Fitzswiftie Posted 16 hours ago Posted 16 hours ago Inspired by this post from PopCore, the women with the most top ten singles in the UK are 6 Americans, 1 Bajen (Rihanna) and 1 Australian (Kylie) With one were to list British women with the most top tens in their native country, the list would be dominated by girl groups, until this year when Dua Lipa scored three more hits taking her total up to 16, the entire 5 was all girl groups with some soloists tied. 21 - Girls Aloud (2002-2012) 19 - Little Mix (2011-2021) 18 - Sugababes (2000-2010) 16 - Dua Lipa (2017-present) 13 - Atomic Kitten (2000-2005) 13 - Dusty Springfield (1962-1987) 13 - Jess Glynn (2014-2020) 13 - Rita Ora (2012-2019) 13 - The Saturdays (2008-2013) 12 - Eternal (1993-1997) 12 - Dame Shirley Bassey (1957-1973) 12 - Ellie Goulding (2010-2023) 12 - Petula Clark (1952-1965) 11 - Adele (2008-2021) 11 - Bananarama (1981–1989) 11 - Cilia Black (1964-1972) 11 - Emeli Sande (2009-2015) 11 - Leona Lewis (2006-2013) 11 - Winfred Atwell (1952-1959) 10 - Ella Henderson (2014-2020) 10 - Gabrielle (1993-2001) 10 - Jessie J (2011-2014) 10 - Lily Allen (2006-2014) 10 - Spice Girls (1996-2000) Even current UK it girls like Anne Marie (8), Becky (5), Charli (9) and Raye (5) all have far fewer hit singles than one would expect Why does the UK prefer groups of native women to soloists?
ithinkheknowsoutsold Posted 16 hours ago Posted 16 hours ago UK girl groups just make much better music than the frequent charting soloists. You can't compare Jesse Glynne or Rita Ora to Little Mix or the Saturdays, let alone Girls Aloud or Sugababes. 27 minutes ago, Fitzswiftie said: 10 - Ella Henderson (2014-2020) Ella just had a top ten hit this year; in fact most of her hits have been after 2020.
glitch Posted 16 hours ago Posted 16 hours ago Girl groups have a very clear brand which helps with establishing a fanbase. And once a fanbase is established, you can ride the slight underperformances because you know that if a song clicks, it will be a hit. UK soloists have a flop and people forget they exist. I feel like labels don't really know what to do with female soloists in the UK after their debut album. Usually it involves some hair dye and a party girl aesthetic that inevitably flops 1
Phaunzie Posted 16 hours ago Posted 16 hours ago Because the Beatles. Teams are more sympathetic to root for than an individual. You are basically root for a collective to achieve success.
Cbreezy Posted 15 hours ago Posted 15 hours ago Super scary, as I was JUST talking about this with someone offline. I think it's pretty simple actually. The UK seems to almost pride itself on a certain type of structured "properness" and understatedness. So, when it comes to its groups, the MO very much seems to be: we are a unit, who make x music, target x audience, and have a collective means of moving and collectivized aspiration for what the group can be/achieve. From The Beatles to more recent groups like the Sugababes and Girls Aloud (Cheryl's solo journey, by her own admission, was a profitable happenstance and wasn't "the goal" initial). By contrast, US celeb culture embraces the showy spectacle and larger-than-life-ness of it all. So, almost by design, most of the Stateside groups, are either deliberately built around the clear breakout star or (because of the understood nature of US groups) see members vying to eventually become "the" breakout solo star. Whatever the case, there tends to almost always be a clear MJ, Beyonce, JT, etc from the get-go. Because of this, the shelf life of such groups tends to be pretty short. Labels either want to get the initial 2-3 projects out of the way fast and move onto their solo star (who "arrives" with a huge in-built audience from the get-go) or the members themselves tire quickly because the designated MJ, Bey, JT will be ready to fly into their solo journey quickly. E.g. Fifth Harmony with Camila's pre-emptive exit. I totally get both approaches and don't think there is anything inherently "wrong" about either. I do think the US could learn something from the UK format, though. Even if zero'ing in on a "breakout star" eventually, I legit think it's more profitable and legacy-savvy to really maximize everything possible from the group setup and spin-off after that. I look at a group like Fifth Harmony and it all feels so premature. Camila left too early (Epic didn't give a f**k as she and the group were both signed to them). So, they were left with a group whose potential was never fully realized and thus there isn't the strongest foundation to even come back to for any kind of "reunion". Then there's Camila, who never truly had a true solid and sizeable fanbase (from her group days) and now struggles despite copious amounts of push and payola. The audience just isn't biting and IMO it's because time wasn't taken to truly build with a longterm view during her group tenure. In differing ways, the same applies to the other members. Not to harp on, but the whole "not cultivating groups for long enough" in the US also was the issue for for Danity Kane. There was Spice Girls/Destiny's Child-level potential there in terms of how much that group could have been maximized $$$$. The talent, the looks, the bops, the wide and diverse appeal was there. But it all wasn't cultivated or watered for long enough to ever truly be maxmized. 1
Scandalous Posted 15 hours ago Posted 15 hours ago to be fair most of these girls on the list have released like half the amount of music of those top 8 and the girl groups at the top
Minto Posted 14 hours ago Posted 14 hours ago 2 hours ago, ithinkheknowsoutsold said: UK girl groups just make much better music than the frequent charting soloists. You can't compare Jesse Glynne or Rita Ora to Little Mix or the Saturdays, let alone Girls Aloud or Sugababes. Ella just had a top ten hit this year; in fact most of her hits have been after 2020. rita ora actually has a very solid catalogue, ignoring her recent album she clears the saturdays and even little mix is debatable, lmao.
glitch Posted 13 hours ago Posted 13 hours ago 1 hour ago, Scandalous said: to be fair most of these girls on the list have released like half the amount of music of those top 8 and the girl groups at the top Yeah because they mostly got dropped after flopping following one or two albums, whereas the girl groups all had multiple successful eras
Fitzswiftie Posted 7 hours ago Author Posted 7 hours ago 8 hours ago, ithinkheknowsoutsold said: UK girl groups just make much better music than the frequent charting soloists. You can't compare Jesse Glynne or Rita Ora to Little Mix or the Saturdays, let alone Girls Aloud or Sugababes. Ella just had a top ten hit this year; in fact most of her hits have been after 2020. My mistake.
Shelter Posted 7 hours ago Posted 7 hours ago The quality isn't there and tbh a lot of them are not interesting. UK girl groups have been really good.
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