Britney music videos

The definitive ranking of Britney Spears music videos, based on how iconic they are

It’s Britney, b*tch

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There isn’t an artist in our generation with a legacy of music videos like Britney Spears. Not a joke, just a fact.

She’s been in a league of her own since Baby One More Time debuted in the late 90s, and her music videos are arguably even more legendary than the songs themselves.

Britney is the kind of artist where you could host a fancy dress party where 50 people come in completely different outfits but everyone attending knows unmistakably who’s dressed as Britney Spears. She is a living legend, a cultural phenomenon and a music video vixen. Always has been, always will be.

There are a whopping 43 Britney music videos. And nearly every one of them is iconic, in some way. But which is the MOST iconic? Which video changed the world forever?

Let’s find out!

43. Make Me (Official version)

Hell on earth. We do not acknowledge this as canon. Not dignifying this with any more words.

42. Kill The Lights

About three people know this exists. Zero people know why it exists. The song’s a bop, though.

41. Ooh La La

Unintentionally really sinister. It’s half a Britney video, and half a trailer for *checks notes*… The Smurfs 2.

It’s nice to see Britney being a mum and having Jayden and Sean Preston in the video, but she’s in the most boring dress ever sewn and seeing her jump around like a giant amongst smurfs unnerves me.

40. Break The Ice

A song as fucking AMAZING as Break The Ice deserved a video equally as amazing. And sadly, it just didn’t get one.

Break The Ice was pushed as a single during the worst of Britney’s personal troubles circa the Blackout album cycle, and it’s a real shame we didn’t get the iconic visual moment a song this great should have had.

39. Pretty Girls

This one’s like pulling teeth, but is almost at the borderline of so bad it’s good. Iggy’s verse and video appearance are… awful.

Who on EARTH okayed the awful acting scenes in this? They are unbearable. The styling is awful, the song’s bad and the ONLY iconic few seconds is the dance breakdown bit in the club where Britney, to be fair to her, nails it.

38. Radar

SACK! THE! STYLIST!

Britney Spears is too gorgeous to be haunting her music videos looking like Lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil: Village. Weird and NOT ICONIC video. Tory energy.

37. From the Bottom of My Broken Heart

Bored shitless. Britney sat about on country windmills looking sad in a stupid hat. Next!

36. Perfume

Huge casualty of the director’s cut and concept being dumped on the cutting room floor, this one.

Joseph Khan intended for this to be a high concept, gritty video about Britney being an assassin but sadly all we ended up with is this tedious and tepid video where Britney just mopes about over a lover.

Release the director’s cut now!

35. Outrageous

An unfinished mishap that could have been really great. Snoop Dogg’s in it! For… some reason!

Most notable for being the scene where Britney fell over and broke her knee which meant that she never really could dance the same again, and that is an absolute travesty.

34. 3

Things are PICKING UP girlies!

Everyone’s favourite maths bop (“everybody loves counting!”) has a video where Britney looks stunning and dances round a big monkey bar. It’s good! But nothing groundbreaking.

33. I Love Rock and Roll

Crispy hairney out in full force in this one. Definitely has its iconic moments. Love when she rides and grinds the motorbike like it’s a ****.

Quite simple in concept. Basically just Britney being a rock chick for three minutes. Queen!

32. Someday (I Will Understand)

If you have never seen this, press play immediately. It’s gorgeous.

Britney clutching her bump in stunning black and white 4k visuals. This song is so underrated, it’s from the semi-forgotten Britney & Kevin Chaotic EP. If more people knew it, it would be higher on the ranking.

31. Don’t Let Me Be The Last To Know

The best a human being has ever looked? Britney Spears in this video.

So beautifully shot and the beach location is so gorgeous. Shania Twain wrote this mid tempo banger. The video would have definitely been a little bit more iconic if Shania made an appearance and sauntered over to Britney on the beach.

30. Till The World Ends

It’s 2011 and everyone is obsessed with how the world might end in 2012.

Enter: Till The World Ends. An apocalyptic bop. The video is so grimy, sweaty and fun. It’s the music video equivalent of a filthy gay bar. Is it iconic? A bit!!!

29. I Wanna Go

She chose chaos with this one. And Avril Lavigne’s wardrobe!

Love the stupid press conference intro and love the cinema having a sign up for Crossroads 2: Cross Harder. It’s an absolute trip but it is iconic in its weirdness. And Britney is clearly having so much fun with it.

28. Scream & Shout

Bring! Theaction!

