Greatest Hits Album: Difference between revisions

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Sometimes the "Best of" title is used instead. This often reflects a less concentrated focus on chart hits - sometimes for legitimate reasons (e.g., album-oriented artists, influential artists with less commercial success or simply those whose career may not be best reflected solely by singles). Or it could be a poor excuse to cover up a lack of genuine hits. Sometimes neither title is used (e.g., [[Dire Straits]]' compilation, "Money for Nothing"). To add perceived weight a more scholarly phrase such as "Anthology" is often used. This can be justified where the artist has had a long career but is equally often just a pretentious affectation.

As suggested by The Brunching Shuttlecocks, an easy way to determine the actual neccesity of a Greatest Hits Album is to divide the number of songs on the album that actually charted, by the number of songs included on the album. Artists like [[The Beatles]], [[Billy Joel]], [[Madonna]] and [[The Beach Boys]] will bat nearly 1.000, whereas groups who have released Greatest Hits albums ~~unneccesarily~~ (i.e., [[One-Hit Wonder|One Hit Wonders]]) will score far lower (e.g,: Kajagoogoo has hit ratio on its greatest hits album of 0.059, Timbuk 3 has 0.071, ''The Best of Tiffany'' scores 0.083, ''The Best of Martika'' 0.067 and so on.) The most egregious example may be ''The Best of Shaquille O'Neal'', which has 12 songs, none of which could legitimately be considered a hit, for a ratio of zero.

As suggested by The Brunching Shuttlecocks, an easy way to determine the actual neccesity of a Greatest Hits Album is to divide the number of songs on the album that actually charted, by the number of songs included on the album. Artists like [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]], [[Billy Joel]], [[Madonna]] and [[The Beach Boys]] will bat nearly 1.000, whereas groups who have released Greatest Hits albums unnecessarily (i.e., [[One-Hit Wonder|One Hit Wonders]]) will score far lower (e.g,: Kajagoogoo has hit ratio on its greatest hits album of 0.059, Timbuk 3 has 0.071, ''The Best of Tiffany'' scores 0.083, ''The Best of Martika'' 0.067 and so on.) The most egregious example may be ''The Best of Shaquille O'Neal'', which has 12 songs, none of which could legitimately be considered a hit, for a ratio of zero.

The ordering of songs can be either random or chronological (though for double-disk compilations, [[Distinct Double Album|it can get experimental]]).

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* [[Shakira]] got her own Greatest Hits in Spanish after four albums... but only songs from the latter two made it, because the two first were [[Old Shame|commercial failures full of]] [[Executive Meddling]]...

* J-pop group Glay, after ''two'' Best Of albums (one of them double!), released a two-volume, two-disc-each compilation titled ''rare collectives'' compiling all the B-sides of their singles to date (most of which hadn't made into any album), plus some live recordings and a couple of version and cooperations with other artists.

* [[The Beatles]] had several: first the Red (1962-1966) and Blue (1967-1970) albums (recently re-released), then ''20 Greatest Hits'' (which never made CD), the singles-only ''Past Masters'' (re-released with the 2009 remastered albums as it compiles everything that wasn't released on an album including important stuff like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Hey Jude"), and finally 2000's ''1'', the best selling album of [[Turn of the Millennium/Analysis|The Naughties]], which batted 1.000 because every song on it had hit #1 on either the British or the American charts.

* [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]] had several: first the Red (1962-1966) and Blue (1967-1970) albums (recently re-released), then ''20 Greatest Hits'' (which never made CD), the singles-only ''Past Masters'' (re-released with the 2009 remastered albums as it compiles everything that wasn't released on an album including important stuff like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Hey Jude"), and finally 2000's ''1'', the best selling album of [[Turn of the Millennium/Analysis|The Naughties]], which batted 1.000 because every song on it had hit #1 on either the British or the American charts.

** As early as 1966, their British label (Parlophone) released one of these: ''A Collection of Beatles Oldies''.

** [[John Lennon]] released one greatest hits album while he was alive, ''Shaved Fish''. That one was infamous for having short versions of songs that never charted. A fair percentage of his post-mortem releases are also greatest hits albums. "The John Lennon Collection" was a bit strange because half the songs on it were from ''Double Fantasy,'' and most of John's half of ''Double Fantasy'' was on that album.

** Paul McCartney has several. There is "[[Wings (band)|Wings]] Greatest Hits," released 1978. There is ''All The Best!'' released 1988; there are significant differences between the British and American versions of that album, as Paul has different hits in each country. (The British version also had a few new songs; the American version didn't, but the hit ratio was high.) In 2001, Paul released ''Wingspan,'' which was half a greatest-hits album from 1970 to 1985 and half "history" (some of which also charted decently). It cost no more than a normal single CD, but Capitol Records had flooded the market with ''All ~~The~~ Best!'' CDs immediately prior), so it wasn't fully appreciated.

