How Britney Spears makes and spends her millions

• Britney Spears had an estimated net worth of $60 million as of 2021, according to Forbes.
• During her 13-year conservatorship, she wasn't in control of her finances, but she is now.

Britney Spears is a pop icon.

But Spears' time in the limelight hasn't always been positive. After several public mental breakdowns, the singer was put on a court-approved conservatorship in 2008. The legal arrangement put her estate, financial assets, and some personal assets under the control of her father and a lawyer.

That conservatorship, however, came to an end in 2021.

"It's my wish and my dream for all of this to end," Spears said during a court testimony in June 2021. In November 2021, that wish was granted when a Los Angeles judge dissolved Spears' conservatorship.

Now, Spears is finally in control of her money again. Here's everything we know about how the pop star has made and spent her fortune over the years.

Hillary Hoffower contributed reporting to a previous version of this story.

Forbes reported in 2021 that Britney Spears' net worth was $60 million.

In February 2021, Forbes reported that Spears had a net worth of $60 million. At the time, Spears was still under the conservatorship, and wouldn't be fully in control of her own finances until November of that year when it ended.

Citing 2020 court documents, Forbes deduced that Spears' financial assets were mostly in cash, real estate, and brokerage accounts. While her net worth lagged behind some of her pop music peers — Rihanna, now a billionaire, was reportedly worth $600 million at the time, and Beyoncé had a reported $420 million net worth then— Forbes attributed the lower figure in part to the conservatorship, which cost her millions in legal fees.

Spears has made money selling records, including her acclaimed debut album.

Spears' debut 1999 album "...Baby One More Time" had sold 10.6 million US copies as of Billboard's report in January 2019. Her sophomore album, 2000's "Oops… I Did It Again," had sold 9.2 million copies by that time. Per RCA Records in 2023, citing Nielsen Music, Spears has sold over 70 million albums, singles, and songs, and close to 150 million records worldwide.

The New York Times reported in 2008 that, following the success of her first two albums, she received close to $10 million as an advance for the 2003 album "In The Zone." Per the Times, citing reports following Spears' leaked prenup, she earned $6.5 million after production costs.

Spears also has made money through touring and residencies.

Spears, who has said she probably won't ever tour again, executed 10 concert tours over the course of her career. According to Forbes in 2021, citing Pollstar, Spears made $485 million total in touring.

According to Billboard, citing ticket sales reported by event producer Caesars Entertainment, Spears' 2013 to 2017 Las Vegas residency grossed $137.7 million over the course of nearly 250 shows. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported in 2018 that the final show of that residency, which took place at the Axis Theater, grossed $1,172,200 alone — a record for the venue at the time.

Spears launched a new Las Vegas residency, "Domination," that was meant to begin in 2019 and saw a reported raise from $400,000 a show (for her previous Vegas residency) to $507,000 a concert, Variety reported, citing the Daily Mail. However, Spears announced in January 2019 that she was canceling the residency in light of her father's hospitalization following a colon rupture.

Spears has made millions on film and TV roles, and a book deal.

Spears starred in the 2002 movie "Crossroads," which grossed $61 million worldwide, per HuffPost. The film was re-released in 2023 timed to the release of Spears' memoir. She has also appeared on TV shows like "Glee" and "Will & Grace."

That's not to mention reality TV. Spears had her own show with ex Kevin Federline, and served as a judge on "The X Factor" in 2012. She reportedly earned $15 million for her one-season stint on "The X Factor," per Rolling Stone.

In 2022, Page Six, citing anonymous publishing sources, reported that Spears' deal with Simon & Schuster for her memoir was valued at $15 million. (Representatives for Spears and the publishing house did not respond to Page Six's requests for comment on the deal amount.) The week of the book's October 2023 release, Spears claimed on Instagram that "The Woman in Me" was "the highest selling celebrity memoir in history," though that claim hasn't been verified. TMZ reported that Spears was getting 25% of the net profits from the memoir.

Spears has earned money from endorsement deals, fashion ventures, and even a mobile game.

By 2008, Spears had earned $12 million from endorsements from companies including Skechers and McDonald's, according to The New York Times. Per the Times, $9 million of that figure was from her Pepsi deal alone.

In 2018, Spears landed her first luxury fashion campaign with French brand Kenzo, Vogue reported.

She also had a clothing line at Kohl's ranging from $14 to $78 and an intimates line with the Danish company Change Lingerie ranging from $17 to $79.

