Posted May 30, 201312 yr Fifteen years ago this week, Geri Halliwell left the Spice Girls. To mark the day five became four, we reveal Ginger, Scary, Sporty, Baby and Posh’s biggest selling solo singles. They always said friendship never ends, but it certainly went on an extended holiday when Geri Halliwell hung up her platforms and bid goodbye to her Spice Girls’ bandmates on May 31, 1998, kicking off her solo career with Look At Me just under a year later. While Geri was the first Spice to fly the nest, she wasn’t the first to enter the Official Singles Chart without the rest of the girls. That honour goes to Melanie B, who collaborated with reigning queen of hip-hop Missy Elliott on the Number 1 hit I Want You Back in September 1998. But out of Ginger, Scary, Sporty, Baby and Posh, who’s had the biggest solo success? Who comes out on top and leaves the rest just a bunch of wannabes? When it comes to Number 1s, Geri’s out in front, racking up an impressive four singles that reached the top spot, with consecutive chart-toppers Mi Chico Latino, Lift Me Up, Bag It Up and It’s Raining Men. Just behind her is Melanie C, who managed to take two solo tracks all the way to pole position, although she was helped out on her biggest hit Never Be The Same Again by the late Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes of TLC, with I Turn To You being her other top-seller. Bandmates Melanie B and Emma Bunton have to make do with one apiece – namely Mel B’s hit with Missy and, for Emma, What Took You So Long? Victoria Beckham’s frown is unlikely to be turned upside down, as she remains the only Spice to fail to hit the top spot. Victoria’s had the fewest solo chart hits of all the girls, claiming just four Top 10s, the biggest being Out Of Your Mind, where she teamed up with Truesteppers and former Another Level singer Dane Bowers to reach Number 2 and sell an impressive 394,000 copies. However, when it comes to sales, Geri also claims the biggest selling single, with her cover of the Weather Girls’ It’s Raining Men shifting almost 428,000 copies. Melanie C has to make do with second prize yet again, with Never Be The Same Again selling almost 423,000 copies – will that 5,000-copy gap ever be closed? Time will tell. Victoria’s in third while Geri and Mel C claim fourth and fifth with their number ones Mi Chico Latino and I Turn To You respectively. Emma’s biggest seller was her debut What Took You So Long? with a healthy 265,000 copies, while I Want You Back shifted the most copies for Mel B. When it comes to total sales of charted singles, yet again Geri is victorious. She has racked up over 1.9 million singles sales from her nine Official Singles Chart hits. The role of bridesmaid belongs to – yes, you’ve guessed it – Melanie C, with almost 1.3 million singles sales. She can claim at least one crown, however, with the most charting singles of any of the Spice Girls – 15 of them, although only ten of them managed to break the Top 40. But, hey, it’s one more than Geri, right? But just to prove that friendship really never ends, in 2007 Geri rejoined Victoria, Mel B, Mel C and Emma for the Children In Need single Headlines (Friendship Never Ends) and a hugely successful world tour. Since going their separate ways again the following year, the girls have kept the Spice Girls' legacy alive by investing in a short-lived musical based on their hits, Viva Forever, with the help of comedy ace Jennifer Saunders. Going it alone, both Mel B and Geri have enjoyed stints as a judge on The X Factor, Mel C tried her hand at a talent show with the search to find her co-star in Jesus Christ Superstar and Emma Bunton has found a different use for a microphone at the helm of Heart Radio’s breakfast show. And Victoria? She’s moved on from singing Number 1 hits to designing size zero dresses and has become the toast of the fashion world. 1 WHEN YOU'RE GONE MELANIE C w/ BRYAN ADAMS 3 1998 2 IT'S RAINING MEN GERI HALLIWELL 1 2001 3 NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN MELANIE C 1 2000 4 OUT OF YOUR MIND VICTORIA BECKHAM 2 2000 5 MI CHICO LATINO GERI HALLIWELL 1 1999 6 I TURN TO YOU MELANIE C 1 2000 7 LIFT ME UP GERI HALLIWELL 1 1999 8 LOOK AT ME GERI HALLIWELL 2 1999 9 WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? EMMA BUNTON 1 2001 10 BAG IT UP GERI HALLIWELL 1 2000 11 I WANT YOU BACK MELANIE B 1 1998 12 WHAT I AM EMMA BUNTON 2 1999 13 NORTHERN STAR MELANIE C 4 1999 14 FEELS SO GOOD MELANIE B 5 2001 15 TELL ME MELANIE B 4 2000 16 GOIN' DOWN MELANIE C 4 1999 17 SCREAM IF YOU WANNA GO FASTER GERI HALLIWELL 8 2001 18 TAKE MY BREATH AWAY EMMA BUNTON 5 2001 19 NOT SUCH AN INNOCENT GIRL VICTORIA BECKHAM 6 2001 20 DOWNTOWN EMMA BUNTON 3 2006 21 MAYBE EMMA BUNTON 6 2003 22 WORD UP MELANIE B 13 1999 23 CALLING GERI HALLIWELL 7 2001 24 THIS GROOVE/LET YOUR HEAD VICTORIA BECKHAM 3 2003 25 A MIND OF ITS OWN VICTORIA BECKHAM 6 2002 26 FREE ME EMMA BUNTON 5 2003 27 IF THAT WERE ME MELANIE C 18 2000 28 RIDE IT GERI HALLIWELL 4 2004 29 HERE IT COMES AGAIN MELANIE C 7 2003 30 LULLABY MELANIE B 13 2001 31 I'LL BE THERE EMMA BUNTON 7 2004 32 WE'RE NOT GONNA SLEEP TONIGHT EMMA BUNTON 20 2001 33 ON THE HORIZON MELANIE C 14 2003 34 NEXT BEST SUPERSTAR MELANIE C 10 2005 35 CRICKETS SING FOR ANAMARIA EMMA BUNTON 15 2004 36 I WANT CANDY MELANIE C 24 2007 37 DESIRE GERI HALLIWELL 22 2004 38 MELT / YEH YEH YEH MELANIE C 27 2003 39 CAROLYNA MELANIE C 49 2007 40 ALL I NEED TO KNOW EMMA BUNTON 60 2007
May 30, 201312 yr Its a weird thing that although Victoria Beckham never achieved a solo number one - Out Of Your Mind peaked at two in a huge chart battle with Spiller's Groovejet. Her weekly sales that week (181000) is bigger than any of the other solo spice girls highest weekly sales who did get to number one.