Her last number one. A bop for the heteros. I don’t think she sings a note on this since it was confirmed it’s pretty much all Tulisa, but she looks absolutely amazing and the outfits are an iconic serve.

27. Criminal

Okay, Criminal is REALLY iconic.

I don’t know what Bridgerton soap is going on at the start but I love it. Britney fixing all her problems with a spray of her perfume and a kick in the bollocks is wow. We’re in London for some reason. Britney was in her bad bitch era.

26. My Prerogative

People can take everything away from you. But they can never take away your truth!

A wow video. I gasp every time she drives the car into the pool and emerges unscathed. The bed writhing scenes invented sex and the lingerie is gorgeous. The way it cuts between black and white to colour every few minutes is iconic.

25. Overprotected

The first of the two Overprotected videos isn’t as good, but my god, it remains iconic.

The outfit with the blue glasses is the most 00s thing I’ve ever seen and the fact she just wears a cocktail dress over a pair of jeans and still manages to look wow is a feat within itself.

24. Make Me (Original Video)

This is the leaked, original music video of Make Me. And it is the only one we acknowledge. The only one that matters.

Britney teased all visuals from this Joseph Khan directed cut before Make Me came out, only for the officially released one (which came DEAD LAST on this ranking) to be completely different, and an absolute pile of shite.

Basically, Britney’s team pulled this at the last min for being too raunchy or something. But what has been salvaged and leaked of it is great. Justice for Make Me!!!

23. Born To Make You Happy

Gorgeous, early Britney magic.

Stunningly iconic y2k aesthetics, an iconic fashion moment in the split leather skirt and a big pillow fight with a sexy man. It’s 1999 baby!

22. Gimme More

An absolute mess, but GOD, it’s iconic.

Obviously, this wasn’t the best time in Britney’s life. We all know what she was going through this era. And the fact she still brought a song this great shows how much of a legend she is. The video is iconic chaos, every second of it.

Whoever put her in that blonde wig with the bangs needs sending to prison.

21. Overprotected (Darkchild Remix)

THEE Overprotected video. WOW.

The hotel corridor scenes invented walking. Every outfit in this gets a gasp. The knickers over the jeans was a revelation. The little yellow dress is SO pop star. The finale in the rain? ICONIC.

20. Piece Of Me

Another messy wow. Suits the song so much!

Britney’s iconic in every second of this, which matches the legendary defiant lyrics so perfectly. Love her just vibing in the club with a scraggy bun and sunglasses on. Very enviable behaviour. One of the most carefree Britney music videos.

19. Boys

Gorgeous video. Amazing setting. Britney is the absolute QUEEN of the pop castle.

Add in Pharrell and Austin Powers and you have a pop video for the ages. The way she danced this era? The other pop girls were frightened.

18. Slumber Party

If this is the last video we ever get from Britney, at least she went out on a high.

The Eyes Wide Shut theme is great, her using the iconic Mariah Carey video house is a wow and she looks so beautiful in every shot and every outfit.

The milk lick is FILTH! And she met her boyfriend Sam Asghari on the set of this video, and he’s been by her side to this day!

17. Sometimes

The cutest video Britney’s ever done. It’s so of the time. It is VERY iconic.

The white outfits are so wholesome and cute, the choreography is so teenybopper and her hair is perfection. A childhood banger.

16. If U Seek Amy

I love that this song literally got Britney singing FUCK ME onto the radio. VERY ICONIC.

Couple that with an amazing video about Britney living in a sex dungeon, orgie house only to put on all-American, Republican housewife geish and appear to the public as a conservative woman? That’s how you make a good video, girls!

15. Work Bitch

Everything about this smash is iconic. Even the product placement is iconic ffs.

When someone has a ball gag in their mouth but it’s a Beats pill? Wow. When Britney sprays her branded perfume on herself in the middle of the desert. Britney randomly being stood in a pool of sharks. Britney whipping someone’s arse. Britney’s pant look.

It’s all so good.

14. Do Somethin

Do Somethin is so good because of how much Britney loves it, and how much fun she clearly had making it.

It was never meant to get a video, or be a single. But Britney loved it so much she funded it all herself – which is iconic beyond words. I love that it’s all her just being goofy and having fun with the gals. Pure good vibes and energy.

13. Stronger

Stronger invented two things: chair dancing and driving.

It’s euphoric. From start to finish. The chair dancing is iconic and just gets twice as iconic when she WHIPS THE CHAIR INTO A CANE!? Witchcraft.

