Spice Girls, “Greatest Hits”

Spice Girls, “Greatest Hits”
Virgin Records
Art Direction: Emma Bunton, Victoria Beckham, Melanie C, Melanie B, Geri Halliwell

The Spice Girls are widely regarded as one of the biggest girl groups of all time, with a string of massive pop hits in the mid ’90s to back up this claim. They disbanded in 2000 after three albums. In 2007, they announced a reunion with a new tour and a greatest hits compilation, which would feature one of the most expensive album covers ever made.

The relatively simple cover art features the word SPICE in different colored letters, an homage to the groups first album, Spice. The girls each had a hand in crafting the artwork which includes a different jewel for each letter, representing each girl in the group.

The S is an amber, and represents Victoria Beckham. The ruby P represents Emma. The diamond I represents Mel C. The C is a sapphire and represents Geri, and the E is Mel B’s emerald. The artwork cost a total of $2.84 million to create. A one-off edition of the album was made that features the jewels created for the album shoot.

According to a source, “The album cover is a nice touch. They wanted something simple and stylish and it’s probably one of the most expensive album covers ever made.”

Spice Girl’s Greatest Hits would go on to receive critical acclaim and become one of the best selling albums by a girl group in 2007. It would also re-chart following the group’s 2012 London Olympics performance.