One of the most controversial and successful female vocalists of the 2000s, Britney Spears (along with the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync) spearheaded the rise of post-millennial teen pop. She then spearheaded what looked like her own demise, with her questionable parenting, substance abuse and generally bizarre behavior becoming constant tabloid fodder. But as the 2000s closed, Spears seemed to have righted her ship and still held much of her popular appeal. A former child actress (she, like Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera, was a regular on "The New Mickey Mouse Club" from 1993-94), Spears early on cultivated a mixture of innocence and experience that generated lots of cash. Her first single, " . . . Baby One More Time," paired a vaguely S&M lyric (the ellipse follows the words "Hit me") with a fluffy, Europop-style big beat, and a video in which the singer paraded around in a Catholic schoolgirl outfit. Released in late 1998, it went to Number One, and the album of the same name, issued in January 1999, followed suit, debuting in the top spot. . . . Baby One More Time delivered further hits in "Sometimes" (Number 21, 1999), "(You Drive Me) Crazy" (Number 10, 1999) and "From the Bottom of My Broken Heart" (Number 14, 2000). Wasting little time, Spears, who was born December 2nd, 1981 in McComb, Mississippi, and her producers and writers — a team that included Swedish hitmaker Max Martin — returned in 2000 with Oops! . . . I Did It Again (Number One, 2000), whose title smash (Number Nine, 2000) made the titillation of her debut even more explicit, with a the chorus that insisted, "I'm not that innocent." Further hits from Oops included "Lucky" (Number 23, 2000) and "Stronger" (Number 11, 2000). Spears' third album, Britney (Number One, 2001), delivered smaller hits, this time emphasizing raunchiness without coyness, particularly on the Neptunes-produced "I'm a Slave 4 U" (Number 27, 2001), featuring a greased-up Spears moving in a more bluntly sexual direction than ever — a maneuver made even more bold-faced when Spears French-kissed Madonna during a performance on the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2003. (At the same event two years before she writhed with an albino python.) Britney was also a maturity move on the artist's part: she helped write five of its songs and issued the image-conscious "Overprotected" as a single (Number 86, 2002). In 2002, Spears hit the big screen in Crossroads, a movie that was panned by critics but still drew her fans to theaters. In November 2003, Spears released her fourth album, In the Zone (Number One), whose first single, "Me Against the Music," featured a cameo by the woman she'd famously kissed on TV. Despite Spears' and Madonna's combined star power, the song only got to Number 35. Spears fared better with ballad "Everytime" (Number 15, 2004) and especially "Toxic" (Number 9, 2004), which won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording and spawned cover versions by rock bands. The album featured a mix of producers, including Moby, Bloodshy and Avant, R. Kelly and the Matrix. Spears capped her early career with Greatest Hits: My Prerogative (Number Four, 2004), featuring a defensive-sounding cover of the Bobby Brown hit; she next released the time-buying B in the Mix: The Remixes (Number 134, 2005) while pondering her next move. By this point, Spears had become more of a tabloid celebrity than a pop star. She'd dated Justin Timberlake for four years (1998-2002), and he'd featured a Britney look-alike in his video for the single "Cry Me a River," implying their break-up was due to infidelity on her end. She was involved in a disastrous restaurant in New York, Nyla, which closed shop within a year. In January 2004 she married a childhood friend, Jason Alexander (not the Seinfeld actor) in a quickie Las Vegas ceremony; it was annulled within three days. That September she married again, this time to dancer and aspiring rapper Kevin Federline, who would later record a widely panned rap album; the pair starred in a reality show for UPN called Britney & Kevin: Chaotic that chronicled their raunchy relationship via home-video footage shot while Spears was on the European leg of her Onyx Hotel Tour. Spears hurt her leg during the filming of the video for In the Zone's "Outrageous," which featured Snoop Dogg, and had to cancel the rest of that tour. Shortly afterwards, she and Federline had a son, Sean Preston; just shy of one year later, she gave birth again, to Jayden James. Two months later, in November 2007, Spears filed for divorce. Celebrity weeklies pounced on the news of Spears' domestic breakdown, and the paparazzi, who had always closely tailed the star, amped up their coverage of Spears. Everything from her parenting to alleged substance-abuse issues made headlines, and after a brief stint as Paris Hilton's party buddy, Spears spent one night at an overseas drug-rehabilitation facility before flying back to California, where she stopped at a hair salon and shaved her own head in full view of paparazzi cameras. As she continued to battle with Federline over custody of their two sons, Spears returned to rehab, this time for a month, under the advisement of her parents and longtime manager, Larry Rudolph. When she emerged, Spears cut ties with Rudolph and others who had urged her to seek professional help, and began to act erratically in public, hooking up with a paparazzo named Adnan Ghalib, and spending time with a new manager figure named Sam Lutfi. In October 2007, Spears released her fifth studio album, Blackout (Number Two), which was mostly produced by Nate "Danja" Hills, the Timbaland protégé. Though she barely promoted the album, it generated the first-single smash "Gimme More" (Number Three, 2007) and the paparazzi kiss-off "Piece of Me" (Number 18), as well as "Break the Ice" (Number 43, 2008). Expectations were high for Spears' return to the MTV Video Music Awards stage the month before the album's release, but Spears' show-opening performance of "Gimme More" was seen as a disaster that failed to feature Spears' signature dancing skills. In January 2008, Spears refused to relinquish her sons to Federline's bodyguards and barricaded herself in her Los Angeles home. After being hospitalized twice in psychiatric wards, her divorced parents — who she had shunned since her month-long stay in rehab — returned to her life and her father, Jamie, was granted legal conservatorship of her affairs. In the months following, Spears appeared to tame her wild ways and was once again granted visits with her children (Federline won custody in October 2007). She made two appearances on the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, and returned to the studio to work on tracks for her sixth album. Circus arrived on Spears' 27th birthday and debuted at Number One in 2008. The album's high-profile release was preceded by a documentary called Britney: For the Record that aired on MTV and examined Spears' experience grappling with fame and preparing to return to the spotlight. Circus included the buzzing first single "Womanizer" (Number One, 2008), the title track (Number Three, 2008) — which addressed the public's never-ending fascination with watching Britney — and "If U Seek Amy," a saucy uptempo with a Rated R chorus (say the title fast). Danja returned as a producer, along with Max Martin, Bloodshy and Avant and Guy Sigsworth. In March 2009, Spears hit the road for the first time since her aborted 2004 outing on the Big Top-themed The Circus Starring Britney Spears tour. Spears faced widespread criticism for lip-synching onstage, but completed the nearly 100-date jaunt — one of the top-grossing tours of 2009 — without major incident. Spears released her third compilation, The Singles Collection (Number 22, 2009), to mark a decade in the record industry. The disc featured one new song, "3" (Number One, 2009), which strived to cement Spears' commitment to controversial lyrics (the track describes the singer's apparent proclivity for threesomes). Spears didn't do press to promote the album's release, and remained uncharacteristically quiet since the conclusion of her Circus tour.

