I’m so happy. I’ve been checking the BPI page over the past few weeks. Nothing gets past Jay :D

 

Thank you for the update. Great that it’s finally 2x plat. I wonder how near it is to 1m in pure sales?

Happy to see SYBT 2 times plat. Tbh all there singles to Headlines should be million sellers or 2 times plat.

“Wannabe” has been certified 4x Platinum in the UK for sales of 2.4 million on the eve of its 27th anniversary :cheer: :cheer:

:cheer: Perfect timing! Huge success :wub:

 

Will be interesting to keep an eye on TLC - No Scrubs and Little Mix - Black Magic and Shout Out to My Ex and when they manage 4xPlatinum.

Great news for Wannabe. Will be so wrong when / if another girlband song overtakes it.

Next stop 1b streams on Spotify for Wannabe.

 

So that is 9.2m sales for Wannabe from the UK/US alone.

Next stop 1b streams on Spotify for Wannabe.

 

So that is 9.2m sales for Wannabe from the UK/US alone.

 

Which just shows how outdated that 7million worldwide figure was back during the Wannabe25 campaign :unsure:

 

To be honest, they also havent much updated the Spiceworld figures either. The 14million figure for the album seems too low :blink:

“Wannabe” has been certified 4x Platinum in the UK for sales of 2.4 million on the eve of its 27th anniversary :cheer: :cheer:

 

YAY :w00t: :cheer:

 

Wannabe is so iconic :heart:

Which just shows how outdated that 7million worldwide figure was back during the Wannabe25 campaign :unsure:

 

To be honest, they also havent much updated the Spiceworld figures either. The 14million figure for the album seems too low :blink:

 

 

Certainly makes Melanie's 15 million for Wannabe in her book sound a lot more accurate.

 

Saw a list of biggest female albums on Spice Circle the other day, it said 31 million for Spice. Spiceworld wasn't featured on the list but think the lowest seller was 18million.

A summary of all Spice Girls group/solo certifications in the UK!

 

A lot of these certifications happened pre-July 2013. It used to be the case that the certification were based on shipment numbers, and the record label had to apply for it. From July 2013 onwards the certifications are based on when releases pass over the number of sales required, and it's automatic.

 

It means that there are some releases listed below that have a certification that is higher than the number of sales they actually achieved. For instance, 'Forever' was certified Platinum in November 2000 (its month of release) for shipments exceeding 300,000 copies. However it's not actually sold 300,000 copies. This also applies to 'Look at Me', which is certified Gold based on shipments, but it hasn't sold 400,000 copies.

 

The dates are when the certification happened (although I wonder if 01/03/1997 for Mama/Who Do You Think You Are is meant to represent that it was certified some time in March, but not necessarily on the 1st of the month - because that date is actually in advance of its release date).

 

 

The order of these albums and singles is from highest selling to lowest selling (or at least I assume this is what the sales order is):

 

Albums

 

01/08/1997 :plat: :plat: :plat: :plat: :plat: 10xPlatinum Spice (Spice Girls)

19/12/1997 :plat: :plat: 5xPlatinum Spiceworld (Spice Girls)

09/02/2001 :plat: 3xPlatinum Northern Star (Melanie C) *

21/06/2019 :plat: 2xPlatinum Greatest Hits (Spice Girls)

23/06/2000 :plat: 2xPlatinum Schizophonic (Geri Halliwell) *

17/11/2000 Platinum Forever (Spice Girls) *

18/05/2001 Gold Scream If You Wanna Go Faster (Geri Halliwell)

28/05/2004 Gold Free Me (Emma Bunton)

07/09/2001 Gold A Girl Like Me (Emma Bunton)

14/03/2003 Gold Reason (Melanie C)

20/10/2000 Silver Hot (Mel B) *

 

Singles

 

07/07/2023 :plat: :plat: 4xPlatinum Wannabe (Spice Girls)

02/03/2018 :plat: 2xPlatinum 2 Become 1 (Spice Girls)

30/12/2022 :plat: 2xPlatinum Spice Up Your Life (Spice Girls)

30/06/2023 :plat: 2xPlatinum Say You'll Be There (Spice Girls)

12/02/1999 Platinum When You're Gone (Melanie C)

18/12/1998 Platinum Goodbye (Spice Girls)

