The Story of Pop: 2000 (Chapter 19)

Time once again, as we do every Thursday, to take you back to the sights and sounds of the UK top 40 as it looked two whole decades ago with The Story of Pop: 2000. This week: Britney does it yet again…

By the start of May 2000, it had been just over a year since Britney Spears had debuted here in Blighty with her all conquering first single ‘…Baby One More Time’, a record that had gone onto become 1999’s biggest seller in the UK no less.

She’d followed that up with a multi platinum debut album, a clutch of MTV and Smash Hits awards, and three more top 5 hits, including a second chart topper in January of this year with her fourth single ‘Born To Make You Happy’.

All eyes were now on her to see if she could replicate the barnstorming success she had enjoyed, as she prepared for the release of her second album. And, without wishing to descend into pun territory for the duration of this week’s post, she proved all doubters wrong and quite literally did it again.

Max Martin and the Cheiron production team took everything that had made her sound and style such a huge phenomenon twelve months previously, and turbo boosted it into another dimension with the pneumatic pop juggernaut that was ‘Oops!…I Did It Again’, the title track from her second album.

Another irresistible pop classic in waiting, Britney sang coyly about how she was a heartbreaking minx who was ‘Not. That. Innocent’, all whilst performing the song as a red rubber catsuited alien in space for another much talked about video that accompanied the single.

It’s fair to say she was by now riding the crest of a wave, and resistance was futile, as ‘Oops!…I Did It Again’ duly pumped its way to the top of the UK chart to give Britney her third number one single here, as well as making her, just five months into a new century, the only artist to have enjoyed two chart toppers, as she went on to sell another million singles in the UK during 2000.

Don’t forget to follow our brand new playlist on Spotify – updated weekly so you never miss a song from the story of pop in 2000. And you can leave your memories of the songs below in the comments or Tweet us, using the hashtag #StoryofPop2000.