- Greatest hits album, Best of album and Category:Best of album redirect here.
A greatest hits album, sometimes referred to as a best of album, is a compilation album consisting of songs released earlier in the artist's or band's career. Songs normally included on a greatest hits or best of album are songs that were released as singles that charted successfully or are most notable. Often the track list contains previously released recordings with a high degree of notability. However to increase the appeal, especially to people who already own the original release, it is common to include remixes and/or alternate takes of popular songs. Some also include previously unreleased recordings to make fans who have bought the song on previously released albums or CD singles to buy the compilation. Some artists can have a greatest hits album as early as two studio albums after, depending on the negotiation that has been made with their recording label. Due to digital downloading and CD ripping, however, greatest hits and best of albums are not always the best selling album of the artist's due to sites such as iTunes or Amazon.com that allow a person to buy a song by itself, depending on the deal they have made with the record label as some albums can only be downloaded all together instead of one song by itself, although this is not the case with CD ripping as a person can rip the song from the album and just make their own greatest hits/best of album.[1] Like compilation albums, if an artist has had more then one label it is very difficult to obtain the rights to previously released songs.[2]
Reference[]
- ↑ McDonald, Heather. "How Do Greatest Hits Albums Work?". About.com. http://musicians.about.com/od/releaseyourmusic/f/How-Do-Greatest-Hits-Albums-Work.htm. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
- ↑ McDonald, Heather. "What is a Compilation Album - Compilation Album Music Industry Glossary". About.com. http://musicians.about.com/od/ah/g/Compilation-Album.htm. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
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