How exactly did they overlook a single that outsold everything else by such a large margin? :lol: It's not even like it was left out of the list.

Edited May 31, 201312 yr by Bré

Very surprised about When You're Gone being at the top - I'd assume it was one of Geri's songs that sold the most. Guess it took advantage of a very strong Christmas market.

 

Note that the whole top 19 are 2001 or earlier! I think in particular a lot of the later songs suffered from a sort of 90s/pre-millennium backlash at the time, as we moved further into the noughties it seemed nothing from the previous decade was in fashion anymore. So cheesy manufactured pop fizzled out, trance went back underground and Britpop/post-Britpop mutated into indie. By the time Emma Bunton covered Downtown in 2006, even when Geri did Ride It in 2004, they felt like relics from centuries ago. It'd be like Justin Timberlake and Maroon 5 having hits now...wait. :blink:

 

('Maybe' is, agreed, an absolute tune though!)

Never Be The Same Again is the pick of that lot. It stands the test of time very well. The album version of I Turn to You is much better but it wouldn't have been such a big hit because many fans already had the album.

Very surprised about When You're Gone being at the top - I'd assume it was one of Geri's songs that sold the most. Guess it took advantage of a very strong Christmas market.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't played loads on the radio as well. It's still played regularly to this day!

When You're Got was just a good song - I'm not very fond of radio-friendly pop but Mel's harmonies make it worth it.

I think Emma deserved more success.

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.

 

When it comes to Number 1s, Geri’s out in front, racking up an impressive four singles that reached the top spot

 

Can't believe I didn't spot the phrasing of this before. :lol:

 

On a related subject, a Daily Mail article :

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/artic...ach-Sydney.html

why is When you're gone listed as a Solo Spice single while it was obviously a Bryan Adams single with 2 lines sung by Mel C at the end??? it's unfair to the real number 1: Geri....

LMAO.

 

Mel C showing she is (and always will be) the greatest Spice Girl :D

why is When you're gone listed as a Solo Spice single while it was obviously a Bryan Adams single with 2 lines sung by Mel C at the end??? it's unfair to the real number 1: Geri....

 

Erm, 2 lines sung by Mel C at the end? I think you'll find she and Bryan sing in harmony throughout the whole song!

"When You're Gone" was MASSIVE though, I think it was still in the top 10 by the start of February! It was a great radio record too.

How exactly did they overlook a single that outsold everything else by such a large margin? :lol: It's not even like it was left out of the list.

 

It was left out of the list as well, initially! The original list that was posted on the OCC site didn't include it, so everything below 'WYG' was up a place. There was originally a different song placed at #40, which has now been bumped out of the revised list. (Melanie C - Think About It).

When we talk about a top three single selling more than the numbers ones, we're talking Victoria Beckham, right?

 

Loved all their music (Geri not so much), VB in particular. Still think Out of Your Mind deserved number one and that she didn't deserve all that flack - MUCH worse singers than her do well. I liked Not Such An Innocent Girl and her album a lot.

 

Mind you, I wonder if the Spice Girls were really as massive as we remember given their single sales. Rihanna's had 4/5 million sellers, they barely have 2 and are low in the list of best sellers of all time or even of the 90s.

Edited June 6, 201312 yr by Michael.

I think that sales are more inflated now than they were in those days though. And their cultural impact is undeniable no matter how many records they've sold.

Mind you, I wonder if the Spice Girls were really as massive as we remember given their single sales. Rihanna's had 4/5 million sellers, they barely have 2 and are low in the list of best sellers of all time or even of the 90s.

I'd say the Spice Girls did well to have two million selling singles, in close succession. Both are in the Top 100 best sellers of all time. 'Wannabe' has sold either 1,242,000+ or 1,330,000+ and '2 Become 1' is on either 1,094,000+ or 1,110,000+. Both figures come from the OCC, but they never seem able to decide which to use. The single released between them, 'Say You'll Be There', came ever so close to a million as well. It's on around 950,000.

 

What are you basing "are low in the list of best sellers of all time or even of the 90s" on? In the UK they were the top selling singles act of the 1990s, and they're the 20th best selling singles act of all time. We have to bear in mind that they were around for a relatively short period of time as well. The main bulk of their sales came from 9 singles & 2 albums released within a two and a half year period.

 

I'm pretty sure that Rihanna "only" has 3 million sellers? 'Love The Way You Lie', 'Only Girl (In The World)' & 'We Found Love'! Rihanna's sales have been massive considering she's only been around for 8 years, but then again, she's released 7 albums and she must be getting on for 40 singles released.

 

And their cultural impact is undeniable no matter how many records they've sold.

Truth!

 

For what it's worth, their record sales and performance on the charts were very impressive as a group. Here's quite a few facts that I can recall. I know this post has already been very TL;DR, but never mind. :kink:

 

UK:

Debut album 'Spice' sold either 2.9m+ or 3.1m+, depending on the source.

Follow up album 'Spiceworld' sold 1.5m+.

'Spice' is within the Top 40 best selling albums of all time in this country (I don't think it's Top 20 anymore, possibly just outside it though).

'Spice' stayed in the UK albums Top 5 for 40 consecutive weeks.

Best selling singles act of the 1990s.

20th best selling singles act of all-time.

9 #1 singles, out of 11 group releases.

8 of their singles were Platinum sellers, and as stated, two of these were million sellers.

Three Christmas #1s across three consecutive years (96/97/98).

'2 Become 1' sold almost 750,000 copies in its first two weeks on sale - this was their fastest selling single.

In the 1996 end-of-year singles chart, they placed at #2 (Wannabe), #4 (Say You'll Be There) and #5 (2 Become 1).

'Spice' was the 3rd best selling album of 1996 and was also the 3rd best selling album of 1997. Fittingly it was even the 3rd best selling album of the 1990s.

They were the first group to see their first 6 singles all peak at #1, before breaking their run with 'Stop'. (This record was later broken by Westlife).

Their total singles sales in the UK stand at around 7.8m+. Adding albums in, they're just under 13m in this country alone.

As solo artists, the five girls amassed around 8m single/album sales between them.

Group & Solo #1s = 17 singles. Group & Solo Top 10s = 39 singles.

 

Worldwide:

'Spice' is the best selling album by a female group of all time - it's certainly well within the Top 100 best selling albums.

They've reportedly sold 75m+ records worldwide (presumably group albums/singles, combined).

Besides, the Spice Girls were able to have 2 MILLION sellers during the physical era which is much more impressive.

I think it's pretty silly for anyone to deny that the Spice Girls were massive in their (brief) peak.

 

Although their long-term impact is much more arguable imo.... for an act that were once so huge, their songs don't seem to have stood the test of time well AT ALL.

You really can't argue with their sales and cultural impact. In terms of 'cultural impact', they're definitely up there with the likes of The Beatles, Elvis, Madonna and Michael Jackson.

Although their long-term impact is much more arguable imo.... for an act that were once so huge, their songs don't seem to have stood the test of time well AT ALL.

 

If you mean that they sound dated, you're probably right. But "Wannabe" will always remain one of the most recognizable songs from the decade, along with "...Baby One More Time" and "Genie In A Bottle".

OCC revealed today that Mel B's 'I Want You Back' has sold 225k to date. http://www.officialcharts.com/features/off...-you-back-2527/