BEST OF GIRLBANDS

Here come the girls! Girl groups DOMINATED the 00s, and I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that they pretty much defined the sound of my childhood. Here we celebrate some of our favourites!

THE SPICE GIRLS So, I’ll tell you what I really, really want... The Spice Girls to go on tour again. They embodied ‘girl power’ and their own individuality through their personas in the mid to late 90s - it’s no wonder that they’re the most successful British female group of all time! The Official Charts Company stated in 2019 that the Spice Girls’ debut album Spice topped the UK chart of the best-selling albums of all time from a girl group. This album featured the singles ‘Wannabe’, ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ and ‘Say You’ll Be There’, spent 15 weeks at number one in 1996 and 1997, and has notched up over 2.98m combined sales as of June 2019. Likewise, Spice World followed in 2nd place on the UK chart of the best-selling albums of all time, with over 1.6m sales as of June 2019! Their Spice World tour in 2019 sold out within minutes. Even though they broke up in 2004, the demand to see them live speaks volumes - they’re a part of so many people’s childhood and still remain popular. Not only that, their clothes were iconic... sparkly Union Jack dress anyone?

JO LISNEY

DESTINY’S CHILD Destiny’s Child have gone through many line-up changes; however, the group is best known for the final line-up consisting of Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. What makes Destiny’s Child a fantastic band is their ability to empower women. This is the key theme in their third studio album Survivor, which includes iconic tracks like ‘Independent Women’, ‘Survivor’ and ‘Bootylicious’. Destiny’s Child have released powerful tracks with all of them holding a close place to my heart, but it has to be ‘Girl’ from their fifth and final album, Destiny Fulfilled, that is my personal favourite. The song was written by Beyoncé and Williams as a request for Rowland to leave an abusive relationship – it’s an incredibly empowering song and allows others going through similar situations to know that they are not alone. Billboard has ranked Destiny’s Child as the greatest musical trio of all time after selling over 60 million records to date. Though the group disbanded in 2006, their music is timeless and is just as relevant as it was when it was first released.

MORGAN MCMILLAN

GIRLS ALOUD After being put together by Simon Cowell on the UK TV show Popstars: The Rivals, pop girl group Girls Aloud, formed of Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts, Cheryl Tweedy and Kimberley Walsh, have gone on to be one of the biggest pop acts of the 21st Century. Dominating the charts between 2002 and 2012, Girls Aloud were able to accumulate 21 UK top ten singles and two UK number one albums. ‘Sound of the Underground’, their debut single, went straight to number one in the UK and spent four weeks there, proving that from the get-go they were always bound to be successful. As well as all of this chart success, the girls went on six successful UK tours over eight years and won a multitude of awards, and that, in my opinion, is enough to give them the crown for being the biggest girl group of the 2000s. Hits like ‘Love Machine’ and ‘The Promise’ are always karaoke favourites and are more than likely to feature in your cheesy pop playlists. We have all jammed out to a Girls Aloud song at some point in our lives, and if you deny that then you’d be lying.

CHARLOTTE BRENNAN