2008 Entertainers of the Year: 4) Britney Spears

Are you surprised? I think not. Just like Robert Downey Jr., B. Spears has had a hell of a comeback this year (she says she doesn't like that word, but really, who are we kidding). She started 2008 in the psych ward, which cost her custody of her sons and forced her father to become the conservator of her estate, effectively ending her freedom. Up to that point, every time she did something bad (shaving off her head, beating up a paparazzi car with an umbrella, the 2007 MTV Music Video Awards performance), I'd be horrified, asking myself if things could get any worse. And then she'd go and do something that answered my question with a resounding YES. Except...

Starting in February, all of the unflattering paparazzi shots of her stumbling out of nightclubs and not wearing underwear started being replaced with semi-flattering shots of her doing things like going to the dance studio. Going into the recording studio. Going to Bally's and working out. Reconnecting with her old manager Larry Rudolph and her formerly estranged parents. And then came her well-received 2 guest appearances on How I Met Your Mother. Well, things really started looking uphill from there. She won 3 MTV Music Video Awards in September, her single "Womanizer" hit #1 in October, MTV aired a much talked about documentary called "Britney: For the Record" in November, and her 6th studio album, Circus, was released on her 27th birthday in December. The album sold over 500,000 copies its first week, easily doubling the first-week sales of her last effort, Blackout.

Hopefully 2009 will be another good year for Ms. Spears. She is starting her worldwide tour in March (I'll see you at the 3/14 show in Newark!!), and after that, who knows. Like Robert Downey Jr., Britney had done everything she possibly could to ruin her career, yet she's managed to turn her mess of a life around and show the world what she is capable of. Move over Rihanna, Katy Perry, and anyone else who was just keeping the Princess of Pop seat warm for her triumphant return. Britney Spears is a phoenix- just when you think she's down and out, she rises from the ashes better than ever. Take that, bitches.