Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released February 27, 1995, on Columbia Records. It is a collection of some of Springsteen's hit singles and popular album tracks through the years along with four new songs at the end, mostly recorded with the E Street Band in 1995. The latter constituted Springsteen's first (albeit very partial) release with his backing band since the late 1980s. Some of the songs are shorter versions of the original album releases.
The recording of the new tracks was depicted in the 1996 documentary Blood Brothers. "Murder Incorporated" and "This Hard Land" were outtakes from the 1982 sessions for Born in the U.S.A., with the latter being re-recorded more than a decade later, and both have been frequently performed by Springsteen in concert. "Blood Brothers", on the other hand, has been played on only four occasions, including as the opening number of the first concert following keyboardist Danny Federici's death in April 2008. "Secret Garden" became well-known when it was featured on the soundtrack of the 1996 film Jerry Maguire. Alternate versions of several of these new tracks were released on the 1996 Blood Brothers EP and the 1998 box set Tracks.
The compilation was commercially successful, hitting number one on the Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart, and sold six million copies in the U.S.
Critical reception
Greatest Hits received mixed review upon release, with critics pointing out the challenge of summarising a lengthy career with only one album, including both notable omissions and the inclusion of four new tracks that had been cut from earlier albums. William Ruhlmann pointed out that the timing of the release (the day before the Grammy Awards) was notable as "Streets of Philadelphia" was up for five awards.
David Browne of Entertainment Weekly referred to the liner notes when pointing out that some songs appeared to be "chosen for their chart success rather than for artistic merit" which means that several important songs were overlooked. He described the album as invigorating, but also felt that "Murder Incorporated" (a song about the 1930s organized crime group of the same name) was the only good new song on the album and that overall the album felt as if Springsteen did not believe in himself any more. As of March 2009 it has sold over 4,092,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan. It was present on the chart for 134 weeks.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Greatest Hits.
- Bruce Springsteen – vocals, guitars, harmonica on "Thunder Road", "This Hard Land", and "Blood Brothers"
- Steven Van Zandt – vocals and guitar on “Glory Days”, electric guitar on "Badlands”, acoustic guitar on "Murder Incorporated" and "Born in the U.S.A.", mandolin on "This Hard Land" and "Glory Days"
- Nils Lofgren – guitar on "Secret Garden", "Blood Brothers", and "This Hard Land"
- Garry Tallent – bass
- Roy Bittan – piano, synthesizer
- Danny Federici – organ, synthesizer, accordion
- Max Weinberg – drums
- Clarence Clemons – saxophone, percussion
- Patti Scialfa – harmony vocals on "Human Touch" and background vocals on "Better Days"
- Backing vocals ("Murder Incorporated") – all of the above except Nils Lofgren and Patti Scialfa
- Frank Pagano – percussion on "Blood Brothers" and "This Hard Land"
;Production
- Produced by: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau and Chuck Plotkin (and by Steven Van Zandt on "Murder Incorporated")
- Recorded by: Toby Scott
- Mixed by: Bob Clearmountain
- Mastered by: Bob Ludwig
- Assistant engineers: Carl Glanville, Pete Keppler, Ryan Freeland, Jay Militscher and Tony Duino-Black
- Sequence editing: Brian Lee
- Recorded at The Hit Factory
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+Weekly chart performance for Greatest Hits
! Chart (1995)
! Peak<br />position
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Danish Albums (Nielsen Marketing Research)
|style="text-align:center;"|2
|-
|-
!scope="row"|European Albums (Music & Media)
|style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
!scope="row"|Finnish Albums (Seura)
|style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
!scope="row"|French Compilations (SNEP)
|style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Hungarian Albums Chart
|style="text-align:center;"|7
|-
!scope="row"|Irish Albums (IFPI)
|style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
!scope="row"|Italian Albums (FIMI)
| 1
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Portuguese Albums (AFP)
|style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
!scope="row"|Spanish Albums (AFYVE)
|style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Zimbabwean Albums (ZIMA)
|style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+1995 year-end chart performance for Greatest Hits
!scope="col"|Chart (1995)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
!scope="row"|German Albums Chart
| 10
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+2019 year-end chart performance for Greatest Hits
!scope="col"|Chart (2019)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
!scope="row"|Irish Albums (IRMA)
|49
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+2020 year-end chart performance for Greatest Hits
!scope="col"|Chart (2020)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
! scope="row"| Irish Albums (IRMA)
|30
|}
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
|+2021 year-end chart performance for Greatest Hits
!scope="col"|Chart (2021)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
! scope="row"| Irish Albums (IRMA)
|25
|}
Certifications and sales
See also
- List of best-selling albums in Australia