Hits (compilation series)

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Hits is a compilation album series running over 20 years and compiled as a joint venture, usually between the compilation arms of the Sony BMG and Warner Music groups (e.g. Warner Strategic Marketing or Global Television). However, rather than all the albums in the series just simply being labeled Hits and the issue number, a number in the series have been released under alternative and expanded names such as Monster Hits, Huge Hits or simply just The Hits Album.

Contents

[edit] The Hits Album: Hits 1 to 15

[edit] 1984 to 1991

The Hits Album was a highly successful compilation brand that was released in the UK between 1984 and 1991. It was a joint venture by CBS and WEA, in response to EMI and Virgin Records starting the Now That's What I Call Music series in 1983. RCA Ariola (later BMG) joined the partnership in 1986. The Hits collections brought together all the big hits from the partnering record companies and was a music collectors companion to the popular Now releases, usually issued at roughly the same time. The first Hits Album managed to keep the rival Now album (Now 4) from the #1 position in December 1984, spending a total of 7 weeks at the top of the UK Top 100 Album chart. After the first album (now commonly known as Hits 1) was released, the The Hits Album title has been subsequently used without an issue number at other times in the campaign, for example the 1990s release that came after Snap It Up - Monster Hits 2. This successive refreshing of the brand could be seen as minor relaunches of the series, each time in the face of the continuing success and strength of the rival Now! brand. In 1986, Hits 5 was the first album of the series to be released on a single CD, with Hits 7 being the first to be released as a double-CD the following year. A video compilation was often released at the same time as the albums, but not always. Like the Now collections, the packaging of the Hits albums contained pictures and background information about the tracks, including chart positions. This appeared in the gatefold of the standard album, and later, in a small booklet with the CD releases.
From the early 1990s, the albums in the Hits series started deviating from their original chronological number system and began using alternative titles such as Monster Hits and The Hit Pack. They are however an extension of the original series as these albums were all issued by BMG, CBS and WEA. and also contained the word Hit somewhere in the title.

  • Monster Hits [1]
  • Snap It Up! - Monster Hits 2
  • The Hit Pack [2]
  • The Hits Album [3]

[1] Both Monster Hits featured a cartoon monster gimmick in the artwork and advertisting campaign, in a similar way a cartoon pig was used during earlier Now That's What I Call Music releases.
[2] The Hit Pack was unique because it was released on LP and cassette with 24 tracks, but only as a 21 track single-CD. A year earlier in 1989, Now That's What I Call Music 16 had been advertised as containing 3 bonus tracks, although these were found on the double-CD format.
[3] Listed as The Hits Album 15 in some publications due to the catalogue number 'CD HITS 15'. The suffix 'fifteen' isn't included after The Hits Album anywhere on this albums artwork.

The partners behind the series retired the brand in 1991. There was not a version of The Hits Album 14 issued by BMG, CBS or WEA in any title variation or format and technically, what is listed as The Hits Album 15 is actually the fourteenth volume of the series.

[edit] Hits '93

[edit] 1993 to 1994

With the Hits brand retired, Telstar Records launched the Hits '93 compilation series in association with its parent distribution company BMG, who originally joined the Hits series with WEA and CBS in 1986. Unlike the albums put out by the respective Sony BMG and Warner labels of the era, Hits '93 was formatted as a single-CD and featured a larger percentage of dance acts than the normal Hits releases. However even though these albums could be seen as an extension of other Telstar Hit compilations (such as 100% Hits) these albums were categorized under the Hits brand in the Complete Book Of British Charts, which was probably due to BMG's former and Telstar's subsequent involvement in the series. The series ran for four volumes during 1993, and one volume in early 1994 with the concept being replaced by the resurrection of Telstar/BMG's version of The Hits Album later in the year, which also lasted one volume.

[edit] The Hits Album - Rebirth

[edit] 1995 to 2001

The Hits Album was relaunched in December 1995 (with the BMG compilations arm being known as Global Television, and WSM - warner.esp) but this time the numbering system was replaced in favour of different titles such as New Hits or Big Hits with the year normally following the word 'hits'. This was the most successful branding of the Hits series since the earlier volumes, and both Sony Music TV and compilation specialist company Telstar Records also joined forces with BMG and WSM. Originally, the albums were divided into four distincte parts (and were labeled as such): Part One contained the biggest hits; Part Two had all the big dance hits; Part Three featured indie and rock tracks and Part Four would generally hoover up any left over hits the compilers had access too. Unlike the earlier Hits albums (and indeed the Now compilations), the inlay booklets contained no pictures or trivia relating to the track in any of the titles released during this period.

