The Top 10 best selling Greatest Hits albums

13 November 2024, 13:00

Who had the most popular greatest hits in British music history? And who is notable by their absence from our collection of great collections? Radio X breaks down the sales figures.

By Radio X

@RadioX

Who doesn't love a Greatest Hits? They're the albums that showcase the most iconic and beloved tracks from an artist, offering a unique look into their evolution (or devolution, depending on who we're talking about). Whether they're an important introduction to an act, or a chance to relive fond memories of their best moments, there's no doubt that a finely-curated hits collection can be a huge seller. And here are the ten biggest examples of the form in British music history.

1. Queen - Greatest Hits: release date 26th October 1981

   The biggest selling album in British recording history is this 1981 collection of Queen bangers, which span from 1974's Seven Seas Of Rhye to 1980's Flash.

   While not including the David Bowie/Queen collaboration Under Pressure (which topped the charts a couple of weeks after Greatest Hits was released), this collection was the first album to break the 7 million sales barrier in July 2022, which works out at an impressive 25 times Platinum status.

   

2. ABBA - Gold: release date 21st September 1992

   Distributor PolyGram had acquired ABBA's label Polar Music in 1989, so the time was right for a CD-era collection of the Swedish pop titans' greatest hits.

   It coincided with a resurgence of interest in the band's music and went on to be the second biggest selling album in UK history, shifting over 6 million units - that's 20 times Platinum, never mind Gold. In November 2021, ABBA Gold became the first LP to spend 1,000 weeks on the chart.

   

3. Queen - Greatest Hits II: release date 28th October 1991

   Just sneaking into the Top 10 of the UK's biggest-selling albums is the follow-up to Queen's Greatest Hits, issued almost a decade to the day after its predecessor. Spanning the period between the single Under Pressure (1981) and the album Innuendo (1991), the collection focuses on the band's mid-80s highpoint, when they were the champions of Live Aid.

   Issued only a month before the death of Freddie Mercury, Greatest Hits II returned to the top of the album charts following the tragic loss of the frontman, going on to be certified 13 times Platinum in the UK; that's roughly 3.9 million sales.

   

4. The Beatles - 1: release date 13th November 2000

   30 years after The Fab Four called it a day there came this collection of all their Number 1 hits (hence the name). The track listing caused some controversy: songs were eligible if they'd topped the charts in either the UK or the US.

   This meant you got Love Me Do (only Number 17 here, but a chart-topper in America), Eight Days A Week and Yesterday (not even singles in the UK) and the US-only single The Long And Winding Road. It's still a solid track listing and the compilation has sold 3.9 million copies in the UK (as of May 2023).

   

5. Bob Marley & The Wailers - Legend: release date 8th May 1984

   Issued three years after the death of the iconic reggae superstar Marley, this collection includes all 10 of Marley's UK Top 40 hits to that date, including I Shot The Sheriff, Stir It Up and Get Up Stand Up.

   A reissue of One Love was issued just before the album came out, giving the collection a promotional boost, meaning the album has gone on to sell over 3.8 million copies in the UK.

   

6. Madonna - The Immaculate Collection: release date 13th November 1990

   Madge's first hits compilation arrived hot on the heels of the Blond Ambition Tour and the previous year's controversial Like A Prayer album. Beginning with the Lucky Star/Holiday single from September 1983, The Immaculate Collection includes two new tracks - the Lenny Kravitz co-write Justify My Love and Rescue Me.

   The album has sold 11 million copies in the US and 3.7 million in the UK; its estimated that the compilation has shifted over 30 million copies worldwide.

   

7. Michael Jackson - Number Ones: release date 18th November 2003

   One More Chance, the final new single to be issued in Jacko's lifetime, was a major selling point of this collection of chart-toppers, which reaches back to 1979's Off The Wall album (plus a live version of the 1972 classic Ben). The album has been certified 10 times Platinum in the UK, meaning 3 million sales.

   

8. George Michael - Ladies And Gentlemen: release date 9th November 1998

   Issued a few months after the singer's highly publicised arrest for "engaging in a lewd act" at a public toilet in Beverley Hills, the success of this compilation proved that such revelations didn't affect the former Wham! star's popularity one jot - it spent eight weeks at the top of the charts.

   Certified nine times Platinum, the album has sold 2.7 million copies, and after Michael died in 2016, it was revealed that all profits had gone to the HIV support charity The Terrence Higgins Trust.

   

9. Elton John - The Very Best Of Elton John: release date 1st October 1990

   Elt's artistic renaissance at the turn of the 90s was cemented by this impressive double-disc set that begins with Your Song in 1970 and winds up twenty years later with You Gotta Love Someone from 1990's Days Of Thunder soundtrack. By October 2023 the album has sold over 2.7 million copies, making it nine times Platinum.

   

10. ABBA - Greatest Hits: release date 2nd April 1976

    Originally issued in Scandinavia at the tail end of 1975, this compilation showcases the pop legends at the height of their stardom... and they hadn't even released Dancing Queen at this point!

    The album was the best-selling album of 1976 in the UK, and Blighty's second-best selling album of the 70s after Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water. It's sold over 2.6 million copies to date in this country, plus a solid million in the US.