For the Sirius XM Channel see Sirius XM hits 1
The Hits Album, or Hits 1 as it is often called, is a compilation album

Compilation album

A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...

 released by CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 (Now Sony BMG) and WEA

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

 in November 1984. The album was released as a rival to the already successful Now That's What I Call Music series which EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 and Virgin Records

Virgin Records

Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...

 had launched in November 1983. The Hits Album reached #1 in the UK Top 100 Album chart for 7 weeks and remained in the chart for 36 weeks. This album kept Now 4 from the #1 spot over Christmas 1984.

It was released on double LP

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

 and cassette

Compact Cassette

The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...

 with selected tracks also released on VHS

VHS

The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

.

Side One:

1. Freedom : Wham!
   WHAM!
   Wham! were a short-lived British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band....
   
   
2. Like To Get To Know You Well : Howard Jones
   Howard Jones (musician)
   Howard Jones is a musician, singer and songwriter. According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, "Jones is an accomplished singer-songwriter who was a regular chart visitor in the mid 1980s with his brand of synthpop. Jones, who was equally popular in the U.S., appeared at Live...
   
   
3. All Cried Out : Alison Moyet
   Alison Moyet
   Alison Moyet , is an English singer, songwriter and performer noted for her bluesy voice.Her UK album sales have reached a certified 2.3 million, with 800,000 singles sold, all in the UK, where all seven of her studio albums and three compilation albums have charted in the Top 40 UK Album Chart,...
   
   
4. I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down : Paul Young
   Paul Young (singer and guitarist)
   Paul Antony Young is an English pop musician. Formerly the frontman of the short-lived bands Kat Kool & The Kool Cats, Streetband and Q-Tips, his following solo success as a solo recording artist turned him into a 1980s teenage pop idol...
   
   
5. Big In Japan : Alphaville
6. Self Control : Laura Branigan
   Laura Branigan
   Laura Ann Branigan was an American singer-songwriter and actress of Italian and Irish ancestry. She is best known in the United States for her 1982 Platinum-certified hit "Gloria" and in Europe for the number-one single "Self Control"...
   
   
7. Ghostbusters : Ray Parker, Jr.
   Ray Parker, Jr.
   Ray Erskine Parker, Jr. , is an American guitarist, songwriter, producer and recording artist. Parker is known for writing and performing the theme song to the motion picture Ghostbusters, for his solo hits, and performing with his band Raydio as well as the late Barry White.-Early life and...
   
   
8. Thriller : Michael Jackson
   Michael Jackson
   Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
   
   

Side Two:

1. I Feel For You : Chaka Khan
   Chaka Khan
   Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
   
   
2. Caribbean Queen : Billy Ocean
   Billy Ocean
   Billy Ocean is a Trinidad-born English Grammy Award winning popular music performer who had a string of rhythm and blues international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British-based R&B singer / songwriter of the early to mid-1980s...
   
   
3. Body : Jacksons
4. Just Be Good To Me : The SOS Band
   The SOS Band
   The SOS Band is an American musical ensemble, founded in Atlanta, Georgia in 1977. Originally known as Santa Monica, the 'SOS' initialism in the band's name stands for Sounds of Success.-History:...
   
   
5. Let's Hear It For The Boy : Deniece Williams
   Deniece Williams
   June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...
   
   
6. Dr Beat : Miami Sound Machine
7. Lost In Music : Sister Sledge
   Sister Sledge
   Sister Sledge is an American musical group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 1972 and consisting of four sisters: Kim Sledge Debbie Sledge , Joni Sledge , and Kathy Sledge . They are granddaughters of the former opera singer Viola Williams. The sisters used to perform under the name of "Mrs...
   
   
8. Purple Rain : Prince & the Revolution

Side Three:

1. Careless Whisper
   Careless Whisper
   "Careless Whisper" is a 1984 single by George Michael , released by Epic Records in the UK, Japan, and other countries; and by Columbia Records in North America. The song was George Michael's first solo single although he was still performing in Wham! at the time...
   
    : George Michael
   George Michael
   George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...
   
   
2. Drive : The Cars
   The Cars
   The Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson...
   
   
3. Hard Habit to Break
   Hard Habit to Break
   "Hard Habit to Break" is a song written by Steve Kipner and John Lewis Parks produced and arranged by David Foster and recorded by the group Chicago for their 1984 album Chicago 17, with Bill Champlin and Peter Cetera sharing lead vocals. Released as the second single from the album, it reached...
   
