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Library/Music/Britney Spears “...Baby One More Time”
Grade B24 sourcesHIS-01459

Britney Spears “...Baby One More Time”

Music · 1998 · Viral

67Editable slideCertificate

The debut single and its album reached No. 1 in the same week.

Original · Britney Spears / Jive Records; video directed by Nigel Dick
Britney Spears “...Baby One More Time”: cover art
Wikipedia (non-free, fair use)
Britney Spears - ...Baby One More Time (Official Video)
BritneySpearsVEVO on YouTube
Britney Spears
Billboard
Official Top 40 best-selling singles of 1999
Official Charts Company
Spears and her dancers performing the song during the Femme Fatale Tour in Vancouver, 2011. CC BY 2.0.
Nat_Pata / Wikimedia Commons
Britney Spears' Career Streams & Sales: Ask Billboard
Billboard
Britney Spears in 1998
Recording Academy

Spread Score

How it works
Reach100Contagion35Breadth50VelocityNo data yetLongevityNo data yet67

Numbers

Official video, historical billion-view milestone
1B
As of Nov 7, 2024 · YouTube · Billboard
Milestone date
Week of Jan 30, 1999
Sep 1998 to Week of Jan 30, 1999
Platforms
5
Started on Audio
Origin
Mixed
Entertainment

Mechanics

  • Platform jumpPrimary
  • Controversy
  • Response chain
  • Identity badge

How it spread

Trace the origin

Jive promoted Spears through mall samplers, print advertising, radio and MTV. The single and album topped the US charts together. Covers and Halloween costumes extended the song and video into other performances and uses.

Documented milestone; not a measured attention peak. Dates use the stated precision; chart positions are date anchors.

US Billboard Hot 100 weekly position · #1 at the top1998-11-21: #171998-11-28: #141998-12-05: #181998-12-12: #91998-12-19: #81998-12-26: #51999-01-02: #41999-01-09: #41999-01-16: #41999-01-23: #31999-01-30: #11999-02-06: #11999-02-13: #21999-02-20: #21999-02-27: #41999-03-06: #51999-03-13: #81999-03-20: #111999-03-27: #131999-04-03: #141999-04-10: #171999-04-17: #191999-04-24: #201999-05-01: #211999-05-08: #181999-05-15: #241999-05-22: #291999-05-29: #311999-06-05: #381999-06-12: #461999-06-19: #461999-06-26: #49Jul ’97Sep ’98Feb ’99JulJul ’01Jul ’05Jul ’09Jan ’11Feb ’13Sep ’17Apr ’22Jun ’25MilestoneRetailAudioPressTVYouTube
RetailAudioPressTVYouTube

13 more events on this chart

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US Billboard Hot 100 weekly position: 32 dated figures from Music Charts Archive, each checked against the source. Measured at the time, not estimated.

Timeline (16)

  1. July 1998

    Jive Records / Britney Spears precursor · Jul 1998

    Spears performed at malls and handed out cassette samplers before the single went on sale.[1]

    Open the first post ↗

  2. September 1998

    Jive Records / Britney Spears seed · Sep 1998

    US radio stations played the recording before Jive’s late-September impact campaign.[2]

  3. October 1998

    Jive Records commercial · Oct 23 ’98

    The single went on sale on the October 23 date reported by Billboard and later Sony.[1][3]

  1. press · Oct 24 ’98

  2. platform jump · Nov 1998

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Why it worked

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Origin
Mixed
Sector
Entertainment
Region
US
Official video, historical billion-view milestone
1B
As of Nov 7, 2024 · YouTube · Billboard
Evidence
Grade B

Spread the same way

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