Britney Spears, hoping to get her career back on track after a series of public humiliations, will release a new album on her 27th birthday, 2 December, her record company said.

"Circus" will be Spears' sixth studio album, and the first single 'Womanizer' will be released on 22 September, Jive/Zomba said in a statement.

The Los Angeles-based singer hit rock bottom in January when she was twice rushed to hospital for treatment in a psychiatric unit.

The drama came after she lost custody of her two young sons last year as her life unraveled in the full glare of a frenzied media.

But Spears has recently amicably ended the custody dispute with ex-husband Kevin Federline over the two boys, and earlier this month she enjoyed a triumphant return to the MTV Video Music Awards where she scooped three of the top honors.

Spears shot to superstardom in late 1998 with her smash-hit debut album 'Baby One More Time', which she followed with another chart-topping success the following year, 'Oops! ... I Did It Again'.

She remains one of the top selling women artists of the last decade.

AFP