But the big question on everyone’s lips wasn’t why Posh had ruled herself out of the big comeback. It was which stocks have fared best in the 22 years since the Spice Girls released their first single?

Well, maybe it wasn’t the question on everyone’s lips, but if you’re interested, the experts at investment platform AJ Bell have crunched the numbers.

According to their research, seven companies have returned 2,000% or more between 8 July 1996 and the announcement of their reunion tour yesterday.

Meat producer Cranswick outperformed all other companies in the FTSE 350, with a 3,580% total return over the period. Its share price has risen from 90.6p in July 1996 to 2,855.97p today.

Shipping services provider Clarkson recorded the second highest performance over the past 22 years, handing shareholders exactly 3,000% total return.

And property agents Savills came in third with a total return of 2,450%.

Laura Suter, personal finance analyst at AJ Bell, said: “A £20,000 investment split evenly between the top 20 performing stocks would have been turned into £409,600 today – enough to afford more than 5,000 tickets to their upcoming reunion tour.”

Here’s a full list of the top 20 performers: