The essential Britney Spears playlist

In 1998, Britney Spears stormed onto the scene with "Baby One More Time," complete with the iconic music video set in a school. The song was an instant hit, charting at #1 for two weeks, and remains one of the top-selling pop songs ever recorded by a female artist. 

Appearing on Spears's 2008 album "Circus," "Womanizer" is Spears at the height of her powers. The hard-pumping electro-pop beat is infinitely catchy, making the song a club staple long after its release. 

Britney Spears won her first Grammy Award in 2003 with the release of "Toxic," which appears on her fourth full-length album "In The Zone." With its unmistakable melody and a racy music video that was relegated to late-night television, "Toxic" has become a fan favorite among Spears devotees. 

"You want a hot body? You want a Maserati," Spears asks on this 2013 pop smash. "You better work bıtch." It isn't Spears's best vocal performance, but there's no denying that this hit earned massive appeal. Since its release, the song has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, with more than 1 million copies sold. 

The title track from Spears's 2000 sophomore album, the music video for "Oops...I Did It Again" is the definition of iconic. Featuring a scene inspired by the film "Titanic" and Spears in a latex bodysuit, the video earned multiple MTV Video Music Awards nominations after its release, while the song scored Spears a #1 hit in more than a dozen countries. 

In a song that's definitely autobiographical, Britney Spears sings about the publicity circus that was her life in 2008 on "Circus." Demanding "all eyes on me," the lyrics in this song would prove prescient in 2021, as the media circus swirled around her battle to end the decade-long conservatorship controlled by her father. 

Bringing a much different sound and more mellow vibe to her 2000 album "Oops...I Did It Again," "Lucky" is one of those Britney Spears songs that fans look back on with serious questions. It's about the loneliness that comes with fame, which feels like a whole lot like a prediction of what was to come after Spears's conservatorship began. 

The double entendre in this 2008 Spears single isn't exactly easy to spot, but as soon as you hear it, you'll never be able to hear anything else. Some conservative groups threatened to file complaints about the song's "indecency," but the controversy only helped make the song a #1 hit in multiple countries. 

Yet another Britney Spears song that's deeply autobiographical, 2007's "Piece of Me" is an outspoken critique of the paparazzi that hounded Spears for details about her personal life at the height of her fame. It's a staple in Spears's live shows and served as the name of her Las Vegas residency that ran from 2013 to 2017. 

Movie fans might recognize "You Drive Me Crazy," from the similarly-titled 1999 rom-com starring Melissa Joan Hart and Adrien Grenier. But Britney fans recognize it as one of her best bubblegum dance tunes, still perfect for a night out at the club more than 20 years after its release. 

Even though it wasn't as commercially successful as some of Spears's more popular tracks, 2002's "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman" is deeply personal for the artist and has been described by Britney as among her favorites. 

Appearing on Spears's 2011 album "Femme Fatale," Criminal was chosen as one of the album's singles by Britney obsessives. The song found a resurgence in 2020, thanks to a TikTok trend. 

Perhaps you remember that infamous MTV Video Music Awards when Britney Spears performed "I'm A Slave 4 U" with a giant yellow python around her neck? It remains one of Spears's most iconic moments, even if parental concern over its sex-drenched lyrics caused minor controversy. 

Perhaps Britney was trying to tell us something in 2001 when she released "Overprotected," a song about a girl who's suffocating under the overbearing "support" of people around her. The song wasn't a massive success for Spears but is very telling in how it considers Spears's fame and the limitations placed on her because of it. 

Recorded for 2007's "Blackout," "Radar" was actually recorded just one day after Spears filed for divorce from her husband Kevin Federline. Critics panned Spears' auto-tuned vocals, but that didn't stop fans from notching her 21st top-ten hit. 

This saucy track, released in 2011, makes use of classic pick-up lines, including the one from which the title was borrowed. The song debuted at #1 and was so popular that a number of radio websites crashed as fans desperately tried to hear "Hold It Against Me" for the very first time. 

Beginning with the most iconic intro in Spears's repertoire — "It's Britney, bıtch" — "Gimme More" wasn't a critical success, but that didn't stop fans from falling seriously in love with it. 

Britney teamed up with fellow pop icon Madonna for "Me Against The Music," the first single from her 2003 album "In The Zone." A massive dance success, the song was an obvious follow-up to the infamous kiss between Spears and Madonna at the MTV Video Music Awards. 

A bit of a hidden gem from Britney's 1999 debut, "Sometimes" is sweet and vulnerable, a strong contrast to "Baby One More Time." It's still one of her finest vocal performances, even if it lacks the pulsing energy of her bigger hits. 

Co-written by Kesha, "Till The World Ends" was released in 2011, and ultimately got its own remix complete with verses from Kesha and Nicki Minaj. The song was a top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and has sold more than 3 million copies in the United States alone.