01/03/1997 Platinum Mama / Who Do You Think You Are (Spice Girls)

13/08/1998 Platinum Viva Forever (Spice Girls)

14/08/2020 Platinum Stop (Spice Girls)

09/01/1998 Platinum Too Much (Spice Girls)

25/05/2001 Gold It's Raining Men (Geri Halliwell)

12/05/2000 Gold Never Be the Same Again (Melanie C)

27/04/2018 Gold I Turn to You (Melanie C)

22/09/2000 Gold Out of Your Mind (Victoria Beckham)

06/05/2022 Gold Mi Chico Latino (Geri Halliwell)

05/11/1999 Silver Lift Me Up (Geri Halliwell)

11/06/1999 Gold Look at Me (Geri Halliwell) *

27/10/2000 Silver Holler / Let Love Lead the Way (Spice Girls)

12/04/2001 Silver What Took You So Long? (Emma Bunton)

17/03/2000 Silver Bag It Up (Geri Halliwell)

05/11/1999 Silver What I Am (Emma Bunton)

25/09/1998 Silver I Want You Back (Mel B)

10/03/2000 Silver Northern Star (Melanie C)

 

* Based on shipments

Separated by artist:

 

Albums

 

01/08/1997 :plat: :plat: :plat: :plat: :plat: 10xPlatinum Spice (Spice Girls)

19/12/1997 :plat: :plat: 5xPlatinum Spiceworld (Spice Girls)

21/06/2019 :plat: 2xPlatinum Greatest Hits (Spice Girls)

17/11/2000 Platinum Forever (Spice Girls) *

 

 

20/10/2000 Silver Hot (Mel B) *

 

 

28/05/2004 Gold Free Me (Emma Bunton)

07/09/2001 Gold A Girl Like Me (Emma Bunton)

 

 

09/02/2001 :plat: 3xPlatinum Northern Star (Melanie C) *

14/03/2003 Gold Reason (Melanie C)

 

 

23/06/2000 :plat: 2xPlatinum Schizophonic (Geri Halliwell) *

18/05/2001 Gold Scream If You Wanna Go Faster (Geri Halliwell)

 

 

Singles

 

07/07/2023 :plat: :plat: 4xPlatinum Wannabe (Spice Girls)

02/03/2018 :plat: 2xPlatinum 2 Become 1 (Spice Girls)

30/12/2022 :plat: 2xPlatinum Spice Up Your Life (Spice Girls)

30/06/2023 :plat: 2xPlatinum Say You'll Be There (Spice Girls)

18/12/1998 Platinum Goodbye (Spice Girls)

01/03/1997 Platinum Mama / Who Do You Think You Are (Spice Girls)

13/08/1998 Platinum Viva Forever (Spice Girls)

14/08/2020 Platinum Stop (Spice Girls)

09/01/1998 Platinum Too Much (Spice Girls)

27/10/2000 Silver Holler / Let Love Lead the Way (Spice Girls)

 

 

25/09/1998 Silver I Want You Back (Mel B)

 

 

22/09/2000 Gold Out of Your Mind (Victoria Beckham)

 

 

12/04/2001 Silver What Took You So Long? (Emma Bunton)

05/11/1999 Silver What I Am (Emma Bunton)

 

 

12/02/1999 Platinum When You're Gone (Melanie C)

12/05/2000 Gold Never Be the Same Again (Melanie C)

27/04/2018 Gold I Turn to You (Melanie C)

10/03/2000 Silver Northern Star (Melanie C)

 

 

25/05/2001 Gold It's Raining Men (Geri Halliwell)

06/05/2022 Gold Mi Chico Latino (Geri Halliwell)

05/11/1999 Silver Lift Me Up (Geri Halliwell)

11/06/1999 Gold Look at Me (Geri Halliwell) *

17/03/2000 Silver Bag It Up (Geri Halliwell)

 

* Based on shipments

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Summary of number of certified discs:

 

Spice Girls

Albums: Platinum (18)

Singles: Platinum (15) / Silver (1)

 

Melanie C

Albums: Platinum (3) / Gold (1)

Singles: Platinum (1) / Gold (2) / Silver (1)

 

Geri Halliwell

Albums: Platinum (2) / Gold (1)

Singles: Gold (3) / Silver (2)

 

Emma Bunton

Albums: Gold (2)

Singles: Silver (2)

 

Mel B

Albums: Silver (1)

Singles: Silver (1)

 

Victoria Beckham

Singles: Gold (1)

It took 190 weeks for Wannabe to go from 3xPlatinum (15th November 2019) to 4xPlatinum (7th July 2023), i.e. a gap of around 600,000. If it continued selling at the same pace it would reach 5xPlatinum (3,000,000) on 26th February 2027.

 

I fear that by then it won't be the biggest selling girl group song anymore. TLC - No Scrubs only needed 140 weeks to go from 2xPlatinum (6th July 2018) to 3xPlatinum (12th March 2021) and if it continues at that rate then it'll be 4xPlatinum on 17th November 2023 (4 months after Wannabe) and 5xPlatinum on 24th July 2026 (7 months before Wannabe) :drama:

 

Little Mix - Shout Out to My Ex took slightly longer to go from 2xPlat to 3xPlat (145 weeks - 2nd February 2018 to 13th November 2020) but they were still an active band in that period of time. If it continued selling like that then it would go 4xPlatinum on 25th August 2023, and 5xPlatinum on 5th June 2026. I feel like it might have slowed down a bit though.

 

Black Magic by Little Mix: 2xPlat to 3xPlat (161 weeks - 9th March 2018 to 9th April 2021). 4xPlat potentially 10th May 2024, 5xPlat potentially 11th June 2027.

 

I think it's pretty inevitable that No Scrubs will overtake eventually, but I'm less sure about Little Mix. Time will tell! It would feel odd if by the end of this decade that Wannabe is only the 4th highest girl group song though.

‘Wannabe’ will always be the best seller in terms of actual sales. 1.4 million is miles ahead of any other girl group.

Wow, that's a lot of information!

It even has vinyl charts from the 90s... :o We can see from the chart runs that they weren't big sellers on vinyl back then. Maybe it's the case that pop music on vinyl wasn't sought after then, so it was more of a niche purchase... or maybe they didn't press enough copies.

Spice shows a 90s vinyl chart run of: 14-21-out-37-40-24-19-13-12-32-29-out-38-out

 

Spiceworld only managed this: 8-25-out-32-out

Probably explains why those original pressings appeared so rarely on eBay and if they did it was with high prices.

It shows Spice Up Your Life with a vinyl album chart run. :thinking: Maybe with so many remixes on it, it was considered applicable for the album chart rather than singles? :thinking: Unless it's a mistake. It managed a decent chart run: 1-4-9-13-19-16-32-26-22-13-18-29-out ... if it was the album chart it clearly sold a lot more copies than Spiceworld.

No sign of Holler with a vinyl chart run even though it got a commercial release.

 

They removed the 90s position of vinyl charts...

 

Ugh that's annoying, that was nice information <_< At least I thought to write them above, so we'll always have them (but unfortunately I didn't note down which dates the re-entries happened on :( ).

 

Also I didn't think to check, but I wonder if it also had vinyl singles chart positions for Wannabe in 2013/14? :(

Everything is gone.

Edited July 13, 20232 yr by Babyboy

Could Mama and Who Do You Think You Are both reach Silver for individual sales anytime soon? I know they will reach it eventually but any idea when that could happen?

Could Mama and Who Do You Think You Are both reach Silver for individual sales anytime soon? I know they will reach it eventually but any idea when that could happen?

Who Do You Think You Are won’t, because that’s the nominated song that contributes to the single “Mama/Who Do You Think You Are”. So all downloads and streams of Who Do You Think You Are add onto that. Patiently waiting for it to pass 1 million! It was on 914,500 in August 2022. I estimated 934,000 by March 2023. I think by late 2024 it’ll have got to 1m. It sold 660,000 copies physically. So it has added 254,500 to its total by August 2022. So technically if it had started from 0 as Who Do You Think You Are by itself then it would be Silver.

 

Mama on the other hand only counts towards itself as a separate entry. Last known sales were 114,734 in November 2020. At the rate it was selling at, it seemed to me that it would go Silver sometime in 2026… but hopefully it’ll be sooner! Last time I did an estimate for it, I had it at almost 150,000 in December 2022.

It would defo be funny to see Mama go Silver as well as platinum.

Thanks for explaining how it works Jay, will be good to see another certification hopefully sooner than 2026 for Mama.