The album's sound is diverse, combining pop music with elements of rock, dance, electronica, trance, techno-rock and R&B which contrasted with the sound of the Spice Girls. AllMusic describes "Northern Star" as a "genre-hopping" album. Commercially, the album peaked at number one on the Swedish Albums Chart and entered the top ten in several countries including Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, the Netherland, and Norway. In the United Kingdom, "Northern Star" reached number four on the UK Albums Chart and went on the sell almost 900,000 copies. With worldwide sales close to 4 million copies, it is the biggest-selling solo Spice Girl album. The album was re-issued on 21 August 2000 to feature the single mixes of "Never Be the Same Again" and "I Turn to You", after the massive success of both singles.