Britney Spears is finding new chart success right now, and it's not because she's released new music (or another memoir).
According to People, the singer's 2011 hit "Criminal" was at No. 68 on the iTunes pop charts in the hours after news broke that her ex Justin Timberlake had been arrested on a DWI charge.
Alexa, play Criminal by Britney Spears. 😂 pic.twitter.com/YFk0DRAjOzJune 18, 2024
This came after Spears' fans encouraged one another on social media to stream and buy the song to show Timberlake where their allegiance lied.
Because of their efforts, "Criminal" apparently also hit the top 10 on iTunes Brazil, and No. 1 on iTunes Mexico.
Criminal by Britney Spears is now the #1 song on iTunes Mexico. 🇲🇽 pic.twitter.com/C0Np0UtoyxJune 19, 2024
Timberlake was arrested in the Hamptons on June 18, with a police document showing that he had driven through a stop sign and hadn't stayed on the right side of the road.
BBC News reports that the Friends With Benefits actor's eyes were "bloodshot and glassy" and that a "strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath."
Timberlake allegedly told the officer who stopped his car, "I had one martini and I followed my friends home."
An anonymous source claimed that Timberlake was "wasted" while at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor. "At one point, just before closing, somebody got up to go to the bathroom and left his drink on the table," they told the New York Post. "When [the man] came back, [Timberlake] was drinking his drink. The guy goes, 'Justin, that’s my drink!'"
A lawyer for Timberlake told CBS News that he "will vigorously defend his client and is currently engaged in the Discovery process w the District Attorney’s Office."
According to sources who spoke to Page Six, the singer was at the American Hotel with friends, and when he was pulled over, "His friends were telling the police, 'Let him go, let him go.'"
Another source claimed, "Justin said under his breath, 'This is going to ruin the tour.' The cop replied, 'What tour?' Justin said, 'The world tour.'"
Timberlake is scheduled to go on tour starting this Friday in Chicago.
As for his relationship to Spears, they dated between 1999 and 2002, with fans developing strong opinions about Timberlake first amid his ex' conservatorship, then when she released her memoir The Woman in Me.
In the 2023 book, Spears revealed that Timberlake had cheated on her, and that she had had an abortion during their relationship, in part because "Justin was so sure that he didn’t want to be a father."
