Britney Spears: So Many Accomplishments,
One Of The Best Popstars Of Our Time
This article was orginally posted on May 11, 2005
Who knew when Britney Spears came out with her debut album “…Baby One More Time” that she would become one of the best popstar’s on the planet with so many accomplishments, blowing other popstars out of the water? Well, Britney has.
Her debut “…Baby One More Time” debuted at number 1 on Canadian and U.S. charts. In The U.S., it stayed there for six weeks. The single with the same name went number 1 world-wide, including the U.S. and U.K. Spears broke the record for the youngest artist, at age 17, to have his or her first single reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with “…Baby One More Time”. Spears also broke the record for the youngest artist, at age 17, to have his or her first single and first album simultaneously reach #1 on the Billboard charts. Her album later gave hits like “Sometimes” (top 30), “(You Drive Me) Crazy” ,and “From The Bottom Of My Broken Heart” (top 20). ” Born To Make You Happy”, was released outside the US and went to #1 in the UK. The album …Baby One More Time is to date the best-selling album by a teenager, with over 14 million copies sold in the US and over 22 million worldwide. It is the 24th best selling album in the U.K. ever!
Her follow-up album, Oops!… I Did It Again, released on May 16, 2000, also debuted at #1 in the US and Canada, and was a similarly huge hit. It sold over 1.3 million units its first week in the US, making it the fastest-selling album by a female artist. The album has sold over 10 million copies in the US alone and over 18 million worldwide. Singles off the album include “Oops…I “id It Again”, which was a top 10 hit in the US and a #1 in several countries around the world, the top 30 “Lucky” and the top 20 “Stronger”. Another single, “Don’t Let Me Be The Last To Know” was also released, but failed to achieve much success.
Following the success of her first two albums, Spears’ career skyrocketed, and a multimillion-dollar spokesperson ads came up. Her most popular ads were for Pepsi, for which she earned a reported $7-$8 million. During this time, Spears also branched out as an author by co-writing a novel with her mother Lynne called Britney Spears’ Heart to Heart. She also released the follow-up novel; this one was called “A Mother’s Gift”.
Her next album, Britney, was released in November 2001, and again debuted at #1 on both the US and Canadian charts, selling over 740,000 units its first week in the US. This made her the only female artist in SoundScan history to have her first three albums debut at #1. The top 30 hit “I’m A Slave 4 U”, was produced by The Neptunes. Other singles included “I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman”, “Overprotected”, “Boys”, and “I Love Rock ‘N Roll”. Though these tracks did well internationally, they all failed to make much of a stir on US radio (due to a problem with ClearChannel). Over 4.5 million copies of Britney have been sold in the US alone, and the album went on to sell over 11 million copies worldwide. She then starred in Crossroad, which went to number 2 at the box office and making over $100 million.
Her fourth album, In the Zone, was released in November, 2003. The album took in lesser-known producers such as RedZone, as well as such big names as Moby and R. Kelly. Spears co-wrote eight of the album’s thirteen songs. Zone rose straight to the top of the US album charts in its debut week, making Spears the only female in music history to have her first four albums debut at #1. The album’s first single, “Me Against the Music” only went top 40 in the US, though it was a #1 hit in many other countries around the world. “Toxic”, became a worldwide and #1 hit in over twenty different countries, and went to number 9 in the U.S. “Everytime” was only a top 20 hit in the US, it was a #1 hit overseas in such countries as the UK and Australia. In The Zone, however, has sold over 3 million copies in the US and close to 8 million copies worldwide. The day before the release of In The Zone, Spears received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Her tour, The Onyx Hotel Tour, grossed over $34 million dollars and was seen by over 600,000 fans in North America and Europe. It ended up being one of the best selling tours of the year. If not cancelled, it would have easily been very close to being the top selling tour of 2004. This is not including her other huge money-making amazing tours. In September 2004, Forbes estimated Spears’ net worth at $125 million USD.
She released her first hits collection, Greatest Hits: My Prerogative, on November 9, 2004. The album debuted at #4 in the US charts, selling over 255,000 copies in its first week of release. As of Spring 2005, the set has sold over 1 million copies in the US and over 5 million copies worldwide. Spears also notched up the biggest-selling first week for a greatest hits compilation by a female artist in UK chart history (115,341 copies), smashing the first-week sales of previous high-profile collections from Whitney Houston, Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Céline Dion, Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson and Shania Twain. This is also not bad in the U.S. A recent Greatest Hits album by Mandy Moore failed to make top 20.
She then released her first fragrance, “Curious”, in September. “Curious” is currently ranked the #1 fragrance in department stores. The fragrance had the biggest debut in sales in history from Elizabeth Arden. Spears is expected to earn a reported $12 million from the fragrance. In addition, the scent ended up as the #1 fragrance of 2004 in department stores, and in 2005, “Curious” was honored by the Fragrance Foundation, naming it Best Women’s Fragrance.
Her 50+ awards she has one including the best, A Grammy, for “Toxic” as Best Dance Recording. She was also nominated for 6 other Grammy’s.
Her Video’s and DVD’s together sold over 14X platinium. 4 of the 6 went to #1 in the U.S.
She is the best-selling female artist of the still-running decade and century and has sold a RIAA-certified 32 million albums in the US and 75 millions worldwide.
No matter what Britney does next with her career, she can never be called a flop. She is one of the best selling popstars ever, and better than all of the compitition!
Contributed anonymously on popdirt.com
