Britney Spears has taken to Instagram to thank her loyal fans on the 20th anniversary of her first ever single, ‘…Baby One More Time’.

The singer uploaded a clip to Instagram on Tuesday (October 23rd) that boasted highlights from the single’s iconic music video.

“Your support over the years has meant the absolute world to me,” she wrote. “It's hard to put into words what today means to me… 20 years ago, the world heard my music for the very first time!”

“So much has happened since then… but what I really want to say is thank you to my amazing fans who have been there for me since day one.”

Mississippi-born Spears was just 16 years old when ‘…Baby One More Time’ was released on 23rd October 1998. It reached number one in at least 18 countries, including the UK – though this didn’t happen until early the following year.

It provided the launchpad for her to become a global superstar, selling over 100 million albums around the world and notching up other mega-hits including ‘Toxic’, ‘I’m A Slave 4 U’, ‘Work Bitch’ and ‘Oops!... I Did It Again’.

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Recently, 36 year old Spears spoke to The Guardian about what she remembered about the writing and recording process of that iconic hit.

Britney SpearsSpears' debut hit is now twenty years old!

“The whole song is about that stress that we all go through as teens. I knew it was a great song. It was different and I loved it, [but] I don’t think you can anticipate how a song is going to be received," said Spears, who travelled to the Swedish city of Stockholm to record the track with songwriter and producer Max Martin.

“I remember being so in awe of Stockholm,” she continued. “I was out there for, like, ten days, but we were so busy in the studio I didn’t have time to go out and explore on that first trip.”

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