Britney Spears

The Red Hot Chili Peppers weren't kidding when they said Catholic schoolgirls rule. Just ask anyone immediately stunned by Britney Spears as she strutted onto the pop scene in knee-highs with her hit debut single, ". . . Baby One More Time." The former Mouseketeer has stayed under the spotlight for nearly a decade, too, by applying her trademark "what a tease!" vocals to the in-demand productions of Swedish pop mastermind Max Martin (the shoe-shine synths of "Oops! . . . I Did It Again"), the Neptunes (the moonlit, masochistic techno of "I'm a Slave 4 U"), and the Matrix (the funky, relentless "Me Against the Music," also featuring everyone's favourite Material Girl). Be forewarned: You'll be saying, "Oops, I played it again . . . and again" once we're done sharing our Next Steps.

More than a proven Top 40 presence with a string of hit singles, Britney Spears has been a certified pop-culture phenomenon since her trailblazing beginnings in the late '90s. That's what happens when ravenous pop fans follow your every move alongside the bursting flashbulbs of an ever-present paparazzi. And who can blame them when Spears' chart-conquering music manages to match her knee-knocking presence, from the coming-of-age cut "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" to a creamy Balearic cut of "Someday (I Will Understand)." That's not even counting Junkie XL's glitter-ball remix of "And Then We Kiss," a convincing argument for dropping Britney into a disco inferno.

My, how our Britney has grown. And we mean our in every sense of the word, as Ms. Spears has impacted the lives of everyone from indie kids to tweeners to soccer moms over the course of the past decade, whether they're fans or simply can't stop humming "Toxic." How does she do it? By staying in the headlines and our hearts (not to mention the charts) with her endearingly eccentric personality and a shape-shifting sound that's Swedish and sweet one second and banging/dance-floor-bound the next. No wonder Moby, Madonna, the Matrix, R. Kelly, the Neptunes, and former beau Justin Timberlake have all agreed to work with her. And we've got a good feeling she's got a lot more collaborations in the works. Stay tuned . . .