The Ultimate Collection is a double-disc compilation album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel. It was first released by Sony Music Entertainment Japan in December 2000, and subsequently issued in the most of European and Oceanian countries with slightly different track listings (replacing Japanese top-3 charting hit "The Stranger" with live version of "You're My Home").
This career-spanning compilation features some of Joel's early notable compositions and hit singles which were disregarded on his Greatest Hits series, although several hits and fan favorites like "Only the Good Die Young", "Captain Jack", "Vienna", "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant", "Pressure" and "Big Shot" were excluded alternatively. It became a smash hit worldwide, entering top-5 on the charts in many countries, including United Kingdom.
The Ultimate Collection was not issued in the United States, though Legacy Recordings released another similar compilation The Essential in October 2001.
Track listing All songs written and composed by Billy Joel
Disc one
Disc two
Charts
Weekly charts +2001–2006 weekly chart performance for The Ultimate CollectionChart (2001–2006)PeakpositionAustralian Music DVD (ARIA)9French Albums (SNEP)12Irish Albums (IRMA)1Japanese Albums (Oricon)19
Year-end charts +Year-end chart performance for The Ultimate CollectionChart (2001)PositionAustralian Albums (ARIA)89Irish Albums (IRMA) 16New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)16Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)66UK Albums (OCC)36
Certifications
Album
Video
References