Wannabe (song)
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| Wannabe by Spice Girls | ||
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| Single Information | ||
| Released | July 1996 (UK)
March 1997 (US) | |
| Found on | Spice | |
| Charts | ||
| US Hot 100 | #1 | |
| US Airplay | #1 | |
| US Sales | #1 | |
| US Clubplay | #1 | |
| UK Top 40 | #1 | |
| Video | ||
| Q | 4 stars out of 5 | November 2000 (http://www.q4music.com/nav?page=q4music.review.redirect&fixture_review=117571&resource=117571&fixture_artist=144975) |
| AMG (http://Allmusic.com) | 5 stars out of 5 | link (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:snc1z87aoyvn~T00) |
| Spice Girls Chronology | ||
| "Wannabe" 1996 | "Say You'll Be There" 1996 | "2 Become 1" 1996 |
Wannabe is one of the most recognisable and successful songs of the 90s. The Spice Girls debut climbed to the top of the charts in thirty-seven nations, before becoming the best-selling single by a female group in the history of recorded sound, shifting over 4.5 million copies worldwide. In fact, with seven weeks at number one, twenty-six weeks on the chart and sales of 1.27m in Britain alone, "Wannabe" became the twelfth biggest seller of the decade, and at the time of its release, the thirty-first best-selling single ever in the UK. Also, "Wannabe" is the only Spice Girls single to top all five major US charts and the UK Top 40, hitting number one on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the Airplay, Sales, Club play and Maxi-singles charts. The success of the song certainly helped the Spice Girls' career.
Released in the UK on the July 8, 1996, "Wannabe" debuted on the UK Top 40 at number three, before climbing two places to number one. With its catchy choruses, the song is also famous for placing "zig-a-zig-ah" into the lexicon. When the impact of "Wannabe" began to wear away in the UK and the track slowly slipped out of the Top 40, the song was still popular around the globe. Wannabe was number one in Australia for eleven weeks, during which the time "Say You'll Be There" and "2 Become 1" were number one back in the UK. In the US, it was simultaneously number one with the girls' fourth single at number one in the UK.
When the video for "Wannabe" first appeared on UK cable sattelite network "The Box", it was selected so frequently that the promo was being aired up to six times per hour at its peak and still remains as the most requested track in the channel's nine-year history. The clip appears to be one continuous shot (although there were two barely noticeable edits) of the girls' creating mischief at Kings Cross.
Written by Spice Girls/Stannard/Rowe
Trivia
The song was parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic in "Polka Power!" - one of his accordian-accompanied polkas - on the album Running With Scissors.