User:Bookkeeperoftheoccult/britneyspears

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Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears first appeared on national television as a contestant on the Star Search program in 1992 and went on to star on the television series The New Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994. After a brief membership with the pop musical group Innosense, Spears signed a recording contract with Jive Records, releasing her debut album ...Baby One More Time in 1999. The album established her as a pop icon and "bona fide pop phenomenon", credited for influencing the revival of teen pop in the late 1990s.

The music video for "...Baby One More Time" and Spears's appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine also established her as an international sex symbol, garnering controversy over the influence of her public image on teenage girls. With the release of In the Zone (2003), Spears became the first artist in the history of Nielsen SoundScan to have her first four consecutive albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200 album charts. Spears's personal life began to gain substantial media attention after her marriage to Kevin Federline in 2004. Their marriage ended two years later, resulting in an ongoing custody battle over their two children, born in 2005 and 2006. Amidst further media scrutiny, Spears released her fifth studio album Blackout in 2007 and began recording her sixth studio album Circus the following year.

Spears is ranked as the eighth best-selling female recording artist in the United States according to the Recording Industry Association of America with 31 million certified albums and one of the world's best-selling music artists having sold an estimated 83 million records worldwide. Spears was named as "Most Searched Person" in the 2007 and 2009 editions of the Guinness World Records.