Pop stars arent hard to come by, but Britney Spears demonstrates the kind of longevity teenyboppers can only dream of. This Fall, ...Baby One More Time, her first and signature single, turns fifteen. As you take a moment to process the swiftness of time and the futility of life, consider that Britney has managed to survive more ups and downs than your average theme park coaster in an age where stars fade fast. Spears shows no signs of slowing down in 2013 shes enjoying a massive hit aside Will.I.Am on his (admittedly terrible) latest single, fielding rumors of a new album, and courting a potential Vegas concert residency. Whether her critics like it or not, Britney is here to stay, having moved beyond mere pop culture fascination to genuine culture-maker with seven albums and as many as 100 million albums sold worldwide. Baby One More Time is a distant memory, but it leaves in its path a decade and a half of Ms. Spears as the quintessential millennial pop star, providing a great chance to stroll down memory lane and examine the multiple hits shes given us in the time since. These are 15 of her best and here's to at least 15 more in the future.
15. Oops! ...I Did It Again
After her first album, Britney needed to do something big. Her debut, which would eventually sell over 23 million albums worldwide, and its massive lead single had set the bar pretty high. But just a year and a half later, Britney delivered with another bubblegum pop classic. The song furthered Britneys growing image and helped her second album sell 1.3 million albums in its first week, which remains the highest first week sales figure of any female artist in history. The phrase also immediately drove its way into the public conscious and opened the floodgates for journalists around the world to use it as a title for every article concerning her for the next decade. Oops, she did it again.