All this cross-marketing obviously paid off, as Baby One More Time's first single (the title track) went to No. 1, and the album also debuted in the top spot on the Billboard charts, making Britney the youngest female artist in Billboard history to have her first single and first album go to No. 1 in the same week.

With cutesy song titles like "Soda Pop," "Email My Heart" and "Born To Make You Happy"--not to mention appearances in McDonald's commercials and Tommy Hilfiger print ads--it was easy to dismiss Britney Spears as a pretty puppet whose sole purpose in the mega-marketing food chain was to push products of any kind, be they record albums, Big Macs, or various pieces of merchandise bearing her perky blonde likeness. HOWEVER, Britney proved her initial success was no fluke with Oops! I Did It Again. Spurred on by the hit title track, the album entered the album chart at No. 1, setting a new record for single-week sales by a female artist in the process. A string of hit singles followed, including "Lucky," "Stronger" and "Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know," pushing the album to sales of an incredible 9 million copies.

With the release of 2001's "Britney", Britney Spears is at the transition stage where she would like to shake off her teenbopper image into a more sexy singer. Her first single off the album, "I'm A Slave 4 U" suggested just that and with this album, her fans saw a very different side of Britney - sexy seductress! Although the album sales wasn't as good as her previous 2 albums, it still sold an impressive an estimated 4.5 million copies in American and landing itself in the Top 10 of Billboard Chart Year-End list.

In February of 2002, Spears starred in her first major motion picture, Crossroads, bringing her back to her roots in acting. Playing a young woman named Lucy who embarks on an adventurous road trip with three friends in search of a mother who abandoned her at a young age, Spears suavely tied-in the release of the film with several singles from her 2001 recording Britney. Though her fan base showed up in droves, that wasn't enough to make Crossroads a hit, and critics not surprisingly lambasted the film as sentimental and exploitative.

Prior to the release of her fourth album in the fall of 2003, Britney again made headlines when she played tongue tag with Madonna during an opening tribute to the Material Mom at the 2003 MTV Music Video Awards. Madonna returned the favor by appearing on the recording and in the video of "Me Against The Music," the first single from Spears's In The Zone. The album hit the top spot in the Billboard Chart, making Britney the first female artiste to have 4 consecutive No.1 albums. The second single, "Toxic" was a huge smash, giving Britney her very first Radio No.1 hit since "OOps! I Did It Again" way back in 2000. After the success of "Toxic", Britney slows things down with a beautiful ballad, "Everytime". "Everytime" is already doing very well stateside and it is set to be Britney's most successful ballad.

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