More than 20 years into her career, Britney Spears still sits on the throne as the Princess of Pop.
The former Mouseketeer burst onto the music scene in 1998 with her debut single, “…Baby One More Time.” After releasing three successful albums, 1999’s …Baby One More Time, 2000’s Oops!… I Did It Again and 2001’s Britney, she made her feature film debut in 2002’s Crossroads. She continued to top the charts with her next two albums, 2003’s In the Zone and 2007’s Blackout, before a series of personal struggles forced her to take some time away from the spotlight.
In 2006, Spears filed for divorce from her husband of two years, Kevin Federline, with whom she shares sons Preston and Jayden. In the months that followed, she made headlines for shaving her head, dating a paparazzo, checking in and out of rehab and ultimately being hospitalized on an involuntary psychiatric hold. A Los Angeles court placed Spears under a conservatorship in 2008, putting her father, Jamie Spears, and an attorney, Andrew Wallet, in control of her personal affairs and her multimillion-dollar estate.
Later that year, the Grammy winner shocked the world when she made one of the biggest comebacks in music history. She released another hit album, Circus, began touring the world again and landed appearances on TV shows including How I Met Your Mother and Glee.
The accomplishments did not stop there either. Following the release of her seventh album, 2011’s Femme Fatale, Britney judged a season of The X Factor in 2012 and secured her own residency in Las Vegas in 2013, paving the way for future headliners including Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera.
Two more albums followed, 2013’s Britney Jean and 2016’s Glory, as did a pair of concert tours that brought the entertainer’s Vegas show, Britney: Piece of Me, around the world. But in 2019, she decided to take some time off again. Britney was still in the news during her indefinite work hiatus, however, as she sought treatment at a mental health facility and went to court in an attempt to take back control of her life from her dad.
After Wallet resigned as co-conservator, the “Gimme More” singer said in 2020 that she was “strongly opposed” to Jamie being in charge. In his place, she requested that a licensed fiduciary, Jodi Montgomery, and a corporate fiduciary, Bessemer Trust, oversee her personal life and her money, respectively. Jamie, on the other hand, continued to fight to stay on the case, as documented in a 2021 episode of The New York Times Presents titled “Framing Britney Spears.”
In September 2021, however, Jamie relinquished his power as conservator of his daughter’s estate. Two months later, Britney finally got her freedom when Judge Brenda Penny terminated the conservatorship after months of a highly publicized back-and-forth between the singer and her family.
“Good God I love my fans so much it’s crazy!!! 🥺❤️,” the “Perfume” songstress wrote via Instagram after news of the ruling broke. “I think I’m gonna cry the rest of the day !!!! Best day ever … praise the Lord … can I get an Amen???? #FreedBritney.”
Keep scrolling for a look back at Britney’s biggest achievements since 2008:
