Girls Aloud

Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud performing at The O2 Arena in June 2024 during The Girls Aloud Show tour (L–R): Kimberley Walsh, Nadine Coyle, Cheryl Tweedy, and Nicola Roberts
Background information
Origin	London, England
Genres	Pop electropop dance-pop dance-rock
Years active	2002–2009 2012–2013 2023–present
Labels	Polydor Fascination
Members	Cheryl Nadine Coyle Nicola Roberts Kimberley Walsh
Past members	Sarah Harding
Website	girlsaloud.com

Girls Aloud are a British-Irish^[1] pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. The line up consisted of members Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. In 2012, the group was named as the United Kingdom's biggest selling girl group of the 21st century so far, with over 4.3 million singles sales and 4 million albums sold in the UK.^[2] During their two decades together, the group achieved a string of twenty top ten singles on the UK singles chart, including four number ones. They also achieved seven certified albums, two of which debut at number one. They have been nominated for five Brit Awards, winning the 2009 Best Single for "The Promise".

The group's main musical style is pop, but they had experimented with other sounds including electropop, dance-pop and dance-rock throughout their career. Girls Aloud's collaborations with Brian Higgins and his songwriting and production team Xenomania earned the group critical acclaim,^[3] because of an innovative approach to mainstream pop music. The group became one of the few UK reality television acts to achieve continued success, amassing a fortune of £30 million by May 2010. Guinness World Records listed them as the "Most Successful Reality TV Group" in the 2007 edition. They also hold the record for "Most Consecutive Top Ten Entries in the UK by a Female Group" in the 2008 edition, and are credited again for "Most Successful Reality TV Group" in the 2011 edition.^[4]

The group disbanded in March 2013 following the conclusion of the Ten: The Hits Tour. Group member Sarah Harding died of breast cancer on 5 September 2021, at the age of 39. In November 2023, the remaining members returned as a group for an arena tour – The Girls Aloud Show in 2024.