Britney Spears is "In the Zone" With #1 Album

Pop culture is definitely in the zone with Britney Spears' new chart-topping album "In the Zone." The 22-year-old pop star's fourth album has sold more than 609,000 copies in the U.S. during its first week, scoring #1 for weekly sales, by female artists this year, but most of all claiming the #1 spot on the Billboard 200 album chart.

While Spears is topping the charts at #1 this week in the U.S., France, Korea, Mexico and Argentina, she has also crowned Soundscan's history as the only female artist to have four consecutive #1 albums. Her second album, "Oops... I Did It Again," sold a remarkable 1.3 million in its first week in May 2000.

The dynamic 13-track album includes eight songs that Spears cowrote and features producers and writers such as Grammy Award winning artist, R. Kelly, Avant and Moby. Special featured artists include pop singer, Madonna, who hit stardom in 1984, and the rap duo, Ying-Yang twins. pears proves her evolution as an artist through the many genres of music on the album, ranging from hip hop, to reggae and techno.

Spears announced Tuesday, December 2nd, that her "In the Zone" tour will kick off March 2, 2004 in San Diego, touring in more than 25 cities in the U.S. and Canada.

Aside from Spears' mission to make record-breaking albums, the young artist has another mission in life, to help kids. In efforts to raise funds for The Britney Spears Foundation, which was founded under her belief that music and entertainment has a power to heal and fulfill, a portion of all ticket sales will go to the foundation. In addition, Spears is auctioning off the autographed Mazda RX-8 she drove in her new video, "Me Against the Music." The 10-day auction will end on Ebay, Thursday, December 11th.

Britney Spears tour dates, according to Jive Records include:

3/2 - San Diego, CA

3/3 - Phoenix, AZ

3/5 - Fresno, CA

3/6 - Las Vegas, NV

3/8 - Los Angeles, CA

3/9 - Oakland, CA

3/11 - Portland, OR

3/12 - Seattle, WA

3/15 - Denver, CO

3/17 - Omaha, NE

3/18 - Moline, IL

3/19 - Chicago, IL

3/21 - Detroit, MI

3/23 - Atlanta, GA

3/24 - Columbia, SC

3/25 - Jacksonville, FL

3/28 - Miami, FL

3/29 - Orlando, FL

3/31 - Philadelphia, PA

4/1 - Cleveland, OH

4/3 - Toronto, ON

4/4 - Montreal, QB

4/6 - Manchester, NH

4/8 - Providence, RI

4/12 - New York, NY