    : Chicago
   Chicago (band)
   Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois. The self-described "rock and roll band with horns" began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads. They had...
   
   
4. All Through The Night : Cyndi Lauper
   Cyndi Lauper
   Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
   
   
5. Sister Of Mercy : Thompson Twins
   Thompson Twins
   The Thompson Twins were a British pop group that were formed in April 1977 and disbanded in May 1993. They achieved considerable popularity in the mid 1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Kingdom, the United States and around the globe. The band was named after the two bumbling detectives...
   
   
6. Skin Deep : The Stranglers
   The Stranglers
   The Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
   
   
7. Each And Every One : Everything but the Girl
   Everything but the Girl
   Everything but the Girl was a two-person English band, formed in Hull during 1981, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, and singer Ben Watt . They are currently inactive although vocalist Tracey Thorn hinted that they may reform someday...
   
   
8. Smooth Operator : Sade

Side Four:

1. Gimme All Your Lovin' : ZZ Top
   ZZ Top
   ZZ Top is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "That Little Ol' Band from Texas". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based boogie rock, has come to incorporate elements of arena, southern, and boogie rock. The band, from Houston Texas, formed in 1969...
   
   
2. Jump : Van Halen
   Van Halen
   Van Halen is an American hard rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. The band has enjoyed success since the release of its debut album, Van Halen, . As of 2007 Van Halen has sold 80 million albums worldwide and has had the most #1 hits on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart...
   
   
3. Footloose : Kenny Loggins
   Kenny Loggins
   During the next decade, Loggins recorded so many successful songs for film soundtracks that he was referred to as, King of the Movie Soundtrack.He began with "I'm Alright" , "Mr. Night", and "Lead the Way" from Caddyshack...
   
   
4. Apollo 9 : Adam Ant
   Adam Ant
   Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...
   
   
5. Modern Girl : Meat Loaf
   Meat Loaf
   Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...
   
   
6. Some Guys Have All The Luck : Rod Stewart
   Rod Stewart
   Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE is a British singer-songwriter and musician, born and raised in North London, England and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry....
   
   
7. Teardrops : Shakin' Stevens
   Shakin' Stevens
   Shakin' Stevens, also known as "Shaky" is a platinum selling Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter who holds the distinction of being the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s . His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw...
   
   
8. Hole In My Shoe : neil
   Neil
   Neil is a masculine given name of Gaelic origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Gaelic name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", or "champion". As a surname, Neil is traced back to Niall of the Nine Hostages who was an Irish...
   
   

See also

The Hits Album

The Hits Album

Hits was a compilation album series which ran in the United Kingdom for over 20 years between 1984 and 2006. It was compiled as a joint venture, usually between the compilation arms of the Sony BMG and Warner Music groups Hits was a compilation album series which ran in the United Kingdom for over...

Hits 2

Hits 2

The Hits Album 2, or Hits 2 as it is often called, is a compilation album that was released in April 1985 in the UK. It was released by CBS and WEA. It reached #1 in the UK Top 100 Album Chart for 6 weeks. Among its twenty-eight tracks were 18 Top Ten hits and four #1s...

Hits 3

Hits 4

Hits 4

Hits 4 is a compilation album released in the UK in March 1986 by CBS and WEA, with RCA Ariola now also joining the partnership from this release onwards...

Hits 5

Hits 5

Hits 5 is a compilation album released in November 1986 by CBS and WEA. It was the fifth in the Hits series which has now spanned over 20 years, with the first volume released in December 1984...

Hits 6

Hits 6

Hits 6 is a compilation that was released in July 1987 by CBS, WEA and BMG in the UK. It was a successful album, and reached #1 and achieved a Platinum BPI award...

Hits 7

Hits 7

Hits 7 is a compilation album that was released in December 1987 by CBS, BMG, and WEA. It reached #2 in the UK Top 100 Album chart. This was the first in the Hits series to be released on double-CD...

Hits 8

Hits 8

Hits 8 is a 32-track compilation album released in the summer of 1988 by CBS, WEA and BMG Records in the UK. It was released as a double LP, MC and CD...

Now That's What I Call Music