Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer and entertainer. Born in Mississippi and raised in Louisiana, Spears first appeared on national television in 1992 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993 to 1994. In 1997, Spears signed a recording contract with Jive, releasing her debut album ...Baby One More Time in 1999. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and has sold over 25 million copies worldwide. Her success continued with the release of her sophomore album, Oops!... I Did It Again in 2000, which established her as a pop icon and credited for influencing the revival of teen pop in the late 1990s.
In 2001, she released Britney and played the starring role in the film Crossroads. She assumed creative control of her fourth studio album, In the Zone released in 2003, which made her the only female artist of the Nielsen Soundscan era to have her first four albums debut at number one. Her fifth studio album, Blackout was released in 2007. Her sixth studio album, Circus released in 2008, also debuted at number one in the Billboard 200 albums chart with the hit single Womanizer which is Spears second song to peaked at number one on Billboard Hot 100 in over 10 years. In the late 2009, Spears released The Singles Collection which include Spears third number one hit single entitled 3.
According to Zomba Label Group and Sony Music, Spears has sold over 85 million records worldwide. On December 11, 2009 Billboard Magazine named Spears the second-best selling Act of the 2000s, solely based on album sales as well as the 8th overall best Act of the decade based on album sales, chart success, and cultural relativity.. She is ranked as the eighth best-selling female recording artist in the U.S. with 32 million copies of her albums certified by the RIAA, and is currently the fifth best-selling artist act of the decade in the country, as well as the top-selling female artist. Spears is also ranked by Forbes 2009 issue as the 13th most powerful celebrity, and with earnings of over $35 million dollars in 2009, the 2nd-highest earning young musician of the year. According to Billboard, Spears is the second best selling artist of the decade in America and has four of her albums in the top 20 biggest opening week album of the decade.
