Viva Forever May, the Spice Girls appeared on the National Lottery, performing "Viva Forever" and "Spice Up Your Life" without Geri Halliwell, the excuse being that she was ill. In early June, the single was confirmed to simply be "Viva Forever". The single was to be released on 13 July, over two months after the original release date of 11 May. Even though posters were printed showcasing the 13 July release date, it was not long before the release dates started changing again. On the day of release, stores around the United Kingdom received a notice saying that the single was not
British Hit Singles & Albums the "Record Retailer" chart was little known until it was adopted by the BBC in 1969 and that by adopting this chart as its standard, the editors had a non-consensual view. An example often given is the case of The Beatles' second single "Please Please Me" which was recognised as a number one hit by every other publicly available chart of the time, but not by "Record Retailer" and therefore not by "British Hit Singles". Other records to which this applies include "19th Nervous Breakdown" by The Rolling Stones, "Stranger on the Shore" by Acker Bilk and the Eurovision Song