People keep waiting for Britney to be over. We’ve seen so many pretenders to her throne come and go. You’re guaranteed to disagree, especially when you get to “Dear Diary.” Some of these songs are classics some are total disasters one is “E-Mail My Heart.” But let’s face it - they’re never boring. Every fan would compile a different list - that’s the beauty of it. The songs on this list aren’t ranked by commercial success, just the level of Britney splendor. She deserves to be celebrated as one of history’s boldest pop visionaries, not just a case study in celebrity. I get why you might have issues with calling it “brilliance,” but I do not happen to share those issues - she’s on her own Mount Olympus of brilliance, and always has been. She’s always made the fizziest, splashiest, bestest pop tunes of the moment. Sorry, but that’s just not credible, given the freakishly consistent sicker-than-the-remix excellence of her artistry. Yet it’s still so taboo to give her credit for her actual music, because people want to pretend she’s some kind of innocent bystander on her own hits. These days, people love to argue about Britney - her scandals, her controversies, her brave fight for independence. No matter how many times she gets written off as a joke, she always surges back, stronger than yesterday. It’s been a long-running kick to see her keep evolving, from MTV teen princess to Vegas diva to avant-disco pioneer. (How she laughed at me when I told her “Satisfaction” should be a single! Well, you called that one right, B.)īut she’s one of the most influential, innovative pop savants ever, with a massive impact on how music sounds now. I got used to people telling me how wrong I was to praise her records to the skies - hell, Britney was one of those people. “E-Mail My Heart.” All of it.Īs Rolling Stone’s resident Britney expert since the TRL days, I’ve been writing raves about her brilliant music since “…Baby One More Time” was her only song. The deep cuts, B-sides, bonus tracks, covers, duets, loosies, soda commercials. And let’s break it down: all 170 Britney songs, counted from the bottom to the top. But of all the gifts Britney Spears has given this planet, it’s her music that comes first. It’s crazy how we’re nearly 25 years into the Britney Era, yet people still underrate her artistic impact, because they fixate on her image or her fashion. The woman who’s built up one of the all-time great pop songbooks, even as the world keeps trying to dismiss her as a fluke.

All hail the pop queen: It’s Britney, bitch.

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