** Paul McCartney has several. There is "[[Wings (band)|Wings]] Greatest Hits," released 1978. There is ''All The Best!'' released 1988; there are significant differences between the British and American versions of that album, as Paul has different hits in each country. (The British version also had a few new songs; the American version didn't, but the hit ratio was high.) In 2001, Paul released ''Wingspan,'' which was half a greatest-hits album from 1970 to 1985 and half "history" (some of which also charted decently). It cost no more than a normal single CD, but Capitol Records had flooded the market with ''All the Best!'' CDs immediately prior), so it wasn't fully appreciated.

** Capitol Records released a greatest hits CD for George Harrison when he left for Warner Bros, which interestingly, contained songs from his days with [[The Beatles]]. This annoyed Harrison, since all the other Beatles, Ringo included, had gotten a compilation devoted entirely to their output as solo artists.

** Capitol Records released a greatest hits CD for George Harrison when he left for Warner Bros, which interestingly, contained songs from his days with [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]]. This annoyed Harrison, since all the other Beatles, Ringo included, had gotten a compilation devoted entirely to their output as solo artists.

** Ringo Starr has released a couple of these. His first, ''Blast from the Past'', is highly valued because it has a much higher hit ratio than the albums it collected from, as well as a few songs that up to then had been singles-only. He released one called ''Photograph'' in 2007, but it didn't get much publicity.

* A cursory look at Amazon.com reveals that [[Bruce Willis]] has released ''four'' greatest hits albums for his less than stellar recording career. One of which uses the same cover art as his actual album.

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* [[Michael Jackson]] had several of these.

** ''HIStory - Past, Present and Future Book I'' (1995) drew criticism for the way it was compiled. It was a [[Distinct Double Album]], disc one consisting of greatest hits and disc two consisting of new material. This irked many people who wanted one but not both; casual fans didn't care about the new material, while hardcore fans already owned all the hits. The hits disc was reissued as a separate album in 2001, but people who want the other tracks (especially the singles from the second disc like "You Are Not Alone" and "Stranger in Moscow") still have to buy the full two-disc set. It's worth noting that Sony and Jackson's original plan was just to bring out a greatest hits set, but after the first round of child molestation allegations against him he came up with a ton of new material.

** ''Number Ones'' (2003) was his answer to [[The Beatles]] and [[Elvis Presley]] all-#1-hits compilations, though the American version had to stretch beyond the U.S. and British charts to include songs from ''Invincible''. It also included a new song in "One More Chance" that flopped in the U.S. as Jackson was formally charged with child molestation just as the album hit shelves; it did make #1 in [[wikipedia:One More Chance (Michael Jackson song)|a few countries]], though. The album didn't make waves until the week after Jackson's death, when it [http://www.billboard.com/#/news/michael-jackson-breaks-billboard-charts-1003989310.story outsold] the album topping the Billboard 200 (at the time, albums over 18 months old only entered the Catalog Charts; MJ's post-death popularity and the success of the Beatles remasterings caused that rule to be dropped).

** ''Number Ones'' (2003) was his answer to [[The Beatles (band)|The Beatles]] and [[Elvis Presley]] all-#1-hits compilations, though the American version had to stretch beyond the U.S. and British charts to include songs from ''Invincible''. It also included a new song in "One More Chance" that flopped in the U.S. as Jackson was formally charged with child molestation just as the album hit shelves; it did make #1 in [[wikipedia:One More Chance (Michael Jackson song)|a few countries]], though. The album didn't make waves until the week after Jackson's death, when it [http://www.billboard.com/#/news/michael-jackson-breaks-billboard-charts-1003989310.story outsold] the album topping the Billboard 200 (at the time, albums over 18 months old only entered the Catalog Charts; MJ's post-death popularity and the success of the Beatles remasterings caused that rule to be dropped).

** ''The Ultimate Collection'' (2004) was a four-disc hits-and-rarities box set, plus a DVD of a 1992 concert.

** ''The Essential [[Michael Jackson]]'' (2005) was a two-disc set that spanned his entire career: the U.S. version featured ten songs from his Jackson 5/Jacksons days (including early solo work), four ''Off the Wall'' songs, seven ''Thriller'' songs (the album has nine songs total), eight ''Bad'' songs (out of eleven), seven ''Dangerous'' songs, and one each from ''HIStory'' and ''Invincible'' (which shows how badly his career eroded). A limited edition had a third disk with seven extra songs, four being from the not-so-shiny phase.