This week marks 30 years since the Spice Girls unleashed “Wannabe,” the debut single that turned the U.K. girl group into global superstars.
And if you’re getting ready to throw on some “Zig-a-zig-ahhhhh” on Spotify in celebration, then you might find you’re in some unexpected celebrity company
Released on July 8, 1996, the pop anthem spent four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, launching the group to fame in the U.S. and paving the way for other hits, including “Say You’ll Be There,” “2 Become 1” and “Spice Up Your Life.”
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As “Spicemania” swept America, the British five-piece became one of the decade’s biggest acts. They sold millions of albums, starred in their own movie and made “girl power” a global catchphrase
Three decades later, the Spice Girls’ influence can still be seen across music and Hollywood. Some of today’s best-known celebrities have credited the group with shaping their childhoods and inspiring their own careers
The Spice Girls’ famous fans
Long before she became a superstar herself, Taylor Swift was an unashamed Spice Girls fan. Speaking to Emma Bunton, aka Baby Spice, on her U.K. radio show in 2025, Swift recalled owning the singer’s doll as a child
“It’s so crazy to actually get to be in the same room with you because I had your doll — the Baby Spice doll — and it was, like, my favorite one. We would all fight over who got to be you amongst the girls that were blonde
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“You just mean the world to me. You were the first person I freaked out over.”
It appeared to come as news to Bunton, who admitted, “I’m really going red now. I don’t know how to take this all in.”
Bunton has also shared a clip on Instagram in 2016 showing her and Lady Gaga sharing a brief duet of “2 Become 1.”
Swift wasn’t the only future superstar influenced by the group. Victoria Beckham has recalled Beyoncé telling her: “It was the Spice Girls that inspired me and made me want to do what I do.”
For Adele, the Spice Girls were more than just a favorite band. “They made me what I am today,” the Grammy winner once said. She even marked the band’s 2018 reunion by sharing a childhood photo of her bedroom covered in Spice Girls posters
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Charli XCX has also never hidden her admiration for the band, joking: “I used to try to bully my friends into imitating the Spice Girls on the playground.”
“Girl power was a mission,” Geri Halliwell (now Horner) told Vice in 2016. “It was like, ‘We feel like this, and we believe there is a whole generation of girls who feel like this too’.” She told Marie Claire in 2021: “Girl power, for me, was a voice for the voiceless, screamed from a megaphone and kicked out hard: ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.”
The Spice Girls’ influence extended beyond music — driven as much by their attitude as their catchy tunes
Emma Stone, for example, has the group to thank for her first name. Born Emily Stone, the Oscar winner insisted on being called Emma from the age of seven in part because of Bunton
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“Growing up, I was super blond,” the actor told Jimmy Fallon in 2018. “My real name is Emily, but I wanted to be called Emma because of Baby Spice and guess what? Now I am. So that’s, like, pretty messed up.” Stone proudly said she saw them perform in the ’90s and at London’s O2 Arena in 2008
The La La Land star finally met the group before their show at Wembley Stadium in 2019. Bunton shared a photo of the pair together, captioned: “When Emma met Emma. #2become1”
Kim Kardashian’s fandom also followed her into adulthood. After dressing up as Victoria Beckham for a high school talent show, the reality star later revealed that Mel C joked that she should replace Beckham on the group’s reunion tour
She even told her then 50 million followers on Instagram in 2015: “The Spice Girls got me through a lot! #ForeverThankful.”
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Blake Lively dressed up as Bunton while attending a Spice Girls show in 1997, while Emily in Paris star Lily Collins said she “grew up adoring” the group
How the Spice Girls became a phenomenon
They may have found initial fame in the U.K., but breaking America cemented the Spice Girls’ status as global superstars
The group’s 1996 debut album, Spice, sold more than 7.5 million copies in the U.S., making it one of the decade’s biggest-selling albums. The group remained a fixture on radio and MTV thanks to the album’s three top-20 hits: “Wannabe” (No. 1), “Say You’ll Be There” (No. 3) and “2 Become 1” (No. 4)
Unlike many pop groups that came before them, each Spice Girl had a clearly defined persona: Scary, Sporty, Baby, Ginger and Posh. That formula gave millions of fans someone to identify with, helping set the Spice Girls apart from many of their contemporaries
Soon, the Spice Girls were selling much more than records. The band was a “formidable money-making machine,” according to the BBC, helped by lucrative partnerships with brands such as Mattel, Polaroid, Pepsi and PlayStation
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The group’s likenesses appeared on everything from lunchboxes and backpacks to clothes and books, and Spice Girls dolls were the second-best-selling toy in the U.S in 1998
The Spice Girls also made the leap to the big screen, starring as fictionalized versions of themselves in 1997’s Spice World. The comedy grossed more than $29 million at the U.S. box office and more than $100 million worldwide
Geri Halliwell left the group in 1998, just two years after “Wannabe” sparked “Spice mania.” In that short time, the Spice Girls had become one of the biggest British success stories in U.S. pop culture and inspired a generation of fans
