This Day in Pop: Britney Spears releases her debut single '...Baby One More Time' in 1998

[Roxxy]

Hi Exhale!

Taking over for @PokemonSpears today for a very special episode of This Day in Pop - is me, your Super Moderator, Roxxy! 💛💜

Our King is currently busy playing, you guessed it, Pokémon - and he'll be playing all night because there's an in game event or something.

So i'm doing the show just for today, and i'm gonna give you THE SINGLE that started it all. The greatest debut single of all time. The most successful debut single of all time. The single that launched one of pop music's greatest entertainers. The single THAT MADE the undisputed Princess of Pop. The debut single that ENDED ALL DEBUT SINGLES and will be the standard for all future female pop debuts.

The one and only.

On October 23, 1998, Britney Spears released her debut single, the now iconic, ...Baby One More Time. It is the lead single of her debut album of the same name. It is written and produced by Max Martin, and Rami as co-producer.

The track was originally written for the Backstreet Boys and TLC under the title "Hit Me Baby One More Time", but both groups rejected it. Jive Records also considered the boyband Five to record the song but they passed on it.

When Britney heard the track, she instantly liked it and wanted it to be hers. The label eventually changed the title to "...Baby One More Time" as "Hit Me" in the title would raise concerns about domestic violence.

POP's new Princess is born

Upon it's release, the song topped the charts in atleast 22 countries around the world, including the US Billboard Hot 100 where it spent 2 weeks at #1 and is Spears's most successful single in the country, as well as the UK Singles Chart.

The song also topped Billboard's Hot Singles Sales Chart for four weeks as well as Britney's home format, the Mainstream Top 40 chart, now, known as Billboard Pop Songs.

It has so far sold over 10 million copies worldwide and is one of the best selling singles of all time.

The song won Britney two MTV Europe Music Awards, for Best Pop and Best Song.

She also won her very first surfboard at the 1999 Teen Choice Awards for Choice Single.

And a Billboard Music Award for Female Singles Artist of the Year.

A COMMERCIAL & CRITICAL SUCCESS

Rolling Stone Magazine ranked ...Baby One More Time at #1 on their 100 Greatest Debut Singles of All Time list. Additionally, they also rank the song at #25 in the Greatest Pop Songs since 1963, a list compiled by Rolling Stone and MTV in 2000.

Blender lists the song at #9 in The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born list.

VH1 puts it the 2nd best song of the 1990s. They also placed it at #1 in 2003 on their list of 100 Best Songs of the Past 25 Years.

About.com ranks it at #1 on the Top 40 Pop Songs Of All Time list.

Finally...

The song earned Britney her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2000.

 

What are your memories when you first heard the song on the radio? Where were you when you first heard the song?

 

STAY TUNED FOR THE MUSIC VIDEO's ANNIVERSARY! It's coming up in a few weeks.

TEEHEE 💛💜

Roxxy

Spoiler

 

[Roxxy]

Calendar entry by @Deyonce

[corpsetranger]

23 October 1998... and the rest is HISTORY 

legendary

[Blackout2006]

It was that moment, of the first sight the world saw...the biggest pop star of the millennium, Britney Spears

There will never be a debut as insane, successful and crazy as Baby One More Time! One of the most legendary pop songs of all time

Its relevance still stands to this day, with even children that know that song and many who regard it iconic

[Blackout2006]

Fun Fact: Baby...One More Time was the best-selling single of 1999 by a teenage solo artist selling already over 5 million copies worldwide by the end of 1999, and going #1 in every chart it charted on.

[babyimmafreak90]

Where it all began 

[ElenaB]

This should be a global holiday. History was made

[JackSProductions]

The day an icon was born. 

[Forever22]

I still remember being so shook when I heard and saw the video. I 

[Roxxy]

25 minutes ago, ElenaB said:

This should be a global holiday. History was made

PERIOD

[GMFlop]

What a great way to establish yourself as pop culture icon and since then a lot of record companies are trying to duplicate the success of this single but none of them are even closed. 

[Iconic 4 U]

A legend was made with this song

I've always wanted to hear what the TLC demo would have sounded like

[Roxxy]

29 minutes ago, GMFlop said:

What a great way to establish yourself as pop culture icon and since then a lot of record companies are trying to duplicate the success of this single but none of them are even closed. 

Yaaas. What a not (gm)flop thing to say. 

[Roxxy]

3 minutes ago, Iconic 4 U said:

A legend was made with this song 

I've always wanted to hear what the TLC demo would have sounded like

I always imagined it as having the same production as No Scrubs.

[Isla]

ICONIC. And what a writeup @Roxxy!!!!!

[GMFlop]

1 hour ago, Roxxy said:

Yaaas. What a not (gm)flop thing to say. 

Explain... 

[Roxxy]

22 minutes ago, Isla said:

ICONIC. And what a writeup @Roxxy!!!!!

Aww thank you, Isla.

[girl_bye]

22 years!!!! im old

[MissSpearsSaysSo]

I will never get over this song. It’s is Amazing. Every time I listen to it, it sounds brand new. It’s one of the best song in history, ever. No one will have another ...Baby One More Time. 

[rr_174]

i was 2 years when this came out :'(