Few would name the romantic crooner Johnny Mathis a revolutionary, however in March 1958, the much-loved balladeer modified music endlessly when he launched the primary hits compilation album, the succinctly titled Johnny’s Best Hits. Mathis had solely been recording for 2 years at that time, however his producer Mitch Miller was eager to maintain the singer within the public eye whereas he was away on a British tour and got here up with the concept of repurposing some early recordings. The technique labored — Johnny’s Best Hits spent three weeks on the prime of the U.S. Billboard album chart and bought half 1,000,000 copies by June 1959. The best hits album was born. Earlier than lengthy, just about any artist of word would comply with Mathis’ lead.
Within the early ’60s, again when 7-inch singles have been the dominant format, best hits compilations have been pure expressions of pop, full of hits and packing a punch that full-length albums hardly ever did — see The Rolling Stones’ masterful Sizzling Rocks 1964–71, The Who’s Meaty Beaty Large and Bouncy, or any of the Motown Chartbusters sequence. However in addition to nonstop thrills for music lovers on a finances, a best hits album can mark a turning level in an artist’s profession — defining eras, marking a resurgence of curiosity, reflecting cultural milestones, and signaling farewells. Even within the age of streaming, when playlists have taken over the position of curating artists’ catalogs, best hits albums nonetheless maintain a novel energy, providing each longtime followers and new listeners a cohesive, self-contained method to expertise an artist’s legacy.
The Seashore Boys
By 1974, The Seashore Boys had lengthy left browsing and sizzling rods behind. A sequence of mature and critically acclaimed early ’70s albums had seen a shift towards soulful, rootsy rock with the killer harmonies of their ’60s heyday intact. However regardless of rave critiques, they weren’t the draw they as soon as have been, particularly in the USA — album gross sales have been down, as was live performance attendance. The nostalgic best hits compilation Limitless Summer season modified all of that — a 20-track, two-LP best-of that solely featured songs launched between 1962 and 1966. The timing couldn’t have been higher — a technology who’d grown up with The Seashore Boys’ astonishing ’60s run of hit singles have been excited to rediscover their youth, and the album flew off the cabinets.
Frontman Mike Love helped sequence the album and was delighted by the reception. “I wanted the listener to experience the same feeling as one would have in listening to a concert,” Love later stated. “That was just born of years of doing shows. The response to Endless Summer was stunning. Four months after hitting the stores, it reached Number One and remained on the Billboard album chart for a remarkable 155 weeks; more than three million copies were sold in the United States. Rolling Stone, which hadn’t taken us seriously in years, named us ‘Band of the Year’ in 1974.”
In the meantime, ticket gross sales went by the roof, with the band promoting out 4 nights at Madison Sq. Backyard, New York. From this level on, The Seashore Boys have been referred to as “America’s Band,” and their reveals have been dominated by their “golden oldies.”
Bob Marley
Launched in Might 1984, Legend, the best hits of Bob Marley & The Wailers, was a compilation liable for making reggae music a very international phenomenon. Although Marley was broadly considered essentially the most influential determine in Jamaican music and was revered worldwide, his album gross sales hadn’t fairly matched his notoriety. Island Data president Dave Robinson noticed the potential for a compilation to introduce Marley’s timeless songs to a wider viewers. The label employed market researchers to check Marley’s songs with totally different audiences and put collectively a set that included all 10 of Marley’s U.Ok. Prime 10 singles at that time, and steered away from his political materials to focus on the extra melodic and catchy parts of his songwriting.
Island’s curatorial strategy to Marley’s catalog had the specified impact, turning into a gross sales phenomenon — greater than 18 million copies bought within the U.S. alone and over 25 million copies globally. The discharge cemented the singer-songwriter as a world icon.
ABBA and past
One other compilation that radically altered the best way the world noticed an artist was ABBA Gold, launched in September 1992. Whereas the Swedish pop masters have been international sensations again within the ’70s, by the shut of the ’80s, tastes had moved on. Nonetheless, very like The Seashore Boys followers who’d come of age by the mid-’70s and snapped up Limitless Summer season, by the early ’90s, ABBA had followers in excessive locations. A workforce of report label executives and journalists have been tasked with compiling an ABBA best hits that may shine a lightweight on their timeless songwriting; Polygram Worldwide’s Chris Griffin later recalled that he tried to sequence the tracks as if it have been a radio present.
The consequence was ABBA Gold, a 19-track compilation that included 9 U.Ok. No. 1 singles and went on to grow to be one of many best-selling albums of all time, with over 30 million international gross sales to this point. Except for the stats, although, the success of the album led to the vital rehabilitation of ABBA. With out ABBA Gold, there might properly have been no Mamma Mia!, no ABBA Voyage, and wedding ceremony disco dance flooring can be far much less busy.
Best hits albums may also emphasize a band’s continued cultural resonance. The Beatles’ 1 was compiled by George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr alongside producer George Martin and contained the band’s 27 songs that reached the No. 1 spot within the U.Ok. on the Report Retailer chart or within the U.S. on the Billboard Sizzling 100. Launched in time for the vacation season in 2000, 1 was the primary Beatles compilation to characteristic all of their main hits on a single CD. Nonetheless, no person anticipated it to be fairly so profitable. The compilation went on to promote over 30 million copies worldwide, making it the biggest-selling album of the last decade and displaying that The Beatles remained as culturally related as ever. Not dangerous for an album that didn’t characteristic any beforehand unreleased materials.
Best hits albums have additionally been used to point the passing of time (Neil Younger’s 1977 triple-album Decade, which marked his first decade as a recording artist) and even the top of a profession (R.E.M.’s Half Lies, Half Coronary heart, Half Fact, Half Rubbish 1982–2011). They’ve been pivotal in an artist being appreciated after their time (akin to Nick Drake’s Option to Blue) and have been very important introductions to artists for future generations (Nirvana’s 2002 self-titled compilation). What number of do you’ve gotten in your assortment?
Purchase the best Best Hits collections on vinyl and CD now.
