Music stars' standout cameos

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Britney Spears

By Deborah Netburn, Patrick Day, Todd Martens and Stephanie Lysaght, Los Angeles Times staff writers

After careful consideration, we have divined four main reasons pop stars show up on television shows with such great frequency: 1. It's a desperate ratings ploy by the network to give advertising execs and marketers something to hype. 2. It's a desperate ploy by a music label to get a musician some additional exposure. 3. Singers often want to break into the acting biz after making a video or two. 4. The singer loves the show, the show loves the singer -- hey, we should get together and do something sometime!

There is an endless supply of pop stars making television cameos -- Britney Spears was just on CBS' "How I Met Your Mother" -- but only a few of these have been truly memorable, momentous or successful. Here are a few of the very best.