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A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be created by Record label without express approval from the original artist as a means to generate sales. They are typically regarded as a good starting point for new fans of an artist, but are sometimes criticized by longtime fans as not inclusive enough or necessary at all.
It is also common for greatest hits albums to include new recordings, or unreleased alternate takes of the hit songs, plus other new material as bonus tracks to increase appeal for longtime fans (who might otherwise already own the recordings included). At times, a greatest hits compilation marks the first album appearance of a successful single that was never attached to a previous studio album. Greatest hits albums usually are released after an artist or band's contract with a major label is completed, they have been dropped from the label, or a band member died, with next releases following on new labels.
Greatest hits compilations were sometimes also released as 4-track 7" vinyl Extended play. In the late 1960s, EMI released a series of greatest hits-EPs featuring artists such as The Supremes, Ray Charles and Louis Armstrong.
By the 1990s, greatest hits albums were common for popular artists, with some artists even releasing the greatest hits album as a music video collection concurrently with the album. It also became a commercially viable option to boost popularity for artists with dwindling careers. Some bands refuse to release a greatest hits album, such as rock groups AC/DC, Tool, and Metallica. Garth Brooks had initially refused releasing one, but he eventually agreed to it in 1994 for a limited release (the resulting record, The Hits, sold over ten million copies).
In 2000, Sony Music launched their The Essential series, which collects singles and other career-defining tracks of artists licensed to Sony. The Essential Bob Dylan was the first in the series, and the company has since released dozens of albums in the series with other artists under their label. In addition to artist-specific collections, the series has also released genre-specific and themed albums, such as The Essential Christmas (collecting pop and rock covers of Christmas songs) or The Essential Australian Rock (collecting a specific regional output). In 2005, Universal Music Group launched a similar line, Gold, which collects artists' greatest hits onto two discs.
In the late 2000s and 2010s, music download and Streaming media increased in popularity, which allow users to listen to their favorite tracks without the need of a greatest hits package. In 2016, Pitchfork said that "in the digital era, once a catalog enters a streaming service or an MP3 store, there's no need for a reissue and, therefore, there's no reason for a label to mine the vaults, searching for old music to make new again. Users can assemble their own personalized greatest hits playlists or just scan through an act's most accessed songs", which has led to greatest hits collections becoming redundant.
Despite the popularity of streaming in the 2010s and early 2020s, some artists continued to issue physical greatest hits albums, including the White Stripes, Spoon, and the Weeknd. Spoon lead singer Britt Daniel said he chose to compile 2019's out of an affinity for compilations such as Standing on a Beach by the Cure and Substance 1987 by New Order, which had introduced him to those artists in his youth, and to provide an official introduction to Spoon's catalog for new listeners. Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand echoed those sentiments when describing the decision to release the band's 2022 Hits to the Head compilation, stating that "I have friends who believe you're somehow not a 'real' fan if you own a best of rather than a discography. I disagree. I think of my parents' record collection as a kid. I loved their compilation LPs. I am so grateful that they had Changesonebowie or . Those LPs were my entrance point. My introduction."
One example of a greatest hits compilation released against the artists' intentions is British rock group the Rolling Stones' 1971 compilation Hot Rocks 1964–1971. The music magazine Rolling Stone remarked that the album served as a "beautifully packaged... purely mercenary item put together by former record executives of the Stones' to cash in on the Christmas season and wring some more bucks out in the name of the Mod Princes they once owned." The Rolling Stones - Hot Rocks, 1964–1971 (1972) album review at Rolling Stone by Lester Bangs After their management tricked the band into signing over the copyrights to their 1963–1970 song catalog, the band did succeed in changing management and major labels. However, they could neither prevent the release of Hot Rocks nor its successor, More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies). Hot Rocks remains the best-selling album of the Rolling Stones' career. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards continue to collect significant songwriting royalties from the Hot Rocks sales, but not the ownership royalties.
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