The accompanying music video for "Goodbye" was filmed at Mentmore Towers and featured the group singing the song at a castle; Melanie Brown and Victoria Beckham were both pregnant at the time.

[5] For this, songwriters and music producers Richard Stannard and Matt Rowe flew to Nashville, Tennessee, to meet the group.

[6] During the documentary, Mel B is filmed recording vocals for the song before abruptly removing her headphones and walking out of the studio.

[11][12] The maxi-CD contains a cover of the Waitresses' 1981 single "Christmas Wrapping", as well as live versions of "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" and "We Are Family" that were recorded at Wembley Stadium on 20 September 1998.

The American release also included a set of four stickers of the girls, portraying them as fairies, similar to their appearance in the music video of "Viva Forever".

[13] According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by BMG Rights Management, "Goodbye" is set in common time with a key of E major.

[14] The song is a ballad which has the girls singing what Sarah Davis at Dotmusic called a "sugar-coated" farewell to friend Geri Halliwell, who left the group months prior.

[15] Coming to a similar conclusion, Kristie Rohwedder with Bustle noted that in the chorus of the song, the Spice Girls sing "Goodbye my friend/I know you're gone, you said you're gone, but I can still feel you here" and "It's not the end/You gotta keep it strong before the pain turns into fear".

[16] Davis also remarked that, as with their previous two end-of-year songs, "2 Become 1" and "Too Much", "Goodbye" is another ballad in which "the girls take turns at the lead with a chance to come together" on the chorus.

[18] Fraser McAlpine from BBC America noted that the song "captures that feeling of a tribute paid to a lost loved one".

As 1998 closed, the triumph of that single in the United Kingdom and abroad was proof positive that the power of the Spice Girls had not been diminished by Horner’s exit.

[21] Fraser McAlpine from BBC America said that "this is the song they wrote after Geri left, and is also, coincidentally, the last decent thing they ever did as a group".

[22] Chuck Taylor from Billboard called the song's melody "absolutely beautiful, in fact, one of the group's most memorable, with well-rounded harmonies".

[17] Another editor, Jason Lipshutz ranked it as the seventh of "The Top 8 Spice Girls Songs" list, based on the songs' performances on the Hot 100 chart, whilst also stating that "the pangs of sorrow resulting in the realization that the Spice Girls' pop reign had effectively ended makes "Goodbye" a bittersweet hit".

[23] During his review of Greatest Hits, Nick Levine of Digital Spy said, "Best of all is 'Goodbye', the supremely elegant ballad that became a post-Halliwell Christmas number one".

[24] Sarah Davis from Dotmusic website commented that the "feelgood" chorus was "strong enough for this otherwise unremarkable song to be lifted above ordinariness".

[28] On 20 December 1998, "Goodbye" became the Spice Girls' eighth number-one single in the UK, selling 380,000 copies in the first week.

In Europe, it reached number two on the Eurochart Hot 100;[31] reached number one in Ireland and Scotland;[32][33] peaked inside the top ten in Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, and Spain;[34][35][36][37][38] and inside the top twenty in Austria, Belgium (both the Flemish and Walloon charts), and Germany.

[43] In New Zealand, it debuted at the top of the chart, remaining there for the following week [44] and was certified platinum by Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ).

The video ends with the ice melting off the people as they come back to life, then shows the shot of the girls entering in reverse to look like they are leaving.

[57] They went on to perform "Goodbye" on Children in Need, The National Lottery Draws, Live & Kicking, CD:UK,[58][59][60][61] and on the Top of the Pops 1998 Christmas special.

During the tour's last show in London's Wembley Stadium, Halliwell publicly apologised for quitting the band before performing the song.