Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album ...Baby One More Time in 1999. During her first decade within the music industry, she became a prominent figure in mainstream popular music and popular culture, followed by a much-publicized personal life. Her first two albums established her as a pop icon and broke sales records, while title tracks "...Baby One More Time" and "Oops!... I Did It Again" became international number-one hits. Spears was credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s.

In 2001, she released her third studio album Britney and expanded her brand, playing the starring role in the film Crossroads. She assumed creative control of her fourth studio album, In the Zone released in 2003, which yielded chart-topping singles "Me Against the Music", "Toxic" and "Everytime". After the release of two compilation albums, Spears experienced personal struggles and her career went under hiatus. Her fifth studio album, Blackout, was released in 2007 and despite receiving little promotion, it spawned hits "Gimme More" and "Piece of Me". In 2008, her erratic behaviour and hospitalizations caused her to be placed in a conservatorship. The same year, her sixth studio album Circus was released, with the global chart-topping lead single "Womanizer". After embarking on The Circus Starring Britney Spears, she released greatest hits The Singles Collection, which featured U.S. and Canadian number-one single "3".

Spears has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists in the history of contemporary music. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she is the eighth top-selling female artist in the United States, with 32 million certified albums. Spears is also recognized as the best-selling female artist of the first decade of the 21st century, as well as the fifth overall. She was ranked the 8th Artist of the 2000–10 decade by Billboard. In June 2010, Spears was ranked sixth on Forbes list of the 100 Most Powerful and Influential celebrities in the world; she is also the third most mentioned musician in the world.

On February 2, 2011, Spears confirmed that her seventh studio album, titled Femme Fatale, will be released on March 15, 2011.Femme Fatale had been in development for two years, with Jive Records previously confirming that Spears had begun recording material in March 2010. Max Martin and Dr. Luke are set to be the executive producers. Luke stated that he wanted the sound to "get harder" in different ways "and maybe a little more deep into electronic – grimier." Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Darkchild, Stargate, Fraser T. Smith, and Bloodshy & Avant will all be producing songs on the album. There will be a "major TV event" to promote the album. On December 2, 2010, Spears announced via her Twitter account that the album will be released in March 2011. The lead single "Hold It Against Me" was premiered on Ryan Seacrest's radio show on January 10, 2011. It was released as a digital download exclusively to the iTunes store on January 11, 2011. "Hold It Against Me" deubuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 with digital sales of 411,000, making her the second artist in history to have two songs debut at number one on the chart, after Mariah Carey."Hold It Against Me" is Spears's second consecutive number-one single, giving her a total of four number-one singles in the U.S.