Number 1 today in 2004: Britney Spears – Everytime

2004 was a good year to be Britney Spears. She was at the top of her game and putting out some of the best pop of her career.

Flushed with success thanks to certified banger Toxic, Britney decided one Number 1 a year simply wasn’t enough – she wanted another. And she got one!

MORE: See all Britney’s hit singles and albums in her chart archive 

Britney was taking no chances with Everytime – this subtle, simple ballad would need some serious oomph if it was going to reach the top. So what did Britney do? Why, she only went and made the most controversial video of her career, of course.

Starring the super-droolworthy movie star Stephen Dorff, Britney’s video for Everytime was a tiny peek into the world of what it might be like to be a star. The flashing cameras and incessant press attention of the video were almost foreshadowing Britney’s future – she would shortly become major tabloid fodder following her marriage to Kevin Federline in September 2004.

So why the big controversy over the vid? The original treatment for the video, which was overseen by swish director David LaChappelle, saw Britney struggle with the pressures of fame and commit suicide in the bath. Downer.

There was an outcry that Britney was in some way glamourising suicide – imagine the tweets if it happened now – so Britney wisely changed tack and instead landed a nasty wound on her head thanks to a paparazzo’s stray camera.

It all gets a bit dark from there to be honest, especially when Britney appears to drown. At the end, however, after a nice sprint down some hospital corridors – which you are definitely not allowed to do at the local general – Britney emerges from the water smiling. It had all been a dream! We think.

Everytime went straight in at Number 1 this week in 2004, giving former chart-topper Mario Winans even more to moan about as I Don’t Wanna Know slipped to Number 2, beaten by almost 20,000 sales. Everytime would be Britney’s last Number 1 for almost nine years – Scream & Shout finally did the biz for her in early 2013 thanks to will.i.am.

Everytime – which is grammatically incorrect but we are prepared to let it go as it’s a brilliant song – is Britney’s seventh bestselling single, with over 363,000 copies sold.

MORE: All Britney’s big sellers 

So Britney was taking a long hot soak at Number 1, but what was happening in the rest of the Top 10? Click on the image below to see the full Top 40 from 2004.

Mario Winans' I Don’t Wanna Know (2) slips off the top spot – it's one of two tracks to get to Number 1 using the same Enya sample. The other? Fugees’ Ready or Not from 1996. Brandy and Kanye team up on Talk About Our Love at 6. It was Brandy’s fifth Top 10, and is her most recent so far. It was only Kanye’s third Top 10 – he would go on to have 15 more, as you may or may not have heard.

But today belongs to Everytime. Here's Britney, queen of white bathrooms and wet-look hair, giving it her all.