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. A compilation album is an Album ( Music or Spoken-word) featuring tracks from one or multiple Recording artists, often culled from a variety of A song is a Musical composition. Songs contain vocal parts that are performed 'sung' and generally feature Words ( Lyrics) commonly followed 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). A remix is an alternative version of a song different from the original version

Greatest hits albums are typically produced after an artist has had enough successful songs to fill out an album release. Some artists, such as Queen and Billy Joel, have released multiple greatest hits albums through their career. Queen were an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist William Martin Joel (born May 9 1949 is an American Pianist and Singer-songwriter. 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. Stone Temple Pilots (commonly referred to as " STP " is a Grammy Award -winning American rock band consisting of Scott Weiland For other albums by this name see Thank You. Thank You is a Greatest hits collection released by the American They are aimed at fans who liked a few of their songs or singles, but not enough to buy an artist's entire catalog as well as potential new fans who want to sample the most famous work of an artist or group with just one purchase.

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. Atomic Kitten are an English Girl group from Liverpool composed of Elizabeth McClarnon, Natasha Hamilton, and Jennifer Frost Steps was a pop group that achieved a series of charted singles between 1997 and 2001 S Club, formerly known as S Club 7, was a pop group created by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller. Blue were an English pop Boy band consisting of four members Lee Ryan, Duncan James, Antony Costa, and Simon Take That are an English pop Musical group consisting of members Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Jason Orange, Mark Recent exceptions to this "rule" include Westlife, Girls Aloud and Sugababes, who have either released or are committed to releasing new material after their greatest hits collections. Westlife is an Irish pop band that was formed on 3 July 1998 They were signed on by Simon Cowell and are currently managed by Louis Walsh. Girls Aloud are a British Girl group created by ITV1 Talent show Popstars The Rivals in 2002 Sugababes are a BRIT Award -winning English pop group trio from London.

Some bands refuse to release a greatest hits album, notably Radiohead ^[1], AC/DC and Metallica. Radiohead AC/DC are an Australian Hard rock band formed in Sydney, Australia in 1973 by brothers Angus and Malcolm Young. Metallica is an American heavy metal band that formed in 1981 in. Manic Street Preachers initially refused to do a greatest hits, but in the end Forever Delayed was released. Manic Street Preachers (often known colloquially as the " Manics " or " MSP " are a Welsh rock band consisting of James Forever Delayed is a Greatest hits Album by the Manic Street Preachers, released in 2002 Also, the country music star Garth Brooks long opposed the release of a greatest hits collection, but agreed to it in 1994^[2] but only for a limited time (his release, The Hits was quickly deleted, but not until selling well over ten million copies). Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. Troyal Garth Brooks, known professionally as Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American Country music Singer-songwriter. The Hits was the second compilation album and first Greatest hits album from American Country pop artist Garth Brooks.

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. The Beautiful South were an English Pop group formed at the end of the 1980s by former members of Hull group The Housemartins - Paul Heaton Carry On Up The Charts The Best Of The Beautiful South Is The Beautiful South 's fifth album and first Greatest hits collection However, upon release it became one of the fastest selling albums in chart history. ^[3]

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". The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. {Otherpeople|Brian Adams}} Bryan Adams OC, OBC, (born Bryan Guy Adams on November 5, 1959) is a Canadian rock So Far So Good is a compilation album by Bryan Adams, released by A&M Records in November 1993

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 ^[4]. Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28 1987 is an American Actress, pop Singer-songwriter Amanda Leigh "Mandy" Moore (born April 10 1984 is an American pop Singer, Songwriter, Actor, and Fashion designer This is not, however, a new phenomenon: Ayumi Hamasaki, a Japanese pop star, released her first best album, A Best only 3 years after her debut, although she already had nine number 1 singles; Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, for example, issued Greatest Hits in 1971, three years after their first top 40 pop hit. is a Japanese Singer-songwriter and former Actress. Also called Ayu by her fans Hamasaki has been dubbed the "Empress of Pop" due to her A Best is a Greatest hits Album released by Ayumi Hamasaki on March 28 2001 Kenneth Ray "Kenny" Rogers (born August 21, 1938, in Houston Texas) is an American Country music Singer-songwriter The First Edition (later known as Kenny Rogers and The First Edition) was a Rock band, stalwart members being Kenny Rogers ( vocals & Ol' Dirty Bastard released The Dirty Story: The Best of ODB after two albums and three singles. Russell Tyrone Jones ( November 15 1968 – November 13 2004) was an American Rapper who went by the Stage name Ringo Starr issued his greatest hits album, Blast From Your Past, after a mere three solo albums in the 1970s, while Jason Donovan had a hits album out in 1991, only two years after he debuted, and despite only having 3 albums and 7 singles, Christina Milian released Best of Christina Milian in 2006. Ringo Starr, MBE (born Richard Starkey on 7 July 1940 is an English Musician, Singer, Songwriter and Actor Blast From Your Past is a singles compilation album by Ringo Starr, released on Apple Records in 1975 Jason Sean Donovan (born 1 June 1968, Malvern, Melbourne) is an Australian Actor and Singer. Christine Flores (born September 26 1981 Milian describes her family as her "everything" and said that although she got along with everyone as a child she "didn't Best Of is the first compilation album from R&B Singer Christina Milian. Underground hip-hop artist Apathy's first official release on CD was It's The Bootleg, Muthaf*ckas! Vol. 1, a 2-disc compilation of many of the rappers singles previously only available on vinyl. Cockney Rejects,Mrs. Miller, Alien Ant Farm and The Boomtang Boys satirised this by having Greatest Hits as the title of their respective debut albums. Cockney Rejects are an Oi! punk band that formed in the East End of London in 1979 Elva Ruby Connes ( October 5, 1907 &ndash July 5, 1997) who recorded under the name Mrs Alien Ant Farm is an American rock band that formed in the southern California city of Riverside in 1995 The Boomtang Boys are a Canadian dance/remix trio They are known for both their remix work and pop-dance music 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. Not to be confused with GLC the American rapper or the Greater London Council Goldie Lookin Chain is a rap-pop music group based in Newport

Another criticism has been including one or two new songs with a package of hits. This trend started in the early 1980s. Often these new songs were commercial failures and thus the moniker "greatest hits" was devalued.

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. Family Guy is an animated American television sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane that airs on Fox and regularly on other South Park is an animated American television comedy series created and written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for Comedy Central Games for Sony's PlayStation that have sold over a certain number are re-released under its "Greatest Hits" banner. is a multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato Tokyo, Japan, and one of the world's largest Media conglomerates with The PlayStation (abbreviated PS, PSone, PS1, or informally as PSX) is a 32-bit fifth generation Video game console For the PAL region and Japanese equivalents see Platinum Range and The Best range, respectively

References

1. ^ Pitchfork: Radiohead Best Of Details Revealed
2. ^ Google Music. Garth Brooks: The Hits. Accessed 31 December 2007.
3. ^ The Beautiful South : Full Biography Retrieved on 2007-06-17
4. ^ MSNBC: Greatest-hits albums, now minus the hits. MSNBC is a 24-hour cable television news channel based in the United States and available in Canada. AP. The Associated Press ( AP) is an American News agency. The AP is a Cooperative owned by its contributing Newspapers radio Aug 26, 2005. Retrieved 27 Oct 2007.