Girl power in music has been redefined time and again by the amazing ladies of the biggest girl bands of all time! They are the best-selling artists who have created an everlasting impact on the music industry, broken many records on the charts, and made the world dance to their tunes. So much so that ‘Girl Band’ emerged as a strong and independent genre by itself!
Girl bands are neither a new phenomenon nor are they heading anywhere close to extinction. Their presence can be traced as far back as the 1930s when the Boswell Sisters made their breakthrough and of course we couldn’t ignore the storm building up when Motown made it big! And, to anyone who has been thinking that they reached their peak in the 90s, they might be surprised that girl bands are still a pretty huge phenomenon in Asia, and with Little Mix’s emergence, they are about to experience a fresh bout in the UK.
So what are girl bands, and why haven’t Sleater Kinney made the cut, you might ask? Well, that is because we will be discussing the so-called ‘manufactured pop’ all girl groups who have been scouted and trained by record companies and made platinum albums in their time. So yes, we’ll be missing out on some great independent outfits who actually wielded their instruments and sadly, The Corrs will be left out because, you know, Jim Corr!
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These bands danced their way into our hearts and defined the parameters of the ultimate woman for us, inspiring many a generations of girls to follow their footsteps but mainstream pop girl bands have so much more to them than that. If you had been thinking that they are the accidental discoveries of the record companies who have sung hand me down songs written by other songwriters and have hit gold by the stroke of their shiny luck, I’d like you to take a minute and try to harmonize the way these divas have in their songs. For a TLC and a Destiny’s Child, they might be a harmonized package handed down to us, but they were all individually very powerful vocalists, and Beyonce is proof to that!
So let’s give a shout out to the best-selling and biggest girl bands of all time because they are the divas who have caused a riot to the music industry and also do check out our other list of the 10 Most Popular Songs of All Time because no music lover should be missing out on them!
11. En Vogue,
R&B queens rocked the charts in the early 90s with their albums ‘Born to sing’ and ‘Funky Divas’. The group that featured Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron and Maxine Jones were all on top of the vocals game. Songs like ‘Don’t Let Go’ and ‘Free Your Mind’ are still remembered as 90s R&B Classics.
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10. The Supremes,
The 60s divas that were The Supremes, is proof of how shiny the classic Motown had been! They brought R&B and Soul to the mainstream and even gave The Beatles a competition they could remember! And, you couldn’t miss Diana Ross swinging to ‘Baby Love’ before she embarked on her stellar solo career. Absolutely golden!
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9. Bangles,
With super hit songs like ‘Manic Monday’ and ‘Walk like an Egyptian’, The Bangles were easily the best thing that could have happened to 80s pop rock. Bangles had quite a number of Chart toppers on the Billboards, and were at the peak of their careers in the 80s. The band consisting of Vicki and Debbie Peterson along with Susan Hoffs still play concerts together.
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8. Girl’s Generation,
Excuse me, while I shake a leg to ‘Gee’! The Kpop girl group formed and managed by SM Entertainment, Girls Generation has sold over 40 million copies digitally and has a fan following worldwide. Girl groups are still the craze in Asia and the girl group comprising of eight members are riding on top of that wave with their amazing singing and dancing skills!
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7. Bananarama,
British female pop outfit Bananarama scored many a single hits during their career in the 80s. ‘Cruel Summer’ became the summer anthem of the era and they also scored numerous other hits on both pop and dance charts. Their songs were catchy and their quirky style worked the rest of the wonder! The girls are slated to be back with a bang with a new album soon.
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6. Salt-N-Pepa,
There’s no denying that 90s were the time that the biggest girl bands of all time rose to fame and garnered the most attention. Salt-N-Pepa, infiltrated the then mainly male artists dominated hip-hop territory and gave them a run for their money. Cheryl James (Salt) and Sandra Denton (Pepa) became one of the first all-girl rap group and gave the world some ever listened to rap anthems.
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5. Dixie Chicks,
Country stalwarts Dixie Chicks, consisting of sisters Martie Erwin McGuire and Emily Erwin Robinson along with lead singer Natalie Maines were the fiercest of female bands music has ever witnessed, and are also the most bonded band members in history. Even though being country singers the band experienced massive success on pop charts and gave the world some country pop staples such as ‘Ready to Run’ and ‘There’s your trouble’.
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4. All Saints,
English-Canadian girl band took to the music scene by storm and though their success was short-lived the band made two-multi platinum albums and two gold albums in their time. The music the girls produced were tasteful and the attitude they wielded made them idols for young girls across the world. Even Charlie XCX cited them as one of her influences!
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3. Destiny’s Child,
Before Beyonce became the Queen Bey, she was already creating waves with her all girls band Destiny’s Child along with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. They broke the charts with ‘Say My Name’ and made worldwide hits with powerful girl-power tracks like ‘Survivor’ and ‘Independent Woman’.
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2. TLC,
If you grew up in the 90s, there’s no way you could have missed the phenomenon that TLC was. TLC was massive with their brand of music that had a hip-hop, pop and R&B sound. They created timeless hits like ‘Waterfalls’ and ‘Unpretty’ and the success that they experienced was unparalleled, even though cut short by Left Eye’s unfortunate early passing away.
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1. Spice Girls,
The British Girl group and original ‘Girl-Power’ band, comprising of Emma Bunton, Geri Haliwell, Melanie C, Melanie B and Victoria Beckham, broke all records with their debut single ‘Wannabe’ and have sold a mind-blasting 80 million records worldwide. Their individual personalities are what formed the USP for the band and the Spice Girls, undoubtedly, were the biggest girl band of all time!
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