Oops! She had it annulled.

Britney Spears got married in Las Vegas over the weekend, but the bashful bride was single again less than 12 hours later.

The pop star tied the knot early Saturday with Jason Allen Alexander at The Little White Wedding Chapel. Alexander, a childhood friend from Spears' hometown of Kentwood, La., reportedly only recently started dating the singer. The Associated Press quoted Alexander's grandfather as saying the two spent Christmas Eve together.

But quicker than you can say "Bennifer," the pair put the hookup on hold as they arranged an annulment witnessed by several people, including a lawyer, according to Web and wire reports.

Sunday evening, the singer's record label, Jive Records, issued a statement: The couple "took a joke too far by getting married."

"Ms. Spears and Mr. Alexander have filed for an annulment which will become official on Monday," read the statement by Sonia Muckle, Jive's vice president of publicity.

According to press reports, Spears' aborted bout of bridal bliss began in the Ghostbar at the Palms Casino Hotel, where Spears and Alexander, both 22, had been partying late Friday.

The couple reportedly went to the chapel via hotel limo but were told they couldn't get married without a license.

After a limo ride to the Clark County Marriage Bureau in the courthouse, the couple returned to the chapel and were married at about 5:30 a.m. Spears, resplendent in torn jeans and a baseball cap, was escorted down the aisle by the hotel's limo driver.

George Maloof Jr., owner of the Palms, who is described as a good friend of Spears', confirmed to the Associated Press that the two had wed but denied rumors Spears was drunk and had to be carried out of the hotel's Rain nightclub on New Year's Eve.

"I was with her the whole night," he told the AP. "None of those reports were accurate. She was just having a good time."

Robert Alexander, Jason's grandfather, said Jason was back in Kentwood on Sunday. "He'd been through a lot," he told Entertainment Tonight.

Spears broke up with singer Justin Timberlake in 2002. Since then, she has courted controversy, posing for provocative photo shoots and sharing a kiss with Madonna at the MTV Video Music Awards. And now, with the first — and briefest — celebrity marriage of 2004, Britney has set the standard for star unions. Brave new girl, indeed.

Britney Spears may no longer be in the zone she occupied a couple of years ago as the queen of teen pop, but her concert ticket sales are still healthy. The singer is showing staying power with her Onyx Hotel Tour.

The arena tour, which opened March 2 in San Diego and wraps up its first leg Wednesday in Auburn Hills, Mich., has had several sellouts or near sellouts. But it also has had dates when ticket sales fell well short of capacity.

According to figures culled from Billboard, her average gross was $743,724 on sales of 11,594 tickets on the tour's first 11 dates. She's filling about 85% of her venues' capacity.

"There are not that many acts out there who can sell 10,000 tickets per show," Pollstar editor Gary Bongiovanni says. "Her moment in the sun isn't over yet."

Billboard's Ray Waddell says Spears is picking up momentum with her current single (Toxic has been No. 1 on Airplay Monitor's mainstream top 40 chart for four weeks). "She's transcended that teen-pop thing, and it looks like a lot of her fans are going with her."

Her 85% capacity figure is about average among other top-level acts touring in the same time span at similar-sized venues. Hot country act Toby Keith has been selling out everywhere, and rockers Metallica and Aerosmith are at about 90% and 88%, respectively. Kid Rock has been averaging 94%, while in a few early dates, the Verizon Ladies First Tour with Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Missy Elliott and Tamia is drawing about 84%.

The stadium-level success that 'N Sync and the Backstreet Boys achieved just a few years ago appears to be over, but the teen-pop market is still alive thanks to the American Idol phenomenon and acts such as Hilary Duff, who is also scoring some concert sellouts.

Waddell says the genre reinvents itself every year with a new batch of young fans who favor new acts. He says that acts such as Spears have to keep evolving or they'll disappear. But American Idol, with new acts, is establishing a successful niche.

Idol stars are proving they can fill seats; 2003 runner-up Clay Aiken and 2002 winner Kelly Clarkson have done well on their 30-city Independent Tour, which ends Friday in St. Paul. On their first 11 dates they averaged $412,213 on sales of 8,868 tickets, or about 90% capacity.

"It's a heck of a thing that you can go out and headline arenas on your very first tour," says Waddell, noting the Fox TV show's drawing power. "But you have a built-in fan base before the artist even hits the road. It seems like the way to break an act these days."

Waddell says it remains to be seen whether the Idol acts will last. He says the singers' route to stardom bypasses a lot of the normal building blocks most acts go through, but for now they are "ready-made" stars.