Glory Days (Little Mix album)

Glory Days is the fourth studio album by British girl group Little Mix, released on 18 November 2016 by Syco Music and Columbia Records. When released it was met with acclaim from critics, with lyrics that addresses themes on sexuality, sexual relationships, female solitude, and other topics. Little Mix worked with various producers including MNEK, Freedo, Matt Rad, all of whom had worked with them on previous releases.

The album's lead single "Shout Out to My Ex", peaked at number-one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming the group's fourth number-one. Its second single "Touch" reached number four, while its third single "No More Sad Songs", with Machine Gun Kelly, reached number fifteen. Its final single "Power", with Stormzy, peaked at number six, while a fifth single "Reggaetón Lento" with CNCO, was released after the reissued edition of the album. The album's lead single won British Single of the Year at the Brit Awards in 2017. In 2018, Glory Days received two Brit Awards nominations for British Song of the Year and British Video of the Year.

Glory Days showcased the best first-week sales so far in Little Mix's career, selling 100,000 copies in its first week. It had the highest first-week UK album sales for a girl group since Spiceworld (1997) and became the fastest-selling number-one album from a girl group since Survivor (2001). It set a new chart record for the most weeks spent inside the top 40 of the UK Albums Chart for a girl group album, spending 89 weeks on the charts. It also became first album by a girl group to reach 2 billion streams on Spotify and has since reached over 2.5 billion streams on the platform. It is included on the list of best-selling albums of the 2010s in the United Kingdom.

In Ireland it became Little Mix's second consecutive number-one album, and peaked at number-one on the Scottish Albums Chart and UK Albums Chart. It spent five consecutive weeks at number one, becoming the longest reigning number one album by a girl group since Spice (1996). It entered the top ten in Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, and Spain, and charted in other regions including Italy, Germany, and the United States, where it peaked at number twenty-five on the Billboard 200. As of 2017, Glory Days, has sold 1.6 million copies worldwide.

Singles
"Shout Out to My Ex" was released as the lead single on 16 October 2016, and was premiered on the day of The X Factor UK results show. It was made available to download along with the pre-order of the album. The song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, remaining at number one for three weeks. The single received two Brit awards nominations, and won gave the group their first Brit Award win, winning British Single of the Year at the 2017 Brit Awards. It also became the second-best selling girl group single released in the United Kingdom, behind "Wannabe", by the Spice Girls. It topped the charts in Ireland, Scotland, Israel, and peaked inside the top ten in both Australia and New Zealand.

On 5 December, the group announced "Touch" as the second single. It reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart, and peaked within the top ten of the charts in Ireland and Scotland. It has since been regarded as a gay anthem. On 1 March, "No More Sad Songs" was released as the third single from the album. The new remix of the song featured American hip-hop artist Machine Gun Kelly. Despite minimal promotion, the song charted at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart.

On 19 May, Little Mix announced through their official Twitter that "Power" would be released as the album's fourth and final official single on 26 May. Two hours after the announcement of the single's release, they announced that the single release of "Power" would be remixed, with an added feature from English grime act Stormzy. The song reached number six on the UK Singles Chart. It has become a female empowerment song and was used as one of the theme songs for WWE's Royal Rumble 2018 event.

On 24 November 2017, the album was reissued as Glory Days: The Platinum Edition. It included the single "Reggaetón Lento (Remix)", with CNCO. The single topped the Romanian and Bulgaria World music charts, and reached number five on the UK Singles Chart, becoming CNCO's first top-ten single and Little Mix's twelfth. According to Official Charts in 2019, "Shout Out to My Ex" (at number two) and "Touch" (at number seven) were two of the biggest girl group singles from the past 25 years.

Promotional singles
The album was supported by six promotional singles. On 27 October 2016, "You Gotta Not" was released as the first promotional single. The song debuted at number 61 in the UK, number 96 in Australia and number 88 in Ireland. On 4 November, "F.U." was released as the second promotional single, peaking at number 82 in the UK. "Nothing Else Matters" was released as the third promotional single on 11 November.

"Touch" was released on 15 November as the fourth promotional single before being announced as the second single of the album. "Nobody Like You" was released as the fifth promotional single on 16 November, peaking at number 185 in the UK. The sixth and final promotional single, "Down & Dirty", was released on 17 November, and peaked at number 159 in the UK.

"Oops", featuring American singer Charlie Puth, was not released as a single but the song peaked at number 41 in the UK and number 49 in Ireland. It has been certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling over 400,000 copies in the country. In 2021, it was ranked as the group's biggest-selling non-single in the UK, amassing over 40 million streams.

"Is Your Love Enough" peaked at number 47 in the UK and number 49 in Ireland. It ranks as the group's sixth biggest-selling non-single in the UK.

Promotion
To promote the album, the group scheduled a promotional campaign called the Glory Days Road Trip, which visited the UK, Australia, the US, France, Netherlands, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Belgium, Germany, Norway, Finland and Singapore. Little Mix also made televised and award show appearances between 2016 and 2018 to promote the album across Europe, America, Asia, and Australia. Little Mix embarked on The Glory Days Tour in support of the album. It kicked off on 21 May 2017 in Birkenhead, England, and ended on 25 March 2018 in Kobe, Japan, where Little Mix headlined the POPSPRING festival. An estimated 810,000 tickets were sold worldwide and consisted of 70 shows across Oceania, Europe, and Asia. The tour grossed $43,000,000, becoming the highest-grossing girl group tour of the 2010s.

Critical reception
The Guardian called the album "chart pop perfection" and went on to describe the message of the album as "substantial as Girl Power once was". AllMusic stated that Glory Days "finds the group delivering a set of hooky, smartly crafted songs that balance swaggering, '60s-style R&B with stylish, electronic-tinged dance-pop". They also added that "Little Mix's vocal grit and sassy group chemistry make Glory Days such a celebratory album".

In another positive review, Digital Spy wrote, "Little Mix have put together their most personal album yet, without sacrificing big hooks, a mainstream pop sensibility and plenty of sassy attitude." The article continued by saying "Glory Days hears four young women come together with a very real bond, making their message all the more believable." At the end of 2016 the website considered Glory Days to be the 12th best album of the year.

The Evening Standard praised Little Mix for surviving with their fourth studio album, writing "Glory Days mostly sticks to their winning formula", and adding that "the foursome have carved out a pop niche for themselves". The album was included by the newspaper as one of the best albums to buy as a Christmas present "for teen queens". Time Out said that the album "has already earned its super-confident title", with the chart-topping single "Shout Out to My Ex" and added that "Little Mix sing brilliantly and sound like they’re having a ball. Long may their glory days continue".

Commercial performance
Glory Days became Little Mix's first album to top the charts in the United Kingdom, also making them the eighth girl group in history to achieve a number-one and the twenty-fourth number one album to emerge from The X Factor UK. It became one of seven of the 37 albums released that year to top the charts led by female artists. In its opening week it sold over a 96,000 copies, becoming the fastest-selling album since David Bowie's Blackstar and the second fastest-selling female album of 2016. It had the highest first-week UK album sales for a girl group since Spiceworld in 1997, and became the fastest-selling number-one album by a girl group in 15 years, since Survivor by Destiny's Child in 2001. In its second week it sold 60,000 copies and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

Glory Days spent a total of five consecutive weeks at number one in the UK, becoming the longest charting girl group number-one album this millennium since the Spice Girls spent 15 weeks at number one with Spice in 1996. It also set a new chart record for the most weeks spent in the top 40 of the UK Albums chart by a girl group album. All four of the album's singles have been certified platinum or higher by the British Phonographic Industry, making Little Mix the only girl group apart from the Spice Girls to have all singles from one album achieve at least platinum status in the United Kingdom. In 2018, it became the group's first album to surpass a million sales.

The album was ranked as the seventh best-selling album of 2016, the fourth best-selling album of 2017, and the 30th best-selling album of 2018 in the UK by The Official Charts. In 2017 it was also ranked as the sixth biggest album of that year in pure sales and the fifth most streamed album overall. It was the 39th best-selling album of the 2010s, the best-selling album by a girl group during that decade, and the seventh best-selling album by a girl group between 1994 and 2019. It remains as their best-selling album to date in the United Kingdom. In 2019, it also ranked as the sixteenth biggest album by female artists that decade. As of 2022, it has the longest run of any of their albums inside the Official Albums Chart Top 40, spending a total of 89 weeks there. It has since been streamed over 419,000 streams, becoming the group most-streamed album in the country.

The album debut at number one in Ireland, becoming the group's second number one album in the country, while reaching the top spot in Scotland. It peaked in-side the top ten in Australia, Spain, Netherlands, and New Zealand. In the United States, Glory Days, peaked at number 25 on the Billboard 200 and reached the charts in nineteen additional music markets including Japan, Germany, and Canada. As of 2017, Glory Days had sold 1.6 million copies worldwide. and was their first album to be certified triple platinum in the UK. It has since been certified double platinum in Ireland, certified platinum in Brazil and Denmark, and certified gold in Canada, Australia, Mexico, Norway, and Switzerland. In 2018, the album became Little Mix's first album to reach over a billion streams on Spotify, and became the most streamed girl group album on the platform in 2020.