New Hits 96 (pictured) holds the record for most consecutive weeks at #1 in the compilation chart since its launch on 14th January 1989. It spent 9 weeks at #1 from 18th May 1996 to 13th July 1996.


[edit] Titles in the range

  • Hits '96 (the first in the relaunched series by Global Television/Warner Bros, then trading as WMTV. Simply 'Hits' and the following year would be released in December, beginning that year's series of collections.)
  • New Hits (Always released in March)
  • Fresh Hits (Sony Music TV had rejoined the venture by this album's release in 1996, these were always released in July.)
  • Huge Hits (Year-end Hits collections were always preceded with Huge and released around November.)
  • Big Hits (Additional title, added to the series in 1998, usually released in September.)

[edit] Music : The Definitive Hits Collection to Essential Hits

[edit] 2001-present

In 2001, yet another relaunch occurred. In an attempt to appeal to the broader range of Now That's What I Call Music buyers, Sony BMG and WSM decided to rebrand the Hits series with a more classy name and image and "Music : The Definitive Hits Collection" was launched in March, and contained three discs (as opposed to the traditional double-CD set) with 62 tracks in total. "Music... Part 2" was released three months later but the new concept failed to catch-on with neither compilation reaching the Top 3. So, the Hits series went full-circle and returned to the album numbering format it originally abandoned in 1991: The series was rebranded to Hits 50 in September 2001, with the 2004's Hits 60 ironically being issued on the same day as Now That's What I Call Music! 59.

After Hits 60 was issued in 2004, the amount of Hits releases has slowed down considerably, and once again, the numbering system has been dropped and recent editions of the album have been called Essential Hits and Summer Hits 2006.

