Britney Spears surprises fans with new Glory album cover almost four years after its release

Britney Spears continues to be full of surprises in 2020, and this time it's a years-old album of hers that has fans talking.

Without warning, the singer changed the cover art for her 2016 album Glory on all streaming platforms Friday. Rather than the initial tight shot of her backlit face, which still currently graces the deluxe edition, the new cover features a wider shot of Spears sunbathing in the middle of a desert, wearing a revealing gold one-piece.

As Spears explained in an Instagram post Friday evening, the cover was updated in celebration of Glory climbing to the top of the iTunes album chart thanks to a social media campaign by her fans, much like what Mariah Carey's lambs did for her albums Glitter and E=MC².

"You asked for a new Glory cover and since it went to number one we had to make it happen," Spears wrote. "Couldn’t have done it without you all."

Fans had been asking for a new Glory cover for a while now. The original artwork was not greeted warmly four years ago, and a change.org petition was even launched to replace it, claiming that the initial photo was "not a suitable representation of the music that Britney is putting out."

Some eagle-eyed fans noticed the updated album cover before Spears addressed it on Instagram, and freaked out accordingly.

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