Best of the Beast is Iron Maiden's first "best of" album, released in 1996 in three formats: a 34 track (four disc) vinyl, a 27 track (two disc) CD, a 16 track (single disc) CD and MiniDisc. The vinyl edition is, to date, the band's longest record release, running for over three hours.
Background
The track listing differs slightly between the various editions of the compilation album, but consists mainly of the band's singles and most well-known songs from their 1980–1995 albums. Also included are a new single, entitled "Virus",
The cover art was designed by Derek Riggs, known for having created most of Iron Maiden's early album covers. It is an amalgamation of his most famous works with the band, featuring Eddies from the Piece of Mind, Powerslave, Somewhere in Time and No Prayer for the Dying eras, as well as those from "The Trooper", Live After Death and a redesign of the Killers album cover.
Track listing
Standard edition CD and MD
Limited edition CD
Limited edition vinyl
Charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
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!Chart (1996)
!Peak<br>position
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! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| align="center"| 58
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!scope="row"|Japanese Albums (Oricon)
| align="center"| 26
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! scope="row"| Official Charts Company
| align="center"| 19
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|}