Official Charts Flashback: Britney Spears - Oops!... I Did It Again

When you’re an international overnight success with your first single and album, smashing millions of sales across the globe, you could say the pressure is on to deliver a decent follow-up.

If Britney was worried, she certainly didn’t show it, launching her second album campaign with this sassier cousin of her first hit …Baby One More Time.

Oops!… I Did It Again (important to remember the exclamation mark and ellipsis) crashed straight in at the top of the Official Singles Chart exactly 20 years ago today, giving Britney her third Number 1, following that massive debut and surprise chart-topper Born To Make You Happy. 

Sporting a red PVC catsuit – in oh-so-2000s bootcut style – Britney reminded us all “I’m not that innocent”, a theme she would certainly continue during her career.

With impressive first week sales of over 124,000, Oops!…I Did It Again has gone on to shift 492,000 in pure sales, 734,000 when streaming equivalent sales from 2014 are factored in.

Britney would have to wait almost four years for her next chart-topper, Toxic. She’s had six altogether, with Everytime (2004) and Scream & Shout with will.i.am (2013) completing the lineup. View Britney's Official Chart history in full here.

ChartFact: The only hit for dance group Watergate, Heart Of Asia sampled Ryuichi Nakamoto’s Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, which had originally missed the Top 40.