Spears ventured into the virtual world in a five-year deal with Glu Mobile in 2015 to develop a free-to-play mobile game using her voice and likeness, The Verge reported. She eventually released "Britney Spears: American Dream" in 2016.

One of Spears' biggest moneymakers is her fragrance line with Elizabeth Arden.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, a deal with Elizabeth Arden to release Spears' first fragrance Curious in September 2004 earned the pop star $52 million. That year, Curious sold over 700 million units and was the top-selling department store fragrance.

In 2008, the New York Times reported that Spears was still receiving at least $2 million to $3 million annually for the perfume deal.

Spears has since launched dozens more fragrances, and it's become one of her biggest income streams. In 2016, a representative from Elizabeth Arden told Racked (a now-shuttered Vox media fashion vertical) that Spears' perfumes were a "billion-dollar franchise." Spears' brother Bryan similarly claimed in a July 2020 podcast appearance that the fragrance line had "done over $100 billion in sales."

But in 2011, Spears was sued for $10 million by the brand management company Brand Sense Partners, claiming that it was not paid its 35% commission for closing the deal with Elizabeth Arden, Rolling Stone reported. In 2012, TMZ reported that Spears settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount of money.

Following public mental health episodes in 2008, Spears was put under a conservatorship.

From 2008 to 2021, Spears' financial assets weren't under her control. The conservatorship required documentation of all of her financial records.

Insider previously reported that, based on legal filings, Spears' financial estate has paid costs tied to the conservatorship to people including Spears' parents and their lawyers. Per Insider's reporting, her father Jamie Spears may have earned over $2 million over the course of the conservatorship through his personal salary and concert commissions.

Spears' estate also paid for the maintenance and upkeep of the Louisiana home where her mother, Lynne Spears, was living. Spears' father Jamie claimed in court documents previously reviewed by Insider that Spears was paying "upwards of $150,000 per year" for Lynne's living costs.

Previously reported documents from Spears' conservatorship disclosed some of her personal spending habits.

Spears' most recent spending habits are private, now that she's no longer under a conservatorship. But while she was under the legal arrangement, documents filed in court detailed some of her expenses.

In 2008, the New York Times reported that, according to an income statement filed as part of her divorce from Kevin Federline in May 2007, Spears was spending an average of $102,000 monthly on entertainment, gifts, and vacations and about $16,000 monthly on clothes.

Citing legal documents they'd obtained, TMZ reported in 2013 that Spears spent $6.8 million of the nearly $14 million the conservatorship had earned in 2012. Specific amounts detailed by TMZ, citing the court docs, included $33,959 on "grooming and wardrobe," a $500 manicure, and $3,400 on Christmas lights.

According to The New Yorker's 2021 investigation into Spears' conservatorship, Spears' living expenses in 2019 totaled $438,360. In sealed court records obtained by the New York Times, Spears claimed she was limited to a $2,000 per week allowance during the conservatorship, a claim she reiterated in her memoir.

Spears also paid her ex-husband Kevin Federline $20,000 a month in child support, E! News reported, citing court documents, in 2018.

Spears also spent money on her legal team, a full-time bodyguard, and maintaining her home's elevator, according to E! News.

Spears has owned a variety of real-estate properties over the years.

According to The New Yorker's conservatorship report, in 2000, Spears spent $4.5 million to build a custom estate for her mother, Lynne, in Kentwood, Louisiana, the small town where she grew up.

Spears has since bought and sold properties worth millions in the Hollywood Hills, New York's NoHo, Malibu, Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Westlake Village, and Thousand Oaks, according to House Beautiful.

Spears' most recent real-estate purchase was a Calabasas home that she purchased for $11.8 million after her wedding to Sam Asghari, People reported in 2022. They sold the home for $10 million only nine months later, in March 2023. Five months later, in August 2023, Asghari filed for divorce.

Spears currently lives in the Thousand Oaks mansion she bought in 2015, which is worth an estimated $10 million and was previously owned by actors like Bruce Willis and Sylvester Stallone, according to House Beautiful.

Spears also participates in charity efforts.

The artist sold a painting she created for $10,000 and donated it to the Vegas Cares Memorial Fund, Apartment Therapy reported. She also raised $1 million for the Nevada Childhood Cancer Foundation, which opened the Britney Spears Campus in 2017, per People.