Latest Artist News

[-Jay-]

Something that may be of interest - these are the sales that the Greatest Hits achieved in its first 11 weeks of sale:

Week / Date / Position / Weekly Figure / Total

01. 18/11 - #02 - 75,787 (75,800)
02. 25/11 - #07 - 47,172 (122,972)
03. 02/12 - #12 - 40,090 (163,062)
04. 09/12 - #13 - 44,269 (207,331)
05. 16/12 - #22 - 42,928 (250,259)
06. 23/12 - #27 - Estimate: 52,158 (Estimate: 302,417)
07. 30/12 - #29 - Estimate: 23,550 (325,967)
08. 06/01 - #34 - 8,949 (334,916)
09. 13/01 - #36 - 6,534 (341,451)
10. 20/01 - #39 - 5,554 (347,005)
11. 27/01 - #41 - 4,844 (351,849)

There was no official info for 23/12 and 30/12 charts, but I managed to work out some estimations:

On 06/01, its sales of 8,949 was said to be a percentage decrease of -62% compared to the previous week, which gives a figure of 23,550 for 30/12. However, that percentage is either rounded up or down (i.e. its actual percentage decrease could have been anywhere from 61.50% to 62.49%), so its sales on 30/12 could have been anything from 23,245 to 23,857. I've just accepted it as being 23,550 though and I'm referring to it as being an estimate.

I've worked out an estimated weekly figure for 23/12 by doing this: Subtracting 23,550 from the known overall total on 30/12 of 325,967, which gives an estimated 23/12 total of 302,417. Subtracting the official 16/12 total of 250,259 from 302,417 = 52,158 (again, this could easily be a few hundred sales out from what it actually sold, but it's good enough for an estimate).

So that 52,158 at #27 was the Greatest Hits' second best selling week (that was Christmas week). It's a pity that the Greatest Hits wasn't one of the more desirable purchases that Christmas time (in that it was outsold by 26 other albums). Dare I say that I feel the Greatest Hits under-performed somewhat in 2007... at least you'd think on paper that a Spice Girls Greatest Hits album would have been more successful than the above chart run it achieved.

As a matter of interest, the Christmas week Top 10 sales figures:

286,437 Leona Lewis (1)
219,852 Westlife (2)
155,899 Michael Buble (3)
132,376 Andrea Bocelli (4)
119,040 Eagles (5)
116,042 Led Zeppelin (6)
111,434 Shayne Ward (7)
108,971 Take That (8)
106,212 Amy Winehouse - Deluxe Edition (9)
103,587 Amy Winehouse (10)


Unfortunately I don't have any information for its 12th/13th/14th weeks in the chart (its final 3 weeks of its first chart entry). I would estimate this though:

12. 03/02 - #67 - ~3,000 (~354,900)
13. 10/02 - #107 - ~1,900 (~356,800)
14. 17/02 - #138 - ~1,400 (~358,200)

It would have then sold less than 900 copies on 24/02 to not be Top 200, so it left the chart on sales of under 360,000. The final date of their UK tour was 26th January 2008, and their final tour date overall (in Toronto, Canada) took place on 26th February 2008, after which the Spice Girls parted company. So the Greatest Hits leaving the UK chart coincided with the end of that "Return of the Spice Girls" era.

On 19th August 2012, the GH was on a total of 413,129. It sold 5,708 copies that week, which means it had sold 407,421 by the 12th August chart (the date of their Olympics performance). 358,200 to 407,421 means it sold approx 49,000 copies during their four and a half years of inactivity as a group.