Britney's first truly biographical hit, with songs like Piece of Me and Overprotected soon to follow. Lucky is early noughties pop at its most innocent, showing the purer side of Britney that would soon be forgotten a few albums down the line. Lucky was one of my favourites on release, and is the first track in my top 20.
A song that never made it onto the UK singles chart, mainly due to the video shoot being cancelled following Britney's leg injury, Outrageous is one of the standout songs of In The Zone. As dirty as Slave 4 U, but with tribal production, its a song most people wouldn't place on such a Britney countdown. Lyrics that live up the title make this one of her best Dance jams.
In stark contrast to the previous song, Everytime is one of only 2 Britney ballads to make it onto my list. She's always seemed much more comfortable with a thumping bassline behind her, but the final track of In The Zone proved that Britney could pull off a record with a simple piano accompaniment. She made it into a hit too, Everytime being her last UK number 1 song.
Probably the entry that will surprise most people, I don't consider ...Baby to be Britney's best song. It launched her music career, and is deservedly one of the biggest selling Pop tracks ever, but while I do still enjoy the iconic video it just isn't one of my favourites. It's still the 'perfect' pop song, and without it we wouldn't have a chart full of Pop acts like Katy Perry and Ke$ha, its always a guilty pleasure too.
The first track with a featured artist on this list, the album version of Boys was great to begin with before Pharrel jumped on it. The single version thankfully ditches the key change of the original, but Boys is sis probably the funkiest hit in Britney's collection. It also created one of her most iconic 'talky bits' in the eternally relevant 'Get Nasty'.
Stronger is one those of those Britney records which could never be sang by anyone else without sounding horrid. Her vocal here is one of my favourites of her career, the nasally 'Hush Just Stop' making it My favourite Britney song to sing on Karaoke. It was a huge step forward for her musically, into a more mature sounding Britney, and I so often forget that it came from her second album (an album that also contained the early 'classic' Dear Diary).
The newest song in this chart, Hold It Against Me was the perfect way to introduce Femme Fatale (ie. Britney's second best album) to the world. From the thumping Bassline, the incredible vocal delivery of 'Hazey', to the dubstep breakdown that would on to become the main sound of the album, Hold It Against Me has enough energy to match any of Britney's older hits.
The second, and best ballad on this list, Someday is hands down the best vocal of Britney's career. Genuinely heartfelt, and with little to no computer trickery adjusting her voice proves that she does have actual vocal talent. It's also the best writing the star has ever done, written solely by Britney herself as a tribute to her then unborn first child. It may not have made an impact on the charts, but in my books, Someday is the sort of ballad every Britney album deserves.
I've listened to various Britney compilations over the weeks leading up to Femme Fatale's release, and Do Somethin' has unexpectedly become the track I most look forward to. Whether it's because I never gave it enough credit upon release, or just that it's a great song I don't know. What I do know is that Do Somethin' is yet another outstanding Bloodshy and Avant production, both intense and frantic throughout, two things that can push Britney to the limit.
I really wanted to put this in my top 10, but the song that despite being one of her best is associated with the worst moment of Britney's career finds itself at number 11. I will go on record to say that Gimme More is the 2nd most danceable song in this list, a feat that is highly acclaimed when it comes to Britney. As the opening to her best album, Gimme More gives you that feeling of being in a club, and without this song, we wouldn't have her most iconic phrase since her first song; 'It's Britney Bitch'.
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