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Posted by: liamk97 10th September 2017, 12:37 PM

Girls Aloud's biggest solo songs revealed
09 September 2017 | By Justin Myers

To celebrate Nadine's return, we look at life after Girls Aloud for the fab five.

Time flies when you're in one of the most successful girlbands ever. It's almost 15 years since Girls Aloud first burst into the charts, and five since they called it a day – but more importantly, it's been too long since Nadine Coyle scored her first and only (so far) solo hit, Insatiable. Nearly seven years!

But now she's back, at last! Nadine returns with a new single Go To Work, a collaboration with Xenomania, who were the brains behind Girls Aloud's impressive catalogue of smashes. To mark the occasion, we look at what the girls got up to once Girls Aloud was over. And, yes, one of them did have a *couple* more hits than the others.

Cheryl
OK, let's start big. Cheryl always had the highest profile of the ladies, with her presenting gig on The X Factor and marriage to Arsenal and Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole, and this also transferred to her solo career. Debut single Fight For This Love was the first of five chart-toppers, and even gave her a million-seller – something Girls Aloud never managed. Cheryl's five Number 1s mean she holds a chart record for the most Number 1 singles by a British female solo artist – tied with Jess Glynne. 10 Top 40 singles and four Top 40 albums – yeah, she's done OK. Second biggest song Call My Name, produced by Calvin Harris, has shifted 500,000 across all formats.

Cheryl's Top 5:

1 FIGHT FOR THIS LOVE
2 CALL MY NAME
3 CRAZY STUPID LOVE
4 PROMISE THIS
5 PARACHUTE

Nadine
Some might say Nadine was the voice of Girls Aloud. She would go into the studio without the other girls and lay down the guide vocals for most of their big hits and, famously, had already had a taste of reality TV stardom when she fibbed about her age on the Irish version of Popstars. Her solo career, launched in 2010, was met with bemusement when it was announced the album – named Insatiable, like the single – would be exclusive to Tesco. It was a brave move, but not entirely successful – it peaked at 47. The single did better, reaching Number 26.

Nadine's Top 5:

1 INSATIABLE
2 I COULD BE (WITH SHANE FILAN)
3 SWEETEST HIGH
4 ENOUGH IS NEVER ENOUGH
5 LITTLE MISS COMPLICATED

Nicola
Nicola was maybe the biggest solo surprise of the five, veering toward a cooler, edgier sound. Working with Diplo and Dragonette, among others, Nicola showed off her hitherto unknown songwriting skills on debut solo set Cinderella's Eyes, a hit with critics. First solo single Beat Of My Drum reached Number 27 and the album went Top 20 in 2011. Since then, she's focused on writing for other artists, has tried her hand at presenting, and had her own makeup range for a few years.

Nicola's Top 5:

1 BEAT OF MY DRUM
2 LUCKY DAY
3 YO-YO
4 STICKS + STONES
5 CINDERELLA'S EYES

Kimberley
Kimba was Girls Aloud's all-rounder; she acted before her time in the band and has dabbled in different genres since the group went their separate ways. Her top song is a feature on Brazilian rapper's Aggro Santos' poppy banger Like U Like, which hit Number 8 in early 2011. Kimberley went more theatrical with her Centre Stage album in 2013, which featured covers of stage and screen classics, including second biggest song One Day I'll Fly Away. Her cover of Queen's One Vision with Alfie Boe was an official anthem of Team GB for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which took place in London.

Kimberley's Top 5:

1 LIKE U LIKE (WITH AGGRO SANTOS)
2 ONE DAY I'LL FLY AWAY
3 ONE VISION (WITH ALFIE BOE)
4 FALLING SLOWLY
5 EVERYBODY DANCE

Sarah
The queen of Celebrity Big Brother, Sarah Harding was last off the blocks when it came to releasing solo material. She waited until 2015 before unleashing her debut EP Threads. While it missed the Top 100, it went Top 3 on the physical chart, and the title track is her biggest song. Her next three tracks all come from the soundtrack of the movie St Trinian's 2: The Legends of Fritton's Gold, in which Sarah starred as a teenage rebel. They include a cover of David Bowie classic Boys Keep Swinging, which went Top 10 in 1979.

Sarah's Top 5:

1 THREADS
2 TOO BAD
3 BOYS KEEP SWINGING
4 MAKE IT EASY
5 INDELIBLE

Posted by: GTH 10th September 2017, 02:14 PM

Shame they couldn't provide the sales for at least the top song per artist, but I suppose they didn't want to make the others look bad in comparison to Cheryl.

Would be interested to see Beat Of My Drum and Insatiable's sales up to this point.

Posted by: marcin 10th September 2017, 03:21 PM

I have never heard most of these songs except for Cheryl, they must have all flopped.

Posted by: Rob Spears 10th September 2017, 03:24 PM

Basically

Posted by: JosephGutierrez 10th September 2017, 03:42 PM

Your loss, there's some cracking pop songs there away from Cheryl.

Posted by: sajjadali 10th September 2017, 03:50 PM

Yep wouldn't have minded some up to date totals for those songs. Nicola is the 2nd most successful...then Nadine.

Posted by: Rob 10th September 2017, 04:05 PM

Anyone have total album sales for the girls? Curious if Nadine or Nicola sold more...

Posted by: JosephGutierrez 10th September 2017, 04:10 PM

I don't have anything even slightly up to date but Nicola was on 12.7k as of November 2011 and Nadine was on 7.3k in November 2010. I doubt Nadine's caught up in that time so Nicola is the answer to your question (no shock as she peaked quite a bit higher I guess!)

Posted by: tommie 10th September 2017, 04:34 PM

Have any of the others even released five singles?

Posted by: JosephGutierrez 10th September 2017, 04:36 PM

No Nadine and Kimberley four, Nicola three and Sarah one (including features).

Posted by: tommie 10th September 2017, 05:02 PM

It just makes you wonder what #5 in their list has sold - is it in the 100s or even 10s?

Edit: I couldn't even find Nadine's "Little Miss Complicated" on iTunes or Spotify. I don't follow any of their careers so I wonder what on earth that is?

Edit2: Oh dear - did they confuse Nadine Coyle with this Nadine that released a double A-side called "Little Miss Complicated / Starting to Live" in 2015?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-7oPkNF9Ak

You know you have plenty of smash hits when OCC can't even do a top five without confusing one of the spots with someone else...

Posted by: 777666jason 10th September 2017, 05:54 PM

Nicola is so underatted the whole Cinderella eyes is a gem and really deserves more sticks and stones is fantastic

Posted by: marcin 10th September 2017, 09:22 PM

I'm not so into pop so I somehow don't feel this loss.

Posted by: Jay ☆ 10th September 2017, 10:10 PM

It's highly :') of them to mistakenly include a different Nadine's song in Nadine's Top 5.

Also, I'm sure 'The Road' (Alistair Griffin feat. Kimberley Walsh) must have been overlooked. I'd be amazed if it sold less than One Day I'll Fly Away, let alone the other songs in Kimberley's Top 5.

Posted by: Spiceboy 10th September 2017, 10:30 PM

You should give Cinderella's Eyes album a listen its really good, much better than any of Cheryl's albums. It's on youtube.