"Stop" is a song by the Spice Girls, released as their seventh single in the United Kingdom (sixth in the United States) and the third release from their second album, Spiceworld. The song is reminiscent of Supremes singles and other classic girl group songs and was chiefly penned by Geri Halliwell, although as with all their songs the other girls had a great deal of input. Though not the last single to include Geri Halliwell's vocals, it was the last single to be released before her departure.

Chart performance

This single is seen as the group's second least successful single ever in terms of chart performance and worldwide sales. It only managed to peak at number sixteen on the Billboard Hot 100, two positions higher than "Spice Up Your Life", but dropped out of the top fifty much quicker, making it the pieces of Spice's least successful United States release.

In the UK, "Stop" ended the run of the pieces of the Spice Girls' consecutive #1 songs, at six (from "Wannabe" to "Too Much"), but still allowed them to become the first act in history to have their first six singles make number 1 in the UK. This record was eventually overtaken by Westlife, whose first 7 singles went to number 1 in the UK. The song debuted at #2, being kept off the top spot by the million-selling Jason Nevins remix of Run DMC's 1983 hit "It's Like That".

Music video

The first section including the knocking on the door scenes at the beginning were shot on Carnew Street (a street also used for scenes in Angela's Ashes, The Bogwoman and Michael Collins) in Dublin. The second half of the video for "Stop" is set in the small town of Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan in Ireland, in around the late 1950s or early 1960s, with the girls running around the streets dancing, jump roping, hula hooping, and participating in competitions of various kinds. At the end, they all sing on stage at a bar.

During the song's chorus, the video shows the girls performing a simple "hand-action" dance, which was often performed along to the song by Spice Girls fans.

Live performances

"Stop" was a popular number on the group's concerts, featuring a "false intro" after which they showed the acrobatic skills of their male dancers, and then they did begin the song. After Geri left, her parts were taken over by Mel B.

The girls performed the song for Children In Need and the Victoria's Secret fashion show on 16 November 2007 in Los Angeles. It was their first performance as a quintet in 9 years. The Victoria's Secret performance aired December 4, 2007 on CBS.

The introduction of the song on the reunion concerts is the first verse of "It's Like That" by Run DMC, the song that reached the number one instead of Stop in 1998, breaking the Spice Girls' tradition of having all the singles going to number one.

Stop was performed at The 1998 Brit Awards, where the girls emgered on a vintage car.

"Stop to the Top"

Long before the announcement of the Spice Girls' reunion in February 2007, fans from the UK set up a MySpace page to start a campaign to get "Stop" to the number 1 spot in the UK charts, being, at the time, the only single the Girls never got into the top position. Since there was no actual CD release, from July 2 to July 7, fans had to purchase the song from the main online stores. Without the help from any big media, the song charted at number 78 peaking at 53 on the mid-week charts (on July 2), still a big accomplishment from a single released almost a decade prior. The campaign achieved 1,952 downloads between July 2 to July 7, and managed to reach the Top 10 of many UK store charts and number 1 on the Tesco downloads charts.

Covers

• The song was covered by singer Marykate O'neil for her self titled debut album.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Stop".

• UK CD1/Australian CD1/Brazilian CD/US CD1
• "Stop" - 3:24
• "Something Kinda Funny" [Live in Istanbul] - 4:43
• "Mama" [Live in Istanbul] - 5:18
• "Love Thing" [Live in Istanbul] - 5:06
• UK CD2/Australian CD2/European CD1/Japanese CD
• "Stop" - 3:24
• "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" [featuring Luther Vandross] - 4:55
• "Stop" [Morales Remix] - 7:23
• "Stop" [Stretch 'N' Vern's Rock & Roll Mix] - 9:11
• European CD2
• "Stop" - 3:24
• "Ain't No Stopping Us Now" [featuring Luther Vandross] - 4:55
• US CD2
• "Stop" - 3:24
• "Stop" [Morales Remix] - 7:23
• "Stop" [Stretch 'N' Vern's Rock & Roll Mix] - 9:11
• "Stop" [Morales Dub] - 8:11
• UK Promo 12" Vinyl single
• A1: "Stop" [Morales Remix] - 9:26
• B1: "Stop" [Stretch 'N' Vern's Rock & Roll Mix] - 10:56
• C1: "Stop" [Morales Dub] - 8:11
• D1: "Stop" [Stretch 'N' Vern's Dub] - 11:17

Charts, peaks and certifications

Chart positions

Chart	Position
UK Singles Chart	2
Canadian Singles Chart	3
Irish Singles Chart	3
Israeli Singles Chart	4
Australian Singles Chart	5
Chile Top 40	6
Euro Hot 100	6
Finnish Singles Chart	6
United World Chart	7
Latvian Airplay Top	8
Swedish Singles Chart	8
New Zealand Singles Chart	9
Austrian Singles Chart	12
French Singles Chart	12
Belgian Singles Chart	14
Italian Singles Chart	15
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	16
Swiss Singles Chart	20
German Singles Chart	35

Charts 2007

Chart (2007)	Position (Download only)
UK Singles Chart	78
Tesco Music Downloads Singles Chart	1
HMV Download Singles Chart	3
UKiTunes Store	61
7digital	2
Woolworths	23

Certifications

Country	Certification	Sales/shipments
Australia	Gold	35,000+
France	Silver	100,000+
United Kingdom	Silver	331,000+
Worldwide		1,100,000+

Notes and references