The reason why there hasn't been a bigger peak than Britney's peak

[YannFrance]

It's a different era, you can't compare with nowadays when everything is accessible immediatly.

[Theo04t]

We should also count that dramas nowadays are so different

Nowadays the only dramas that exist are things related to not being 1000% politically correct. For example, if somebody makes a joke that can be interpreted in a racist/homophobic/transphobic/****** way it will blow up and cause controversy, but if it is something different from those things people just won't care

[Leolileinstein]

Britney is untouchable. #FACTS

[OnlyBeyonce]

33 minutes ago, YannFrance said:

It's a different era, you can't compare with nowadays when everything is accessible immediatly.

so true, today we can  find contents everywhere and everytime

[Lukas1896]

On 6/6/2020 at 4:51 AM, MakeMeFweaky said:

Even before I read this I was gonna y’all about social media. You can literally become tiktok famous by being a mediocre dancer so what’s the reason to be an actual good dancer and an actual good performer?

I wanna go back to the early 2000's sooo bad

[PokemonSpears]

6 hours ago, Dark.Knight said:

This, nowadays you have artists putting out singles basically on a monthly basis like they're periods or something. People's attention span are much shorter now, and with all these streaming services, the way eras are handled now is like the 90s/2000s on s t e r o i d s (apparently that's a censored word if put together ).

Singles back in the day would last about 4 months or so. Even lead singles would be released like 2 months before the actual album came out and it was still a hit. 

Yeah, the singles lasted whatever they wanted to, because TV and radio were the ones that kept playing them. Again, I don't understand how radio works in the US lol but at least where I live I remember that they would keep playing the latest single of an artist until there was a new one.

So for example, in 2001, they kept playing DLMBTLTK for several months until it was finally out of the countdowns (equivalent to TRL) but they were still playing her other videos like Oops, Stronger and Lucky on their normal rotation, until Slave was out. So there was never a moment when we didn't have Britney on television or radio. And same with other popular artists (but of course Britney was always the best )

Heck, on MTV, the yearly top 100, Stronger appeared in 2000's countdown at #70-something because it came out at the end of the year, but then it landed on #1 in 2001, despite being an older video. 

 

[FullyDattAndDatt3full]

Who else has had an iconic performance like Britney Slave 4 U with the snake?

[Smokez]

Because Britney was Lolita for the adults and barbie for the children and the first to do Lolita/Barbie. Once she got older she kept it going with her stage presence/shock factor/coreography at the VMAs. Once she got even older she had Madonna and the Toxic music video. Her career was based on controversy and her ability to entertain. No 17 year old hot blond girl can do the same thing. Its already been done.  Only Rihanna was as entertaining as Britney (and that wasnt till Loud) and she came close (her WFL era was similar to Britney's ITZ era) but Rihanna never had the Lolita/Barbie thing to caupualt her into BOMT or Oops era Britney fame.

[OnlyBeyonce]

6 minutes ago, Smokez said:

Because Britney was Lolita for the adults and barbie for the children and the first to do Lolita/Barbie. Once she got older she kept it going with her stage presence/shock factor/coreography at the VMAs. Once she got even older she had Madonna and the Toxic music video. Her career was based on controversy and her ability to entertain. No 17 year old hot blond girl can do the same thing. Its already been done.  Only Rihanna was as entertaining as Britney (and that wasnt till Loud) and she came close (her WFL era was similar to Britney's ITZ era) but Rihanna never had the Lolita/Barbie thing to caupualt her into BOMT or Oops era Britney fame.

i agree 100% with you.And Britney is also white 

[Bigno]

I do agree with the fact that she came pretty close to being at MJ, Janet, Madonna level. I would also say that we might be bias, because we are/were big fans. The impact she had for the ones who come here to write about her might not be the same impact she had for other people. So, maybe if you ask a swiftie if Britney was huge, she would say no. We do have a confirmation bias here because we all have the same interest regarding Britney.

Taking that fact into consideration, I agree. She had a rare combination of skill,charisma, beauty and approachability and simultaneously, there was something untouchable about her. People can be famous, but iconic visuals are rare. What would Bieber or Adele have as iconic visuals? Nothing, really.

[everybodygoesdown]

OP you are forgetting about Rihanna and Beyoncé though, they have peaked impressively and despite their hiatus they can EASILY still build on that for years and they have big star quality. Even GP is pretty desperate for some Rihanna and Beyoncé is pretty much one of the biggest celebs these days.

If you are talking about white pop girls then yes, nobody has peaked bigger in the past two decades (Gaga, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande come close).

I think it depends on who you are talking to. Britney's has stayed with us more because of the impact it had on our lives. Something always looks bigger than it actually is when you feel a part of it. I'm sure. If you would talk to gen Z's, they would think TS or AG is bigger, if you talk to boomers or whatever they would say Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston had a bigger peak.

 

[MrTrouble]

To add to what others have already said, I think it was a combination of a lot of different things that altogether made her very memorable. Of course she had many fans, but what's more important is that she was also on the top of GP's minds as some people knew her because of music (catchy songs with 'quirky' lyrics like Oops), some because of her looks and image, some because of controversies (sexualised and revealing outfits, her age, relationships, the whole thing about her virginity, etc). This meant that people were more likely to talk about her, making her even more famous. It's like when you play video games and you can choose some power ups and each one increases your chances of winning even more. Britney had most (if not all) of the "power ups" available to a pop star at the time.  
 

