Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she is widely regarded as one of the most influential entertainers of the 21st century. Her impact on pop music—particularly her role in reviving teen pop—and energetic stage performances contributed to her success.
Spears began her career in 1992 as a cast member for the musical Ruthless! and the final two seasons of The All-New Mickey Mouse Club television series before signing with Jive Records in 1997. Her debut single, "...Baby One More Time", was her first US Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper and one of the best-selling singles in history. Spears became the best-selling teenage artist of all time with the best-selling albums ...Baby One More Time (1999) and Oops!... I Did It Again (2000), as well as Britney (2001), her 21st-century bestseller. After starring in the film Crossroads (2002), she released the albums In the Zone (2003) and Blackout (2007). The former included the single "Toxic", which won the Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Recording.
Facing lifelong public scrutiny and a much-publicized emotional breakdown, Spears was placed under a controversial conservatorship in 2008. During this period, she recorded Circus (2008) and Femme Fatale (2011) for Jive, and Britney Jean (2013) and Glory (2016) for RCA Records. With the singles "Womanizer", "3", and "Hold It Against Me", she became the third woman to top the Billboard Hot 100 in three separate decades. Spears withdrew from regular concert touring in 2019 to focus on her conservatorship case, leading to its dissolution in 2021, after she publicly testified against her family and management for maltreatment. She announced her departure from the music industry in 2024, and sold her music catalogue for a reported $200 million in 2026.
Spears is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of over 150 million records. Forbes named her as the world's highest-paid female musician in 2000 and 2012. She was ranked among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time (2021) and the greatest pop stars of the 21st century by Billboard (2023). Her accolades include one Grammy Award, six MTV Video Music Awards (including the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award), seven Billboard Music Awards and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Spears has launched numerous products, with her 2005 fragrance Fantasy with Elizabeth Arden, Inc. generating over $1.5 billion in sales by 2011. Her life and career were the subject of the documentary Framing Britney Spears (2021) and memoir The Woman in Me (2023).
