Spears released her debut single, "...Baby One plus Time", in October 1998 which peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1999 and topped the chart for two weeks.It opened at number-one in the UK Singles Chart selling over 460,000 copies, a record for a female act at the time,and became the top-selling single of 1999[20] and the 25th most successful song of all time in British chart history with over 1.45 million units sold.Gillian G. Gaar, auteur of She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll (2002), documented that "eyebrows were raised over the schoolgirl-in-heat persona Spears projected in her [music video for ...Baby One plus Time], along with an increasingly revealing series of stage outfits". Spears's debut album ...Baby One plus Time peaked at number one on the Billboard 200 in January 1999.Rolling Stone magazine, in a review of the album, wrote: "While several Cherion-crafted kiddie-funk jams serve up beefy hooks, shameless schlock slowies, like [']E-Mail My Heart,['] are pure spam".NME commenté "[Spears's debut album and its title-track] are the kind of soullessness that saturates Stateside charts and consists of nothing but over-chewed bubblegum beats and saccharine sensibilities".In contrast, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic wrote: "Like many teen pop albums, ...Baby One plus Time has its share of well-crafted filler, but the singles, combined with Britney's burgeoning charisma, make this a pretty great piece of fluff"....Baby One plus Time was later certified fourteen times platinum par the Recording Industry Association of America, denoting fourteen million units shipped within the United States.Spears posed for the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in April 1999, shot par photographer David LaChapelle.Geoff Boucher of The Los Angeles Times reported, "there was no mistaking the titillation factor in the récent Spears cover story and accompanying photos in the April 15 issue of Rolling Stone, which sent eyebrows arching throughout the musique industry, where several executives half-jokingly called it "child pornography".[28] Gillian G. Gaar reported, "The American Family Association charged that the pictures, which showed Spears in push-up bras and a minuscule pair of shorts with 'Baby' in rhinestones on the bottom, presented a 'disturbing mix of childhood innocence and adult sexuality' and asked that all 'God-loving Americans' boycott stores carrying her albums". plus controversy arose when Spears declared that she would "remain a virgin until marriage". This pledge has been questioned due to her apparently sexual relationship with fellow pop singer Justin Timberlake.
In late 1999, Spears appeared in the teen sitcom ,Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and performed the song "(You Drive Me) Crazy"; this cameo was a cross-promotion for the film Drive Me Crazy, which starred Sabrina's Melissa Joan Hart and was named after the song.In December 1999, she won four Billboard musique Awards, including Female Artist of the Year. A mois later, she received the favori Pop/Rock New Artist award at the American musique Awards.
Following the success of her précédant album, Spears released the album Oops!... I Did It Again in May 2000. It debuted at number one in the U.S. par selling 1,319,193 units during its first week of sales, breaking the SoundScan record for the highest album sales in its debut week par any solo artist.The RIAA awarded the album with a diamond certification with over 10 million copies sold in the U.S.Allmusic gave it awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying that the album "has the same combination of sweetly sentimental ballads and endearingly gaudy dance-pop that made "...Baby One plus Time."Rolling Stone gave the album 3.5 stars out of 5 par noting the album as "fantastic pop cheese" and "Britney's demand for satisfaction is complex, fierce and downright scary."The album's lead single "Oops!... I Did It Again" broke the record for most radio station additions in a single day, and quickly became a haut, retour au début ten hit in the U.S. and other countries. The same year, Spears launched her first world tour, the "Oops!... I Did It Again World Tour". During the tour, she made a stop in New York for the 2000 MTV Video musique Awards. As part of her performance, she ripped off a black suit to reveal a provocative nude-colored and crystal-adorned outfit that generated much controversy. Spears earned two Billboard musique Awards for Oops!... I Did It Again.