May 30, 201312 yr Isn't it interesting how a long-running Top 3 hit sold more than all of the #1 singles who probably fell out of the chart within five weeks with a couple of exceptions. Edited May 30, 201312 yr by Griff
May 30, 201312 yr At least they provided *some* sales figures this time - often they 'forget'... I'm surprised Emma B's WTYSL only sold 265k. :o
May 30, 201312 yr Geri Halliwell - BEST POP SINGER EVER !!!! :wub: "Desire" are criminally underrated. Such wonderful single and my song of the year in 2005.
May 30, 201312 yr Deserved for Geri :wub: most UK female solo number 1's too right? Would be great to see how much each has sold in the digital era :lol:
May 30, 201312 yr I'm surprised 'Not Such an Innocent Girl' is higher than I thought it would be on that list. It was a great single and video but it was just an unfortunate victim of the public seeming to bash everything Victoria did at that stage - who can forget that major to-do that was made over the fake lip ring she wore?
May 30, 201312 yr Glad to see Never Be the Same Again outsold I Turn To You. Pretty sure ITTY beat NBTSA in Europe, so it's all good :D
May 30, 201312 yr 29 top 10 hits between them is a lot more than I'd have expected. Very impressive, considering the media usually portray their solo careers as having been disasters. Emma's 'Maybe' is definitely my favourite of the list, closely followed by 'Never Be The Same Again'.
May 30, 201312 yr 'It's Raining Men', 'What Took You So Long', 'Maybe' and 'Ride It' are my favourites: 2 IT'S RAINING MEN GERI HALLIWELL 1 2001 9 WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG? EMMA BUNTON 1 2001 21 MAYBE EMMA BUNTON 6 2003 28 RIDE IT GERI HALLIWELL 4 2004 Not many at all! :lol: To be quite honest, there's not many more that I've knowingly heard. Not too sure why the OCC report ignores the fact 'When You're Gone' is the best seller, despite having it number one on the Top 40 list. :unsure:
May 30, 201312 yr Emma Bunton 'Take My Breath Away', Melanie C's 'On The Horizon', 'Carolyna' and most notably 'Next Best Superstar' and Victoria Beckham's 'A Mind Of It's Own' all deserve to be higher. They all have some pretty solid songs in their discographies though. Geri is either good or awful!
May 31, 201312 yr Considering there have been so much haters in the press, the solo spice era did produce some corkers. I think for me Melanie C - Weak and Northern Star are stand outs, but I also love I Turn To You and Carolyna amongst others Melanie B - Lullaby is beautiful, but Feels So Good and Tell Me are great pop songs, shame Today didn't make the list, its so fresh Geri - I found a lot of her solo music very immature, but Mi Chico, Desire and Raining Men are great. Her vocals were flawless to Raining Men on the ROTSG tour Emma - the under-rated soloist! I wish she'd go back to recording. Free Me is a cracking album, Maybe is one of the best solo spice singles ever. Love WTYSL and AINTK too Victoria - meh, im on a break with her right now, but I heart This Groove and Out Of Your Mind
May 31, 201312 yr Lots of stuff I want to post about them would drive Martin to distraction, so I won't. ;)
May 31, 201312 yr Not too sure why the OCC report ignores the fact 'When You're Gone' is the best seller, despite having it number one on the Top 40 list. :unsure: They may have edited the article since it was posted here because when I saw it yesterday there were sales listed for "When You're Gone". "However, when it comes to sales, Melanie C claims the biggest selling single with her duet with Bryan Adams, When You're Gone, which sold 717,000 copies." Seriously, so much more than any of the others, surprising! :o http://www.officialcharts.com/features/the...-revealed-2248/
May 31, 201312 yr The article posted here was the original piece - they missed out 'When You're Gone' altogether, stating that 'It's Raining Men' was the best single. This oversight was pointed out to them, and they've since edited it to state that 'When You're Gone' was the top seller after all. Their original list omitted 'When You're Gone' as well, so every single was a place higher. So there was a different #40 initially - 'Think About It' by Melanie C, a #95 peaking single in 2011. So we now know that is 41st!
May 31, 201312 yr Do we think never be the same again can over take its raining men? It's far superior!!
May 31, 201312 yr I am convinced Never be the same again will eventually outsell its raining men. I am thrilled that Mel C now has the biggest selling single with when you're gone and likewise Mel C also would get an award for biggest selling solo spice girl album.
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