The most self confident bop and video to ever grace the earth. We’re not worthy.

12. I’m Not A Girl Not Yet A Woman

What the 127 Hours is going on?

Stunningly filmed. Breathtaking, actually. She looks so perfect. Her body is beyond WORDS. The teen angst video and song that ruled out coming of age years. We too, are not girls and not yet women.

11. Hold It Against Me

Just missing out on the top 10 is this MASTERPIECE.

What an iconic video. References all her old videos, has Alexander McQueen-esque fashion and features Britney battling herself in a black space. So weird but so good.

10. You Drive Me Crazy

Main pop girl magic. It’s the first in her music videos where Britney proved she was here to stay.

The choreography is so legendary it’s hard to process. Melissa Joan Hart being in it is also hugely iconic. Britney’s waitress get up is new levels of adorable. It’s for the history books.

9. Circus

What The Greatest Showman wishes it was.

Every shot of this is stunning. Such a great music video and perfect for the album era. The dancers and circus spectacles are so iconic and the shot of her with all the sparks raining down is one of the best from any video.

8. Me Against The Music

Britney Spears AND Madonna. Let that sink in. It was the apprentice and the master, coming together in harmony.

The video is grimy, gorgeous and exciting. The upagainstthespeaker rap bit has some of Britney’s best choreography ever. It looks like it’s been sped up she moves that fast. The plot of Madonna and Britney hunting each other down through the weird derelict video is so sexy.

Remains so cool to this day.

7. Lucky

Really important song for Britney in her career, and one for the music videos history book.

It was the first time Britney was open about her difficulties with fame and her personal happiness, and it’s well plotted and shot and she looks so stunning in that Hollywood starlet coiffed wig. The sugary, precursor to Everytime.

6. Womanizer

Wigney! Nakedney! Toxic 2.0-ney! When it comes to Britney music videos, this remains IT.

A huge comeback moment. An iconic main pop girl phenomenon. Britney having this big bounce back in public favour in the Circus era was just so great for her, and this video literally helped solidify her legacy in the eyes of the public. Incredible, and iconic from start to finish.

5. Everytime

I used to sit and flick through the music channels hoping and PRAYING Every time would come on. Before the days of YouTube. I was obsessed with it, and still am to this day.

It’s so sad! Britney wrote the music and lyrics to Everytime and I find it so emotional and haunting in its topic and nature. Britney dying and getting reincarnated is so sad but beautifully done.

Originally, her death was meant to be really graphic and brutal but they changed the ending last minute. Can’t decide which version of the ending would be better.

4. I’m A Slave 4 U

Arguably the sexiest video ever made.

Pure, sweaty, dripping filth. Britney was in her crispy haired prime. Parents across the globe’s jaws were on the ground. Good girl Britney was gone and Sexney was here!

But in Britney’s words, it’s not her job to parent your kids. And what she gave us here is just MAGIC. The dancing is some of the best in all of pop music. There’s an incredible shot where a drop of sweat falls off the DJ, hits the decks and evaporates into smoke.

The pulsating, writhing bodies when she does the post chorus panting bit is… X RATED!

3. Baby One More Time

Where it all began. Fancy dress parties have literally never been the same since.

It’s problematic. The label knew what they were doing in the sexualisation of a 16 year old girl in her school uniform, and even though Britney was school age and is allowed to dress and dance how she wants, too many seedy men were involved in the making of this for it to be watched without a dubious eye over its intention.

But god, she’s a great pop star. The star quality is radiating off her, and it’s so famous that even your nan could tell you this song and video with just one glance. Iconic.

2. Oops! I Did It Again

Showed there was ZERO chance of Britney having a second album slump.

The outfits are beyond iconic. That red catsuit is literally museum worthy. She serves pop magic in every shot, the outer space theme is legendary and that’s before she literally references a little film you might have heard of called TITANIC.

It holds up as incredible to this day. She’s amazing in every second of it.

1. Toxic

Britney has an almost infinite amount of iconic music videos, but if you thought anything else other than Toxic could take the top spot, you’d be wrong.

Toxic should be taught on the syllabus at music video school. It’s INCREDIBLE. And has influenced countless music videos, both from other artists and from Britney herself referencing back to it.

Every set piece is just… perfection. The plane! The bike! The lasers! The naked jewelled suit scenes! The murder! It’s just literally immaculate. I don’t think a single artist on the planet has made a music video that’s even nearly reached the heights of Toxic since it came out in 2004.

I’m doubtful that anyone ever will.

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