Not only that. Eventually, it all led to a snow ball effect. She became a pop sensation, which meant that she would be referenced in a lot of shows, songs, parodies, etc. so if someone still didn't know her for the reasons mentioned above, they would come across her simply watching their favourite tv show. Off the top of my head, I still remember that one Lizzy McGuire episode where Lizzy mentions the Oops outfit and her brother yells "Mom! Dad! Lizzy wants to dress like BRITNEY SPEARS!", just so he can make her parents start freaking out and get Lizzy off the phone. There were probably a dozen similar things that we've all watched and don't remember now but it all contributed to how relevant was at that time. It's a bit like becoming a meme nowadays plus being a successful artist at the same time (except memes usually have a short lifecycle). 
 

As a side note, I recently realised that Britney didn't actually have that many hit songs. Not as many as I would have guessed she did anyway. Her music definitely was an important factor in her becoming famous. But it was just one of many factors. 
 

 

[Blackout2006]

On 6/6/2020 at 5:20 AM, CarlyRaeJepsenStan said:

First of all, I know that Adele's commercial peak is bigger than Britney considering the sales climate.  Here I'm talking about CULTURAL peak.

Gaga came close during 2009-2011 period. But no one has ever been such a phenomenon like Britney was from 1999 to 2004.

My guess: Britney's peak happened when there was no social media and the Internet was in its infancy, people knew less about non-famous singers. Nowadays, everyone can become famous by being a Vlogger or reality star. Back in 2000, Britney and Xtina ruled the music industry.

Plus, pop stars nowadays do not take risks like the previous generation? We haven't seen Ariana or Dua having music videos like Dirrty or I'm a slave 4U.

Actualllyyyyyy...

Adele has similar sales to Britney but hasnt overtaken her u know? 

21- 30.4 million copies sold

BOMT- 30.6 million copies sold

25- 22.7 million copies sold

OIDIA- 25 million copies 

So as u can see her, they really have same sales, but Adele has for sure not come over Britney 

But anyways, its surprising how Adele has had as monstrous sales as Britney but its ironic how her star power or you know....fame has never come close to Britney like...AT ALL. One thing i will for sure give her was that she came out in a time where extravaganza, glam, electro, or dance pop was thriving but despite being such a simple ballad-singer she became so huge! quite similar to how Britney led the path for teen solo artist in the late 90s during the girl/boy band phenomena. However, one thing is that you dont see Adele featured in commercials, u do not see barbie dolls of her, you cant find sections in a small store that would sell Adele merchandise, you dont see her being constantly covered by the media, you do not see that type of adoration, you dont see alot of people in 3rd world countries singing her songs...and all of these Britney had. 

[Blackout2006]

On 6/8/2020 at 7:17 AM, everybodygoesdown said:

OP you are forgetting about Rihanna and Beyoncé though, they have peaked impressively and despite their hiatus they can EASILY still build on that for years and they have big star quality. Even GP is pretty desperate for some Rihanna and Beyoncé is pretty much one of the biggest celebs these days.

If you are talking about white pop girls then yes, nobody has peaked bigger in the past two decades (Gaga, Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande come close).

I think it depends on who you are talking to. Britney's has stayed with us more because of the impact it had on our lives. Something always looks bigger than it actually is when you feel a part of it. I'm sure. If you would talk to gen Z's, they would think TS or AG is bigger, if you talk to boomers or whatever they would say Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston had a bigger peak.

 

Beyonce hasnt had an international hit since 2013 tho

[lilhennythings]

I think this is objectively true. I have always contended that Britney is the last of a certain kind of celebrity that can no longer exist in a (I'm a broken record) post-internet, post-911, post modern world. Pour in some Madonna/***** dichotomy, whiteness, hyper***ualization of teens, innocence, etc and it's the perfect storm. Modern fame no longer operates as it once did; we don't see paps, scandals, exposes, secrets like we did with Brit.

 

(I agree w a previous poster about race heavily influencing this. I think Beyonces impact overall has been larger for this reason, but do I think she approached Britney's "Britney mania" fervor? No, because by the time Beyonce as a solo artist really took off, we were already entering the Internet age)

[CinderHELLa]

It's definitely the advent of social media. Back then our main outlets to know about icons were paparazzi and tabloids and news reports and televised interviews or magazines. 

They got to spin things the way they wanted constantly. Couple that with the climate of ***ism during that time (it was a very strange and specific brand of it) and it was a storm

[GMFlop]

What a broken record thread. 

[kevin.]

I disagree that Xtina ever ruled though, to me she was always in the shadow and trying. A for effort. 

[Alexanda]

On 6/7/2020 at 1:30 PM, NewDisplayName said:

Hm I think the reason is that Britney attracts people with a smile of hers, eyes,  innocence, ***iness, personality.. Her professional skills was also incredible: delivery, passion, moves, emotional voice , performance, staging etc.. She was perfect yet ordinary and all of this (mostly personality that attracts most of us) made her easy target to bully I guess and success of course.. 

Gaga main attraction was her "Original" outfits. First in Music videos, then on stage, the whole gaga thing was a freak-show thing and on the pic GP found out that she has good voice and writes the music cause GP main interest was focused on her appearance only..  

 

Gaga had the stagepresence, look, this is from 2008, august, no one knew her here: 

 

[EmzLadybrit2]

On 6/6/2020 at 9:20 AM, CarlyRaeJepsenStan said:

First of all, I know that Adele's commercial peak is bigger than Britney considering the sales climate.  Here I'm talking about CULTURAL peak.

Gaga came close during 2009-2011 period. But no one has ever been such a phenomenon like Britney was from 1999 to 2004.

My guess: Britney's peak happened when there was no social media and the Internet was in its infancy, people knew less about non-famous singers. Nowadays, everyone can become famous by being a Vlogger or reality star. Back in 2000, Britney and Xtina ruled the music industry.

Plus, pop stars nowadays do not take risks like the previous generation? We haven't seen Ariana or Dua having music videos like Dirrty or I'm a slave 4U.

YAZZZZZZZZ!!! WELL SAID!