[edit] Complete Chronology of The Hits Album

Release Date Title Record Company HCP (wks) Details
1/12/1984 Hits 1 CBS/WEA #1 (7) Double LP/MC.
13/04/1985 Hits 2 CBS/WEA #1 (6) Double LP/MC.
07/12/1985 Hits 3 CBS/WEA #2 Double LP/MC.
29/03/1986 Hits 4 CBS/WEA #1 (4) Double LP/MC.
22/11/1986 Hits 5 [1] CBS/WEA/RCA/Ariola #1 (2) Double LP/MC. Single CD.
22/07/1987 Hits 6 CBS/WEA/RCA/Ariola #1 (5) Double LP/MC. Single CD.
05/12/1987 Hits 7 [2] CBS/WEA/RCA/Ariola #2 Double LP/MC/CD.
30/07/1988 Hits 8 CBS/WEA/BMG #2 Double LP/MC/CD.
17/12/1988 The Hits Album 9 [3] CBS/WEA/BMG #5 Double LP/MC/CD.
14/01/1989 The Hits Album 9 [3] CBS/WEA/BMG #4 Double LP/MC/CD.
03/06/1989 Hits 10 CBS/WEA/BMG #1 (6) Double LP/MC/CD.
02/12/1989 Monster Hits CBS/WEA/BMG #2 Double LP/MC/CD.
11/08/1990 Snap It Up! Monster Hits 2 CBS/WEA/BMG #2 Double LP/MC/CD.
29/12/1990 The Hit Pack : The Best of Chart Music CBS/WEA/BMG #2 Single MC/Single CD
10/08/1991 The Hits Album 15 [4] CBS/WEA/BMG #1 (2) Double LP/MC/CD.
20/02/1993 Hits 93 Volume 1 Telstar/BMG #1 (3) Single MC/CD.
29/05/1993 Hits 93 Volume 2 Telstar/BMG #2 Single MC/CD.
13/04/1993 Hits 93 Volume 3 Telstar/BMG #2 Single MC/CD.
14/08/1993 Hits 93 Volume 4 Telstar/BMG #2 Single MC/CD.
19/03/1994 Hits 94 Volume 1 Telstar/BMG #3 Single MC/CD.
15/10/1994 The Ultimate Hits Album Telstar/BMG #11 Double MC/CD.
23/12/1995 Hits 96 Global Television #1 (5) Double MC/CD.
08/05/1996 New Hits 96 Global Television #1 (9) Double MC/CD.
31/08/1996 Fresh Hits 96 warner.esp/Global/Sony TV #2 Double MC/CD.
09/11/1996 Huge Hits 1996 warner.esp/Global/Sony TV #1 (2) Double MC/CD.
21/12/1996 Hits 97 warner.esp/Global/Sony TV #2 Double MC/CD.
26/04/1997 New Hits 97 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #1 (4) Double MC/CD.
16/08/1997 Fresh Hits 97 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #1 (3) Double MC/CD.
01/11/1997 Huge Hits 1997 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #1 (1) Double MC/CD.
20/12/1997 Big Hits Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #4 Double MC/CD.
04/04/1998 New Hits 98 warner.esp/Global/Sony TV #1 (2) Double MC/CD.
04/07/1998 Fresh Hits 98 warner.esp/Global/Sony TV #1 (6) Double MC/CD.
19/09/1998 Big Hits 98 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #1 (5) Double MC/CD.
07/11/1998 Huge Hits 1998 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #1 (2) Double MC/CD.
19/12/1998 Hits 99 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #2 Double MC/CD.
03/04/1999 New Hits 99 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #1 (1) Double MC/CD.
03/07/1999 Fresh Hits 99 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #1 (3) Double MC/CD.
04/09/1999 Big Hits 99 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #1 (2) Double MC/CD.
04/09/1999 Huge Hits 1999 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #1 (4) Double MC/CD.
18/12/1999 Hits 2000 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #2 Double MC/CD.
25/03/2000 New Hits 2000 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #1 (2) Double MC/CD.
15/07/2000 Fresh Hits 2000 Volume 1 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #2 Single MC/CD.
16/09/2000 Fresh Hits 2000 Volume 2 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #2 Single MC/CD.
04/11/2000 Huge Hits 2000 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #2 Double MC/CD.
16/12/2000 Hits 2001 Global/Sony TV/warner.esp #2 Double MC/CD.
31/03/2001 Music: The Definitive Hits Collection BMG/Sony/WSM/Telstar #4 Triple CD
23/06/2001 Music: The Definitive Hits Collection 2 BMG/Sony/WSM/Telstar #7 Triple CD
29/09/2001 Hits 50 [5] BMG/Sony/WSM/Telstar #2 Double MC/CD.
15/12/2001 Hits 51 BMG/Sony/WSM/Telstar #10 Double MC/CD.
06/04/2002 Hits 52 BMG/Sony/WSM/Telstar #2 Double MC/CD.
10/08/2002 Hits 53 BMG/Sony/WSM/Telstar #2 Double MC/CD.
30/11/2002 Huge Hits 2003 BMG/Sony/Telstar/WSM #4 Double MC/CD.
02/11/2002 Hits 54 BMG/Sony/WSM/Telstar #1 (2) Double MC/CD.
12/04/2003 Hits 55 BMG/Sony/WSM/Telstar/WSM #1 (2) Double MC/CD.
26/07/2003 Hits 56 BMG/Sony/Telstar #1 (1) Double MC/CD.
01/11/2003 Huge Hits 2004 BMG/Sony/Telstar/WSM #3 Double MC/CD.
13/12/2003 Hits 57 Sony BMG/WSM/Telstar #5 Double MC/CD.
12/06/2004 Hits 58 [6] Sony BMG/WSM/Telstar #1 (1) Double MC/CD.
02/10/2004 Hits 59 Sony BMG/WSM #2 Double MC/CD.
27/11/2004 Hits 60 [6] Sony BMG/WSM #5 Triple/CD.
05/12/2005 Essential Hits Sony BMG/WSM  ?? Triple/CD.

[1] The first Hits Album to be released on CD. A single-CD with a collection of tracks from the standard album.
[2] The first Hits Album to be released on double-CD.
[3] Until 14th January 1989, compilation albums were included in the main UK Top 100 Album chart. After this date onwards, they were listed separately.
[4] Although not titled as such, this album is listed as 'Hits 15'.
[5] Had the chronological numbering system been continued, this album would be listed as 'Hits 47', not 'Hits 50'.
[6] Some of the same songs can be found on Hits 58 and Hits 60; e.g. "Life for Rent" by Dido, "Left Outside Alone" by Anastacia, "Love is Only a Feeling" by The Darkness, "Hold Onto Our Love" by James Fox and "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind" by Agnetha Faltskog.[1]

[edit] References

Inline:

  1. ^ Amazon page for Hits 58 and Amazon page for Hits 60

General: