could "pull off more difficult passages with at least an iota of conviction". Ian Hyland of the Sunday Mirror enjoyed the track, but felt that Chisholm sounded "daft", and added that she needs to "calm down on the scouse front". The Virginian-Pilot described the strings on the song as "classic soul with a 90s tweak". Some reviewers criticised the R&B-infused production. In a review of Spiceworld, the Contra Costa Times said that the album's ballads such as "Too Much" and "Viva Forever" are "both treacly and deadly dull". Conversely, Gina Arnold of Salon said that the ballads are "blander but still appealing". The Sun-Sentinels Sean Picolli viewed the song as "a sincere stab at instructional R&B". Richard Harrington of The Washington Post described it as a "lugubrious ballad", while Scott Schinder of Newsday said that "the contempo-R&B schmaltz of 'Too Much' [...] mires the group in middle-of-the-road mediocrity". J.D. Considine of The Baltimore Sun was not convinced by the song's "attempts at deep emotional expression", and Anthony Violenti of The Buffalo News said that it is "supposed to be a heart tugging ballad that may even make the Spice Girls fan base of 10-year olds overdose on sugar". Commercial performance "Too Much" debuted atop the UK Singles Chart, becoming the Spice Girls' second consecutive Christmas number-one single. It made the group the first act to reach number one with their first six singles, and the first to debut atop the chart five times in a row. The single spent two weeks at number one, and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 9 January 1998. As of December 2017, it had sold 682,000 copies in the United Kingdom. "Too Much" was moderately successful in Europe, reaching number three on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles, peaking inside the top 10 in Denmark, Finland, Ireland, and Spain, and inside the top 20 in Austria, Belgium (both the Flemish and Walloon charts), France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. The song was also a modest success in Oceania. In New Zealand, it debuted on 21 December 1997 at number 20, peaked at number nine for two weeks, and stayed on the chart for 12 weeks. In Australia, it debuted on the ARIA Singles Chart at number 29, peaking at number nine in its sixth week; it remained on the chart for 15 weeks, and was certified gold by the Australian