Britney Spears fans are sending her 2011 song Selfish back up the charts after her ex Justin Timberlake dropped his new single with the same name on Friday.
Spears, 42 – who famously dated Timberlake, also 42, from 1999 until 2002 – released the track 13 years ago on her Femme Fatale album.
Last year she made a series of explosive revelations about their romance in her memoir: revealing he urged her to have an abortion when she fell pregnant and that he made her look like a ‘harlot who’d broken the heart of America’s golden boy’.
Timberlake was trolled by Spears fans as her side of the story finally came out two decades on and The Britney Army have continued to support her now by streaming her 13 year old single instead of Timberlake’s new music.
Selfish (Justin’s version) is the lead single on 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 up the charts after her ex Justin Timberlake dropped his new single with the same name on Friday (pictured in 2002)
The Britney Army have continued to support her after she released a string 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 also releasing her single Selfish on January 25.
A fan account jokingly shared the news, but the Army have since worked their magic and the song has been creeping up the iTunes charts in the US.
One fan pointed out: ‘Britney Spears’s selfish is trending at 1 while Timberlake’s selfish is at second.’
Another added: ‘I’m in England but I am streaming Selfish by Britney Spears to support her. I love the song too. I read her book. God bless her – she went 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 to Entertainment Weekly about the song resurfacing, insisting it all ‘started as a joke’.
They said: ‘Then we all joined in, saying that Britney Spears was coming back with a ‘brand’ new song.
‘I still can’t believe that it became so big, and we see the results we see now.’
They continued: ‘We are all so happy to see her song making a come 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 track Cry Me a River for how it made her look.
When they split his career soared. Albums and songs were promoted under the narrative that Spears broke his heart.
In the music video for Cry Me A River, he even used a Spears lookalike and she was vilified for their break-up.
In 2018 Timberlake said he was so emotional following his split from Spears that he unloaded his feelings by writing Cry Me a River in just two hours.
Yet in her 2023 memoir, Spears revealed she got pregnant by Timberlake in 2000 with the singer undergoing an abortion because the N*Sync star ‘didn’t want to be a father.’
The Toxic hitmaker detailed the ‘agonizing’ decision to terminate the pregnancy after conceiving in late 2000 when the pair were both 19.
The star claimed while she wanted the baby and ‘dreamed of having a family’ with Timberlake, he ‘wasn’t ready’ for the responsibilities of parenthood and thought the pair were too young.
She wrote: It was a surprise, but for me, it wasn’t a tragedy. I loved Justin so much. I always expected us to have a family together one day. This would just be much earlier than I’d anticipated.
‘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 left up to me alone, I never would have done it. And yet Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father.’
It was also claimed in the book Spears reveals she was raised ‘not to get an abortion’ due to religious reasons and what she had learned from her family, reports TMZ.
Justin dropped the music video for his new single Selfish on Thursday, a romantic ballad
She went on to accuse Timberlake of cheating on her during their three-year relationship.
Spears didn’t name the person the hitmaker allegedly cheated on her with, referring to her as ‘another celebrity.’
Timberlake appeared to reference the criticism while performing at the opening of the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas last month.
Ahead of launching into the hit song, he told the audience: ‘No disrespect.’
A source close to Spears then told Daily Mail that while she ‘appreciates’ that he acknowledged the controversy around the Grammy-winning song, she has yet to have him address her personally.
‘The disrespect to Britney was done a long time ago and although she appreciates his acknowledgement of it, Justin has never called her personally or reached out to her personally to apologize,’ the insider told DailyMail.com exclusively.
‘He has never addressed this with her. Ever. Britney has moved on from this and writing her book allowed her to release it. She’s good.’
It was previously reported that Justin wanted to refrain from speaking out on 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 how she felt voiceless after her ex put out his top five hit, which effectively put forward his narrative of being the wronged party in their breakup.
‘I felt there was no way at the time to tell my side of the story,’ she wrote. ‘I couldn’t explain, because I knew no one would take my side once Justin had convinced the world of his version. I don’t think Justin realized the power he had in shaming me. I don’t think he understands to this day.’
Britney made multiple accusations against her ex Justin in her 2023 memoir The Woman In Me, including criticizing his 2002 track Cry Me a River for how it made her look (pictured 2002)