Britney Spears - Britney Spears Spurred On By Chart Competition

The Toxic hitmaker has ruled the charts since the success of her debut ...Baby One More Time was released in 1999, and she's enjoyed a run of seven hit albums.

Spears has remained popular with music fans despite the rise of several other female performers, and insists her rivals push her to improve.

She tells Stylist magazine, "I think it's great to have a little competition because I feel it inspires us and makes us want to do better.

"There are so many soulful singers, even the ones coming from London, like Adele and Jessie J, who are just amazing. It feels like a really cool time to be making music now.

"In the beginning obviously I was very young and I didn't know the ins and outs of things; I was very instinctive in what I wanted to do, and I was very vocal with my input on things.

"I think as the years have gone by, and as I've evolved as an artist, I've put even more into my career, and after that amount of time you start to know exactly what you want."