2011–12: Femme Fatale and The X Factor

Spears performing "Gimme More" at the Femme Fatale Tour, July 2011.

In March 2011, Spears released her seventh studio album Femme Fatale. The album peaked at number one in the United States, Canada, and Australia, and peaked inside the top ten on nearly every other chart. Its peak in the United States ties Britney with Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson for the third-most number ones among women. It has sold 1,000,000 copies in the United States and 2.2 million worldwide, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. The album's lead single "Hold It Against Me" debuted at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Spears's fourth number-one single on the chart and making her the second artist in history to have two consecutive singles debut at number-one, after Mariah Carey. The second single "Till The World Ends" reached peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in May, while the third single "I Wanna Go" reached number seven in August. Femme Fatale became Spears's first album in which three of its songs reached the top ten of the chart. The fourth and final single "Criminal" was released in September 2011. The music video caused controversy when British politicians criticized Spears for using replica guns while filming the video in an area of London that had been badly affected by the 2011 England riots. Spears's management briefly responded, stating, "The video is a fantasy story featuring Britney's boyfriend, Jason Trawick, which literally plays out the lyrics of a song written three years before the riots ever happened." In April 2011, Spears appeared in a remix of Rihanna's song "S&M". It reached number one in the US later in the month, giving Spears her fifth number one on the chart. On Billboard's 2011 Year-End list, Spears was ranked number fourteen on the Artists of the Year, thirty-two on Billboard 200 artists and ten on Billboard Hot 100 artists.

