"Greatest Hits" already?
The latest trend among popular young recording artists has been to make a greatest hits album, despite how long the artist has actually been on the charts. All the former young "teen queens" of the 1990s have recently jumped on the bandwagon and made greatest hits albums, such as Destiny's Child, Britney Spears, Mariah Carey, Mandy Moore - the list goes on and on.
All of these recording artists came out in 1998-1999, except Carey, who has been on the Billboard chart since the early '90s. So, how soon is too soon? Compared to popular bands of years ago, such as The Beatles, bands used to wait quite some time before coming out with a greatest hits album - typically until the band had enough greatest hits to put on an album with such a title.
A greatest hits album typically consists of all the artist's hit songs, and one or two new songs. Britney's Spears' October 2004 release of her "Greatest Hits" album included the release of her new song, "My Prerogative", along with other favorites from over the years.
Some fans are not easily persuaded by the idea of Spears' "Greatest Hits" album, and are not eager to go out and pick up a copy. "I bought Mariah Carey's and Destiny's Child, but I would never buy Britney's at this point," said Jessica Abramovici, a freshman at the University of Maryland. "I like her music, but not her at all."
Years ago releasing a greatest hits album stood as a milestone for artists, consisting of a collection of top-rated hits, or marking the end of a successful career. In recent years however, a large variety of "best of" albums have surfaced from performers with only a few years in the business, and only a few hits. Overall, the albums go over well with fans, and bring success to the artists releasing them. (Daily Record)
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