In the last couple of weeks, three talented Ladies of Pop have released singles from upcoming releases.

Rockferry, the debut album from Duffy, was one of my favorites of 2008. The Welsh-born singer arrived in the new crop of British blue-eyed soul (Amy Winehouse, Adele), and found a pair of willing ears right here.

A handful of collaborators helped shape Rockferry, including Bernard Butler (formerly of Suede), and the album went on to sell over 6.5 million copies worldwide (including nearly 850K in the U.S.). But for her sophomore set, Duffy dismissed that successful team, opting instead to work with just one, songwriter Albert Hammond. Hammond is best known for Whitney Houston’s “One Moment In Time,” the Julio Iglesias-Willie Nelson duet, “To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before,” Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” (the Oscar-nominated theme from Mannequin) and Ace of Base’s “Don’t Turn Around” (penning the last two with Diane Warren).

The full fruits of Duffy and Hammond’s partnership, Endlessly, won’t be revealed for a few weeks (November 21 in the UK, December 7 in the U.S.), but new single, “Well, Well, Well” is out. Her soulful sound is still “Mercy”-fully intact on this stop-and-start track, with The Roots recruited for the horns-centric groove. On first and second (and third) listen, I felt the production was stuffed with too much Duffy and could have used some breathing room (the single’s just shy of three minutes), but I’ve since come around.

I haven’t changed my tune about Duffy’s dress with the center-slit, however:

Purchase Duffy – “Well, Well, Well” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.

When Pink appeared on the scene in early 2000, the former Alecia Moore leaned more R&B with songs like “There You Go,” “Most Girls,” and “You Make Me Sick.” Can’t Take Me Home, her debut album, sold over 2 million copies.

But Pink famously disagreed with what some record-label folks felt was her R&B destiny, so for her next set, 2001’s accurately titled Missundaztood, she went in a pop-rock direction closer to her artistic interests. Switching up her sound and image, she racked up hits “Get This Party Started,” “Don’t Let Me Get Me,” “Just Like A Pill,” and “Family Portrait.” Refusing to be pigeonholed, she veered more punk for 2003’s Try This, collaborating primarily with Rancid’s Tim Armstrong. That rawer-sounding album, with singles “Trouble,” “God Is A DJ,” and “Last To Know,” proved to be her least successful.

For her next full-length, 2006’s I’m Not Dead, Pink worked with pop music’s bold-face names (including Max Martin and Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald), while successfully infusing her still-defiant vibe. First single, “Stupid Girl,” stumbled out of the gate (parody is over the American public’s heads, it seems), but “Who Knew” and “U + Ur Hand” were both top ten hits. Enjoying a creative and commercial resurgance, Pink’s 2008 album, Funhouse, was crafted in a similarly raw/rowdy vein, with singles “So What,” “Sober,” “Please Don’t Leave Me,” “Glitter In The Air,” and the title track. (Plus Pink has proven herself to be a fearless live performer, dazzling audiences around the world.)

With a decade’s worth of music secured under her high-flying harness, Pink will release Greatest Hits… So Far!!! on November 16. The 18-track set includes all of the singles noted above, and adds not only unnecessary exclamation points but also a new version of “Dear Mr. President” (featuring the Indigo Girls) and a trio of brand-new songs co-written with Max Martin.

“Raise Your Glass,” the set’s first single, is a triumphant toast to being “wrong in all the right ways.” So totally and uniquely Pink, it’s a perfect song to mark Ms. Moore’s success in charting her own course in today’s often ridiculous music biz. “Raise Your Glass” has rocketed to #11 in just its second week on the Hot 100:

Purchase Pink – “Raise Your Glass” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.

Canadian singer-songwriter “I’m Like A Bird,” which reached #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Turn Off The Light,” the follow-up, did even better, hitting #5 (helped in part by a remix featuring Timbaland and Ms. Jade). Nominated for four Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Furtado took home the trophy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “I’m Like A Bird.”

A fan from the very start, I loved Furtado’s sophomore album, 2003’s Folklore, and still think the markedly multi-culti set, with its inventive instrumentation and loops, is her very best (check the first track, “One-Trick Pony”). Unfortunately, Folklore basically stiffed, partly due to shifting ownership of Dreamworks Records, the label to which Furtado was signed (after the dust settled, she ended up on Geffen Records’ roster).

After working on new material with previous producers Track & Field, Furtado ultimately recorded her third album, 2005’s Loose, with Timbaland and Nate “Danja” Hills. Furtado took some heat for her new sexy image (often showing off her très-toned midriff), but the shift was met with monster success. “Promiscuous,” the first single, spent six weeks at #1, and Loose sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Follow-up “Maneater” managed only a #16 showing, but still kept Furtado front and center, with her third at-bat, “Say It Right,” again hitting the top spot.

Her 2007 guest shot with Justin Timberlake on Timbaland’s “Give It To Me” (from his Shock Value album), gave her another #1 song. Her next album, 2009’s Mi Plan, was her first full-length all-Spanish affair, paying homage to her Latin roots (Furtado’s parents are Portuguese, and the singer is fluent in both languages). Yesterday, Furtado issued a club version of that album, Mi Plan Remixes.

But the focus here is on her new greatest hits compilation, The Best of Nelly Furtado, coming November 16. The album arrives with three new songs, including first single, “Night Is Young.” I dug the hypnotic track Furtado did with Tiësto last year (“Who Wants To Be Alone,” to be featured on the Deluxe Edition of her best-of), so this club thumper arrives just in time to shake off those fall-to-winter seasonal blahs:

Purchase Nelly Furtado – “Night Is Young” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.