In June 2011, Spears embarked on the Femme Fatale Tour. The tour received positive reviews from many critics, however in response to lip-synching accusations during The Circus Starring Britney Spears many have suggested that Britney continued to do so, but with recorded vocals. The first ten dates of the tour grossed $6.2 million, landing the fifty-fifth spot on Pollstar's Top 100 North American Tours list for the half-way point of the year. The tour ended on December 10, 2011 in Puerto Rico after 79 performances. The DVD of the tour was eventually released in November 2011 In August 2011, Spears received the MTV Video Vanguard Award on 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. The next month, she released her second remix album, B in the Mix: The Remixes Vol. 2. In December, Spears became engaged to her long-time boyfriend Jason Trawick, who had formerly been her agent. Trawick became a co-conservator of Spears, alongside her father, in April 2012. In January 2013, Spears and Trawick ended their engagement. Trawick was also removed as Spears's co-conservator, restoring her father as the sole conservator.

In May 2012, Spears was hired to replace Nicole Scherzinger as a judge for the second season of the American version of The X Factor, joining Simon Cowell, L.A. Reid and fellow new judge Demi Lovato, who replaced Paula Abdul. With a reported salary of $15 million, she became the highest-paid judge on a singing competition series in television history. She mentored the Teens category; her final act, Carly Rose Sonenclar, was named the runner-up of the season. Spears did not return for the show's third season and was replaced by Kelly Rowland. Also in 2012, Spears was featured on will.i.am's "Scream & Shout", which was released as a single from his fourth studio album, #willpower (2013). The song later became Spears's sixth number one single on the UK Singles Chart and peaked at #3 on US Billboard Hot 100. In December,Forbes magazine named her music's top-earning woman of 2012, with estimated earnings of $58 million.

2013–present: Britney Jean and Britney: Piece of Me

Spears began work on her eighth studio album in December 2012, and enlisted will.i.am as its executive producer in May 2013. On September 17, 2013, she appeared on Good Morning America to announce her two-year residency show at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, titled Britney: Piece of Me. It began on December 27, 2013, and will include a total of 100 shows throughout 2014 and 2015. During the same appearance, Spears announced that her eighth studio album Britney Jean would be released on December 3, 2013, in the United States. It was released through RCA Records due to the disbandment of Jive Records. Furthermore, Britney Jean became Spears's final project under her original recording contract with RCA, which had guaranteed the release of eight studio albums. The record received a low amount of promotion and commercial impact, reportedly due to contractual obligations for Britney: Piece of Me. Upon its release, the record debuted at number four on the U.S. Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 107,000 copies, becoming her lowest-peaking and lowest-selling album in the United States. Britney Jean debuted at number 34 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 12,959 copies in its first week. In doing so, it became Spears's lowest-charting and lowest-selling album in the country.

"Work Bitch" was released as the lead single from Britney Jean on September 16, 2013, one day earlier than expected after being leaked online. It debuted and peaked at number 12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The second single "Perfume" was premiered on November 3, two days earlier than originally announced. It debuted and peaked at number 76 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. During the production of Britney Jean, Spears recorded the song "Ooh La La" for the soundtrack of The Smurfs 2 earlier in 2013. In October 2013, she was featured as a guest vocalist on Miley Cyrus' track "SMS (Bangerz)", taken from her fourth studio album Bangerz (2013). It debuted in the Billboard charts, at number 10 in US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles, number 29 in the US Pop Digital Singles, and number 70 in the US Hot Digital Songs, respectively. On January 8, 2014, Spears won Favorite Pop Artist at the 40th People's Choice Awards at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles.