In fact, the Spice Girls are credited as one of the first groups to ever do that in the creditation of their writing credits. That way, they avoided the whole 'only a couple of them actually write their songs' and showed them as a more unified creative force.

 

Show unity in the creation of the song, as all elements of the group inspired the song, even if not all of them actually wrote down some of the lyrics.

 

That then became the standard in music business. That is well explained in the Spice Bible book from David Sinclair and he even goes into the Sugababes 1.0 creditation practices as an example, where all of them were constantly credited (although with their own names, not the group). Overload had 11 writers attached to it, which is insane!

 

You can see in the Forever credits how some of them didnt always contribute to the writing -_-

 

I'm sure the decision to credit them as 'spice girls' on the credits was more a money decision. The deal they had with Simon was basically everything splits 6 ways. So if credited individually they wouldn't have worked especially if some weren't listed on songs.

 

They changed it for Forever I thought it was an easy way to leave Geri out of the writing credits. Hence why it was back to 'spice girls' for the GH when it was back to 5.

 

I'm sure if they ever wrote and recorded without Victoria now it would be back to individual names to exclude Victoria from getting writing credit money.

 

and will be creeping up on Girls Aloud all the time as they have their streams split between TSOGA and Ten... times like this are when not having lots of cheap Greatest Hits to Spice Girls name will help their Greatest Hits keep increasing in sales.

I know I'm going off topic here, but I don't think TSOGA achieves many sales any more. It's not availability digitally to download or stream. Although it's still available physically on Amazon, I'm fairly sure they're rejuvenated second hand copies that don't count to the chart. I'm 99.9% sure that Ten gets all their back catalogue streaming now!

 

For instance Ten's total was 226,528 on 15th March 2019 and 236,052 by 2nd August 2019, which suggests to me that it consistently has streaming applied to it.

 

I understand why they deleted The Sound of Girls Aloud, because they wanted all sales from the reunion to go towards Ten, but with hindsight it's interesting that they kind of got rid of the legacy of The Sound of Girls Aloud, considering that it reached #1 / 4xPlatinum. Maybe they felt it did as much as it was possibly going to. I hope Ten reaches Platinum someday... judging by The Saturdays - Finest Selection going Silver at the end of 2018, and Gold this week, I'm sure Ten will have added on tens of thousands in the past 18 months.

 

You are right though that some artists have streaming count towards one of their GH albums at times, and then in other weeks it goes towards a different compilation. Madonna, Britney and Mariah are three artists I can think of that have been affected by this.

 

 

The great Spice Girls vs Westlife war can continue with my next comment... it pains me slightly that both Westlife GH albums have sold more than Spice Girls - Greatest Hits lol. Their first from 2002, Unbreakable Greatest Hits Volume 1, is on over 1.9m sales. Last I knew, their 2011 Greatest Hits had exceeded 700,000.

Westlife are just a far bigger band than the Spices. We need to accept it. It is like the pop world equivalent of the Beatles vs Kaiser Chiefs.

Westlife are just a far bigger band than the Spices. We need to accept it. It is like the pop world equivalent of the Beatles vs Kaiser Chiefs.

 

I wouldn't say that. Westlife never reached the heights of the Spice Girls but they obviously sustained success for much longer.

 

At the end of the day activity sells records, gets streams and sales. The Spice Girls in total haven't actually been active for that long in terms of actually being together. They did 2 and a half years solid together but since then it's never really been more than a few months here and there together.

 

The effect them being together and active has on their sales is very evident and obvious. If they could just get their act together and commit to a year properly together or to being semi active where they come together a couple of times a year for projects it would do wonders for them.

 

Since Nov 2000 publicly they have done 4 performances, 2 of stop, 1 of headlines and the Olympics, that's in 21 years. My hope for this year and next is we get actual televised or professionally filmed performances. Glastonbury next year, the hopefully tour recorded next year and a televised performance this year in some way.

Dill Doe (lol) has been saying things like that for years ( http://www.buzzjack.com/forums/index.php?s...t&p=5795770 ), I'm sure it's just to get a rise out of people x

Westlife are just a far bigger band than the Spices. We need to accept it. It is like the pop world equivalent of the Beatles vs Kaiser Chiefs.

 

Do you think so? They have maybe outsold them in de UK, but they definitely don't have the legacy the Spice Girls have! Especially on a worldwide scale. Over here Westlife were just another boyband and I doubt many people even remember one of their songs.

Westlife sales are crazy as they have no legacy and they have no song that will be played for eternity.

Their fanbase went from girls to mums because they were so bland.

 

Melanie C said it best ‘covers covers covers’ 🤣

 

Westlife are just a far bigger band than the Spices. We need to accept it. It is like the pop world equivalent of the Beatles vs Kaiser Chiefs.

 

Westlife may have sold more albums and singles in the UK and of course they were together as a group for a lot longer, but comparing SG and Westlife and basically saying they're the equivalent of the Kaiser Chiefs to the Beatles is quite silly.

 

Ironically, the SG have more in common with the Beatles than Westlife does in terms of their global appeal, hysteria and iconography.

Westlife may have sold more albums and singles in the UK and of course they were together as a group for a lot longer, but comparing SG and Westlife and basically saying they're the equivalent of the Kaiser Chiefs to the Beatles is quite silly.

 

Ironically, the SG have more in common with the Beatles than Westlife does in terms of their global appeal, hysteria and iconography.

 

Westlife have more no.1s - they're all awful and mostly fake one week no.1s that sold less than non no.1 solo Spice offerings that Virgin managed to mess up - than the Beatles in the UK! The Spices lasted 20 months and cracked under the pressure. All Saints also cracked, because they were almsot as big as the Spices, so maybe they just grew too big to last, like giant stars. Westlife, as awful as they are, lasted yeard and had 17 no.1s and beat them in head-to-head battles. They were the original Ed Sheeran.

It really depends how you view it I mean Westlife lasted a heck of a lot longer and in the long run sold more than Spice Girls in the UK, had more #1s than the Spice Girls in the UK... however Spice Girls hit heights that Westlife never did and they outsold Westlife on a worldwide scale with much less singles and albums released.

 

If we compare Spice Girls first two album eras to Westlife's in the UK alone they were easily much bigger on that basis alone.

 

SPICE GIRLS

1. Spice [#1] (3 million)

2. Spiceworld [#1] (1.6 million)

 

1. Wannabe [#1] (1,945,000)

2. Say you'll be there [#1] (1,100,000)

3. 2 become 1 [#1] (1,315,000)

4. Mama / Who do you think you are [#1] (845,838)

5. Spice up your life [#1] (1,086,000)

6. Too much [#1] (735,000)

7. Stop [#2] (616,000)

8. Viva forever [#1] (781,000)

9. Goodbye [#1] (947,000)

 

WESTLIFE

1. Westlife [#2] (670,000)

2. Coast To Coast [#1] (1.7 million)

 

1. Swear it again [#1] (400,000)

2. If I let you go [#1] (400,000)

3. Flying without wings [#1] (600,000)

4. I have a dream / Seasons in the sun [#1] (600,000)

5. Fool again [#1] (200,000)

6. Against all odds [#1] (400,000)

7. My love [#1] (400,000)

8. What makes a man [#2] (400,000 in UK)

9. Uptown girl [#1] (990,000 in UK)

 

ALBUMS

Spice Girls = approx 4.6 million

Westlife = approx 2.4 million

 

SINGLES

Spice Girls = approx 9.3 million

Westlife = approx 4.4 million

 

OVERALL

Spice Girls = approx 14 million

Westlife = approx 7 million

 

Says it all really on who was more successful even if it was for a briefer period of time.

Edited February 21, 20214 yr by spiceboy

In fact lets look at their US success aswell

 

SPICE GIRLS

1. Spice [#1] (8 million in USA)

2. Spiceworld [#3] (5 million in USA)

3. Forever [#39] (200,000 in USA)

4. The Greatest Hits [#93] (800,000 in USA)

 

1. Wannabe [#1] (3 million in USA)

2. Say you'll be there [#3] (1 million in USA)

3. 2 become 1 [#4] (1 million in USA)

4. Spice up your life [#18] (500,000 in USA)

5. Too much [#9] (600,000 in USA)

6. Stop [#16] (sales unknown)

7. Goodbye [#11] (600,000 in USA)

8. Holler [#197] (sales unknown)

9. Headlines [#90] (sales unknown)

 

 

WESTLIFE

1. Westlife [#129] (sales unknown not certified)

 

1. Swear it again [#20] (500,000)

 

 

ALBUMS

- SPICE GIRLS = approx 14 million

- WESTLIFE = less than 500,000

 

SINGLES

- SPICE GIRLS = 6.7 million

- WESTLIFE = 500,000

 

OVERALL

- SPICE GIRLS = approx 21 million

- WESTLIFE = less than 1 million

 

 

Or with equivalent releases

 

- SPICE GIRLS = approx 8 million albums / 3 million singles = 11 million records

- WESTLIFE = less than 500,000 albums / 500,000 singles = less than 1 million records

Edited February 21, 20214 yr by spiceboy

^ That's actually interesting that Swear It Again managed to chart that high in the US. #20. I was keeping up with pop radio quite a bit at that time, and I never heard it. Westlife is an unknown group here.

 

With the Spice Girls, I'd say the cultural impact actually outpaces the sales in the US. They completely owned 1997. They were hugely popular throughout 1998. To this day, Wannabe's still a staple of parties and karaoke bars. Every 90s Party I've ever seen (they're big in my age group) has had someone dressed up as a Spice Girl. I see people dressed as Spice Girls every Halloween. The uniqueness of their image made them a lasting brand. Yes, their success dropped here at a certain point, but the group wasn't even doing the bare minimum to support their efforts...so...

 

Anyway. I'm not trying to make it sound like the US music market is the be-all and end-all or anything. But it IS the biggest music market...and that has to count for something in a conversation of which of two groups is bigger.

 

I realize I just wrote quite a lot in response to a discussion that probably wasn't serious to begin with...

 

Westlife have more no.1s [...] than the Beatles in the UK!

No they don't...

 

The Beatles - 17 #1 singles, 16 #1 albums

Westlife - 14 #1 singles, 8 #1 albums

This is funny. The Spices have played Wembley 5 times, the fact that they realesed only 3 studio albums and 9 singles, that's a very small catalogue there and still manage to sold out biggest stadiums two decades later is a solid proof how huge they are and not even a full band too. Their sales were insane because they broke all territories they possibly could at the time. Small discography with huge sales that means more people purchased them, not just the same old people bought them 20 times.

Edited February 21, 20214 yr by JaneJ

Going to a different topic, me and spice girls net were thinking seen as Wannabe's anniversary is a Thursday and streams are estimated on that day that having a download day for Wannabe on the Thursday would be a good idea. I feel like we could get Wannabe to #1 on itunes no problem as Thursday sales are usually low. Plus hopefully whatever the girls are doing adds press and sales too.

 

Have streaming and YouTube views etc pushed the week leading up to the 8th then the 8th go all out downloading. There are so many copies of Wannabe on itunes and Amazon from compilations, the single, spice and GH that we could download 10 each no problem. Of we got it right and got Spice Circle involved we could flood the iTunes top 10.

It's a very nice idea but the pessimist in me just thinks the fan base is sooooooo apathetic with this sort of thing :(

YES!!! :cheer: :cheer: :cheer:

It's a very nice idea but the pessimist in me just thinks the fan base is sooooooo apathetic with this sort of thing :(

 

It's 99p. I'll do it any way. I think the main version we should push is the GH one as it might help the GH sell some copies.

 

I think fans will be more likely to be behind it as I'm assuming by then the girls and their social media will be in spice girls mode.

The Spice Girls sold much more, had more impact in the music business - literally changed the game - and cultural impact - literally empowered millions of women around the world and advanced Girl Power, a type of feminism.

 

Westlife were massive too. But they are not even close to the level of success the Spice Girls had. Westlife had more years of releasing music and touring. Good for them and I will give them that.

 

But Westlife also waged a war on the Spice Girls, a really sexist one, to win in the charts and vastly used the press to shit on them. For that reason, Westlife deserve to be confined to the dark spaces of the pop world forever. Hateful men.

 

End of.

Going to a different topic, me and spice girls net were thinking seen as Wannabe's anniversary is a Thursday and streams are estimated on that day that having a download day for Wannabe on the Thursday would be a good idea. I feel like we could get Wannabe to #1 on itunes no problem as Thursday sales are usually low. Plus hopefully whatever the girls are doing adds press and sales too.

 

Have streaming and YouTube views etc pushed the week leading up to the 8th then the 8th go all out downloading. There are so many copies of Wannabe on itunes and Amazon from compilations, the single, spice and GH that we could download 10 each no problem. Of we got it right and got Spice Circle involved we could flood the iTunes top 10.

 

Im up for this :cheer: