Britney Spears is one of the most recognizable stars in America. The “Hit Me Baby One More Time” singer has been a mainstay in pop culture since 1998, but dips in her career — paired with more than a decade under a conservatorship — has prompted questions about the Princess of Pop’s net worth.
Spears should, on paper, be worth more than most stars touring today. Her musical releases are often chart-toppers, and her most popular tracks continue to grace radio stations and popular playlists to this day. A public breakdown in 2008 nearly derailed her career, but the mega-star bounced back with incredible resilience, and went on to release multiple chart-topping albums. In the very same year as her breakdown and hospitalization, Spears became the youngest woman to ever have five albums debut at number one.
This staggeringly impressive resume should place Spears as one of the top earners among musicians in the United States. Despite this fact, and likely due in part to the conservatorship she has been battling for years, a February Forbes report found that Spears has a surprisingly low net worth, considering her domination of the music industry.
Despite selling more concert tickets and albums than either Jennifer Lopez or Jessica Simpson, Spears’ net worth falls solidly below her fellow 90s stars. While Simpson and Lopez have both managed to amass fortunes in the $100 million range, Spears net worth falls significantly lower at around $60 million.
This far lower-than-expected net worth has several culprits, according to Forbes’ reporting. The primary factor, predictably, is Spears’ father’s continued control over finances via the conservatorship. This, paired with the legal battles Spears has undertaken in an effort to reclaim control of her career and estate, has gradually drained her finances. She has also refused to tour over the last several years, apparently remaining stalwart in her decision to do so until her father is no longer in control of her conservatorship. But while she continues to spend millions on court cases and day-to-day expenses, she is no longer making a significant income.
If Spears’ finances had never shifted into someone else’s hands, and if she’d never faced the years of legal battles she’s been embroiled in, it’s hard to say where they would stand today. Likely, she would at least clock in closer to some of her mid-90s to 2000s stars, but as it is, the Princess of Pop remains a talented millionaire with plenty of workable years ahead of her — once she has control over her life again.