lookalike in the music video for Cry Me A River and she was vilified for their breakup.
In 2018, Timberlake said he was so emotional after his divorce from Spears that he got rid of his feelings by writing Cry Me a River in just two hours.
But in her 2023 memoir, Spears revealed she became pregnant by Timberlake in 2000, with the singer having an abortion because the N*Sync star “didn’t want to be a father.”
The Toxic hitmaker described the ‘painful’ decision to end the pregnancy after falling pregnant in late 2000, when the pair were both 19.
The star claimed that while she wanted the baby and “dreamed of a family” with Timberlake, he “wasn’t ready” for the responsibilities of parenthood and felt the couple was too young.
She wrote: It was a surprise, but for me it was not a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always expected that one day we would start a family together. This would just be a lot sooner than I expected.
“He said we weren’t ready to have a baby in our lives, that we were way too young. I’m sure people will hate me for this, but I agreed not to have the baby.
‘I don’t know if that was the right decision. If it had been up to me alone, I would never have done it. And yet Justin was so sure he didn’t want to be a father.’
The book also claims that Spears reveals that she was raised “not to have an abortion” due to religious reasons and what she learned from her family, TMZ reports.
Justin dropped the video for his new single Selfish, a romantic ballad, on Thursday
She then accused Timberlake of cheating on her during their three-year relationship.
Spears did not name the person the hitmaker allegedly cheated on her with, calling her “another celebrity.”
Timberlake appeared to reference the criticism during a performance at the opening of Fontainebleau in Las Vegas last month.
Before launching into the hit, he told the crowd: “No disrespect.”
A source close to Spears subsequently told Daily Mail that while she “appreciates” him acknowledging the controversy surrounding the Grammy-winning song, she has yet to have him address him personally.
“The disrespect towards Britney is long overdue and while she appreciates his acknowledgment of it, Justin has never personally called or contacted her to apologize,” the insider told DailyMail.com exclusively.
‘He never discussed this with her. Ever. Britney put this behind her and writing her book allowed her to release it. She’s good.’
It was previously reported that Justin did not want to speak out about the allegations so as not to ‘get in the way’ of Britney’s chance to finally share her story.
In her recent memoir, Britney wrote about feeling voiceless after her ex released his top five hit, essentially pushing his narrative of being the wronged party in their breakup.
“I felt at that moment that there was no way to tell my side of the story,” she wrote. “I couldn’t explain it because I knew no one would take my side once Justin convinced the world of his version. I don’t think Justin realized the power he had to shame me. I don’t think he understands it to this day.’
Britney made several accusations against her ex Justin in her 2023 memoir, The Woman In Me, including criticizing his 2002 song Cry Me a River for the way she looked (photo 2002)