Cheryl & Girls Aloud Albums Finally Released in the U.S.

"It’s such great news that my albums are finally available digitally," Cheryl tells Billboard.

U.S. fans of Cheryl and Girls Aloud, rejoice!

On July 10, the bulk of the U.K. pop superstars’ respective album catalogs were released in the U.S. for the first time, as digital downloads. All five of Girls Aloud’s studio albums (including some in deluxe editions), along with two greatest hits collections and a boxed set, are now available. In addition, Girls Aloud group member Cheryl (formerly known as Cheryl Cole) sees her first three solo albums hit U.S. shores.

“It’s such great news that my albums are finally available digitally,” Cheryl tells Billboard via email. “I've always said they should be made available when released as people who support me and want my music would tweet me feeling incredibly frustrated that they weren't able to buy them and didn't understand why it wasn't available.”

The albums were issued in the U.S. on Polydor Records U.K., through Universal Music. The latter company says the release of the albums is part of an ongoing digital initiative to make top performing artists’ titles available in every territory. (Previously, only four of Girls Aloud's albums were available in the U.S.) 

In the U.K., Girls Aloud and Cheryl have been quite successful. The group notched six top 10 albums on the Official U.K. Chart, and their albums sold more than 4 million copies according to the Official U.K. Charts Company. All four of Cheryl’s solo sets have reached the U.K.’s top 10, with her first two hitting No. 1.

Of Cheryl and Girls Aloud’s catalog of studio albums, only Cheryl’s most recent release, Only Human (released in 2014 in the U.K.), has not been issued in America.

“Let's hope it doesn't take another five years to put Only Human out, lol,” says Cheryl.

Cheryl also adds, with regards to release of the Girls Aloud catalog: "I'm glad the Girls Aloud albums are being released, especially Tangled Up which is my favourite GA album as a whole. We were never launched over there (in the U.S.) but have always had a hardcore fan base so they will be happy and hopefully some new people will discover our music for the first time.”

Girls Aloud -- comprising Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh -- was formed on the U.K. TV talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002. The act went on to earn 21 top 10 singles on the Official U.K. Singles Chart, the most for any female group in history. The group split up on March 21, 2013, at the conclusion of their Ten: The Hits Tour 2013, which celebrated the act’s 10-year anniversary.

All five members have recorded independent of the group, including solo albums from Cheryl, Coyle, Roberts and Walsh. (Harding is currently at work on her solo debut.)

U.S. Girls Aloud fans will note that they are still waiting for the domestic release of Roberts and Walsh’s albums (Cinderella’s Eyes and Centre Stage, respectively). Coyle’s solo album, Insatiable, arrived in the U.S. last year, four years after its U.K. release.