Spears previously came in at No. 1 with "3" in 2009. The only other act with multiple No. 1 starts is Mariah Carey with "Fantasy" and "One Sweet Day" in 1995 and "Honey" in 1997.
"Hold It Against Me" is Spears' fourth No. 1 on the Hot 100. Prior to "3," she reigned with her debut single "...Baby One More Time" (1999) and "Womanizer" (2008). The new track sold 411,000 downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It marks the highest first-week tally for a lead female artist, besting the 325,000 downloads sold by Taylor Swift's "Today Was a Fairytale" in February 2010.
Two other tracks stormed the upper reaches of the Hot 100. "What the Hell," the first single from Avril Lavigne's fourth album, "Goodbye Lullaby," due March 8, opened at No. 13.
At No. 23, Kanye West and Jay-Z debuted with "H*A*M.," the first single from the superstar pair's upcoming collaborative album, "Watch the Throne."
Directly below "Hold It Against Me," three titles dipped one notch each: Bruno Mars' "Grenade" (No. 2), Katy Perry's "Firework" (No. 3) and Rihanna's "What's My Name?" (No. 4).
Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow" rose two to No. 5; Enrique Iglesias' "Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)" held at No. 6; and Ke$ha's "We R Who We R" fell three to No. 7.
Pink fell three to No. 8 with "Raise Your Glass," the Black Eyed Peas' "The Time (Dirty Bit)" and Mars' "Just the Way You Are" each slipped one place, to Nos. 9 and 10, respectively.