Accolades
At the 2017 Brit Awards, the group received three award nominations for the album's singles, and won British Single of the Year for the album's lead single, "Shout Out to My Ex".

Impact
Since its release Glory Day's broke various records and is regarded as one of the most successful girl group albums of the 2010s. Upon release it achieved the highest first week sales for a number one album by a British girl group in nineteen years, became the fastest selling number one album by a girl group in fifteen years, and simultaneously made them the eighth UK girl group and thirteen overall to achieve a chart topping album on the UK Albums Charts.

It was dubbed by the Official Charts, as 'the longest reigning number-one album this millennium" by an all female act after spending five consecutive weeks at number-one. It also set two new chart records as the longest charting album by a girl band on the UK Albums Charts with 173 weeks with the most weeks spent inside of the top 40 of the UK Albums Charts.

Glory Day's, for four consecutive years was ranked as one of the best selling albums in the United Kingdom between 2016 and 2019. As of 2019 it was named as the seventh biggest girl group album, and appears on the list of best-selling albums of the 2010s in the United Kingdom. On Spotify in 2020, it became the most streamed girl group album on the platform and became the first by a female group to surpass two billion streams, earning two Guinness World Records before the record was surpassed by Blackpink in 2023. As of 2024, it has over 2.5 billion streams on the platform.

Track listing
Notes
 * signifies a vocal producer
 * signifies an additional producer
 * On the digital expanded editions of the album, tracks 22–25 are not included.

Personnel
Adapted from AllMusic.


 * Nils Petter Ankarblom – horn, horn arrangements
 * Simon Baggs – violin
 * Paul Bailey – assistant engineer
 * Tommy Baxter – additional production
 * Cory Bice – assistant engineer
 * Chris Bishop – engineer, vocal engineer
 * Ian Burdge – cello
 * Mattias Bylund – editing, horn, mixing
 * Johan Carlsson – guitar programming, piano programming, producer, programming, synthesizer programming, vocal producer, vocals
 * Jeremy Coleman – instrumentation, programming
 * Nick Cooper – cello
 * Maegan Cottone – arranger, engineer, vocal producer
 * Tom Coyne – mastering
 * Cutfather – producer
 * Daniel Davidsen – bass programming, drum programming, guitar programming, instrumental, producer, programming
 * Alison Dods – violin
 * Electric – engineer, producer
 * Uzoechi Emenike – drums, keyboards
 * Edvard Førre Erfjord – instrumentation, programming
 * Freedo – additional production, engineer, instrumentation, mixing, producer, programming
 * Alice Frost – art direction
 * Richard George – violin
 * Robert Gerongco – drums, keyboards, piano
 * Sam Gerongco – bass, guitar
 * Serban Ghenea – mixing
 * Susie Gillis – string contractor, strings contractor
 * Ross Golan – vocals
 * Wojtek Goral – alto saxophone
 * Isobel Griffiths – string conductor, string contractor
 * John Hanes – mixing engineer
 * Mich Hansen – percussion
 * Wayne Hector – background vocals
 * Sam Holland – engineer
 * Ash Howes – mixing
 * Mark Hunter – photography
 * Jeremy Isaac – violin
 * J-Mike – producer
 * Steve James – producer
 * Magnus Johansson – trumpet
 * Peter Noos Johansson – trombone
 * Joe Kearns – engineer, vocal engineer, vocal producer
 * Kuya – producer
 * Jeremy Lertola – assistant engineer
 * Little Mix – primary artist
 * Manny Marroquin – mixing
 * Roma Martyniuk – art direction
 * Cliff Masterson – conductor, string arrangements
 * Laura Melhuish – violin
 * Randy Merrill – mastering
 * Henrik Michelsen – instrumentation, programming
 * Adam Midgley – additional production, bass, drum programming, keyboards, producer
 * Sam Miller – engineer
 * MNEK – engineer, producer
 * Steve Morris – strings, violin
 * Dano Omelio – engineer, instrumentation, producer, programming
 * Noah Passovoy – vocal producer
 * Tash Phillips – background vocals
 * Tom Pigott-Smith – strings, violin
 * Camille Purcell – vocals, background vocals
 * Charlie Puth – engineer, featured artist, instrumentation, producer, programming
 * Matt Rad – producer
 * Alex Reid – vocal engineer
 * Steve Robson – piano, producer
 * Shane Shanahan – engineer
 * Emlyn Singleton – strings, violin
 * Phil Tan – mixing
 * Meghan Trainor – background vocals
 * Peter Wallevik – drum programming, instrumental, piano programming, programmer, programming
 * Matthew Ward – violin
 * Emily Warren – background vocals
 * Paul Willey – violin
 * Bill Zimmerman – assistant, mixing assistant