Spice Girls fall flat in US

The Spice Girls: The US is not impressed with the new album

The Spice Girls' new single and album have failed to make a big impression in the American music charts.

The four girls recently celebrated a ninth number one single in the UK with the song Holler but in the US the single has yet to chart in the Billboard Top 100.

The new album, Forever, has just crept into the Top 40 at number 39.

Forever has sold 34,000 copies across the United States. It would have had to sell four times as many just to enter the top 10.

In comparison, R Kelly's new album, which sits at the top of the US charts, sold 543,000 copies in the same period.

Three years ago the girls were the toast of the US, with their debut album spending five weeks at the top of the American charts.

'Restrained'

Rodney Jerkins, who produced much of the album, said he was "totally disappointed" by the sales.

He has accused Virgin of not doing enough to promote the single in America.

The influential Entertainment Weekly magazine described the new album as too restrained.

It said: "The music is so tasteful, restrained and assembly-line proficient that it makes early singles like 'Say You'll Be There' sound like the rawest punk rock."

The Spice Girls were also beaten to the number one spot in the UK album charts by Westlife.

Westlife's manager put the boot in by calling the girls the new Bay City Rollers, a reference to the once popular but now defunct Scottish band.

But the band remains defiantly popular in Europe and the latest single went into the top 10 of eight different countries.