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Greatest hits
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A greatest hits album (sometimes referred to as a "best of" album) is a compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular music artist or band. To increase the appeal of the album – especially to people who already own the previously released material – it is common to include remixes or alternate takes of popular songs or new material, with new songs often being released as singles (and themselves sometimes becoming successful).
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Encyclopedia
A greatest hits album (sometimes referred to as a "best of" album) is a compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular music artist or band. To increase the appeal of the album – especially to people who already own the previously released material – it is common to include remixes or alternate takes of popular songs or new material, with new songs often being released as singles (and themselves sometimes becoming successful). Madonna's The Immaculate Collection is the best selling Greatest hits compilation by a female artist - all of the songs on it are presented in different versions than the hit versions that people were used to hearing. Eagles' Their Greatest Hits (1971–1975) is the best selling greatest hits compilation by a Duo/Group and also one of the 10 best selling albums in the history.
Greatest hits albums are typically produced after an artist has had enough successful songs to fill out an album release. Some artists, such as The Beatles, Kenny Rogers, Aerosmith, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Queen and Billy Joel, have released multiple greatest hits albums through their career. Some greatest hits albums are released only at the end of the artist or group's career, as was the Stone Temple Pilots' Thank You.
In British pop music, when a band releases a greatest hits album, in most cases after three or four studio albums, it is usually taken as a sign that the band are about to split up. Examples include greatest hits albums by Atomic Kitten, Steps, S Club 7, Blue and Take That, although the latter band would reform nine years later. Recent exceptions to this "rule" include Westlife, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, who have released new material after their greatest hits collections.
Some bands refuse to release a greatest hits album, notably AC/DC and Metallica. Manic Street Preachers initially refused to do a greatest hits, but in the end Forever Delayed was released. Radiohead also refused to do such a compilation, but upon their departure from Parlophone Records, Radiohead: The Best of was released without their cooperation. The country music star Garth Brooks long opposed the release of a greatest hits collection, but agreed to it in 1994 but only for a limited time (his release, The Hits was quickly deleted, but not until selling well over ten million copies). Joni Mitchell also resisted releasing a greatest hits album for many years, reportedly fearing that the availability of a greatest hits compilation would lead her record label to take her actual studio albums out of print, but she agreed to release Hits in 1996 along with a second album titled Misses, which compiled non-hit songs that Mitchell personally selected as being representative of her work.
Greatest hits collections can also boost a falling music career. The Beautiful South's first greatest hits album, Carry on up the Charts, was originally strongly opposed by the band. However, upon release it became one of the fastest selling albums in chart history.
Title
The difference between a "greatest hits" album and a "best of" album is in the title. An artist who has had multiple hit singles can take the biggest of their hits and release them under the "greatest hits" banner, whereas an artist who has had few or no hits can release a "best of" album — the title suggesting that this is the best of their work. Regardless, even a band with few hits will still title their compilation "Greatest Hits".
During the 1980s however, the title started to become unfashionable and artists began releasing compilations under completely new titles, such as Bryan Adams' So Far So Good.
Criticism
In 2005, some greatest hits albums became ridiculed because many young "pre-mature" artists were releasing them. The likes of Hilary Duff, 'N Sync and Mandy Moore released greatest hits albums though they might have had only a handful of hit singles in their short careers. This is not, however, a new phenomenon: Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, for example, issued Greatest Hits in 1971, three years after their first top 40 pop hit. Jason Donovan had a hits album out in 1991, only two years after he debuted, Ayumi Hamasaki, a Japanese pop star, released her first best album, A Best only 3 years after her debut, and despite only having 3 albums and 7 singles, Ol' Dirty Bastard released The Dirty Story: The Best of ODB after two albums and three singles. Cockney Rejects, Mrs. Miller, Alien Ant Farm, and Graveyard BBQ have had Greatest Hits as the title of their respective debut albums. Welsh rappers Goldie Lookin' Chain also did this, however this was only a half-joke as they had already released a number of albums locally, the songs of their first album on general release being taken from these previous albums.
The quality of a greatest hits package released early in an artist's career depends upon the artist. Elvis Presley released Elvis' Golden Records in 1958, which only covered 1956-1958. Sly and the Family Stone released their Greatest Hits album in 1970, after only three years. Ringo Starr's Blast From Your Past and John Lennon's Shaved Fish came out in 1975, after 5-year careers. All of these compilations were well-received and continue to garner critical kudos.
A few artists also feel that their individual songs should ideally be listened to in context of the other songs in their original albums, and taking out simply the greatest hits of that context would diminish all the work put into the album as a whole.
Another criticism has been including one or two new songs with a package of hits. This trend started in the early 1980s, and made it necessary for collectors to purchase the "greatest hits" album if they wished to have the complete catalog of an artist's songs, even if those collectors owned all the albums containing the pre-existing hits. Often these new songs were commercial failures and thus the moniker "greatest hits" was devalued. This isn't nearly as big of an issue in the current day and age, since one can use digital music downloading services to purchase the one or two tracks unique to the compilation without having to buy the entire compilation, be it at a lower bit rate.
Gaming and television
A recent trend is for television shows to release greatest hits DVDs as a way to get new viewers interested in the show. Two examples of this are the Family Guy's Freakin' Sweet Collection and South Park: The Hits. Games for Sony's PlayStation that have sold over a certain number are re-released under its "Greatest Hits" banner.
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