PopArt: The Hits is a greatest hits album by the English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 24 November 2003 by Parlophone. The album consists of 33 hits from the first 18 years of their career, along with two new tracks, "Miracles" and "Flamboyant", which were released as singles.

Background and compilation

PopArt was the duo's second greatest hits compilation released in the UK, following Discography: The Complete Singles Collection (1991). The title reflects their work as pop music with artistic influences. The songs were organised in two sections by theme instead of chronologically. The Pop section includes euphoric pop songs, such as "Go West" (1993) and "A Red Letter Day" (1996), while those in the Art section have more complicated narratives, like the autobiographical "Being Boring" (1990). On the US edition, the single versions of "Heart" (1988), "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" (1993), and "Flamboyant" (2004) were used.

Release

PopArt was released as a double album on CD, as well as a limited edition triple LP boxset. There was also a limited edition triple CD boxset, with an additional Mix disc featuring some of the duo's favourite remixes of their songs. A DVD was released at the same time, with 41 music videos arranged chronologically, along with commentary by Neil Tennant, Chris Lowe, and Chris Heath. The album was re-issued on 26 November 2007 in the UK as a box set with the corresponding DVD included.

PopArt reached number 30 on the UK Albums Chart on its original release in 2003. It did not achieve its highest position of 18 until 2009, when Pet Shop Boys received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music and performed a medley of their hits at the televised ceremony. At that time, the album re-entered the chart at number 19, advancing to number 18 the following week. It was certified platinum by BPI in 2013, with at least 300,000 copies sold in the UK. It entered the chart at number five and rose to the second spot the next week, spending eight weeks in the top 40.

Critical reception

Several reviewers compared PopArt to its predecessor, Discography. David Jeffries of AllMusic called PopArt, "an excellent, hang-together listen and a better representation of the duo's career than Discography".

| length6 = 7:58

| title7 = I Don't Know What You Want but I Can't Give It Any More

| note7 = Peter Rauhofer New York mix

| length7 = 10:28

| title8 = New York City Boy

| note8 = Lange mix

| length8 = 7:07

| title9 = Young Offender

| note9 = Jam & Spoon Trip-o-matic Fairy Tale mix

| length9 = 7:20

| title10 = Love Comes Quickly

| note10 = Blank & Jones mix

| length10 = 5:00

DVD

  1. "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (original version)
  2. "West End Girls"
  3. "Love Comes Quickly"
  4. "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)" (second version)
  5. "Suburbia"
  6. "Paninaro"
  7. "It's a Sin"
  8. "What Have I Done to Deserve This?"
  9. "Rent"
  10. "Always on My Mind"
  11. "Heart"
  12. "Domino Dancing"
  13. "Left to My Own Devices"
  14. "It's Alright"
  15. "So Hard"
  16. "Being Boring"
  17. "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?"
  18. "Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)"
  19. "Jealousy"
  20. "DJ Culture"
  21. "Was It Worth It?"
  22. "Can You Forgive Her?"
  23. "Go West"
  24. "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing"
  25. "Liberation"
  26. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad"
  27. "Paninaro '95"
  28. "Before"
  29. "Se a Vida É (That's the Way Life Is)"
  30. "Single-Bilingual"
  31. "A Red Letter Day"
  32. "Somewhere"
  33. "I Don't Know What You Want but I Can't Give It Any More"
  34. "New York City Boy"
  35. "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk"
  36. "Home and Dry"
  37. "I Get Along/E-mail"
  38. "London"
  39. "Domino Dancing" (extended version) [The 12" and Introspective Mix]
  40. "So Hard" (extended version) [The "Extended Dance Mix"]
  41. "Go West" (extended version) [The Mings Gone West: First and Second Movement Video Mix]

Charts

Weekly charts

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

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! scope="col"| Chart (2003–2004)

! scope="col"| Peak<br>position

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

! scope="row"| Spanish Albums (AFYVE)

| 36

|-

|-

|}

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2006)

! scope="col"| Peak<br>position

|-

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{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2009)

! scope="col"| Peak<br>position

|-

|-

|}

Year-end charts

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2003)

! scope="col"| Position

|-

! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

| 174

|}

Certifications

Notes

References