The Very Best of Prince is a greatest hits album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on July 31, 2001, by Warner Bros. Records. The album contains most of his commercially successful singles from 1979 to 1991 including the US number 1s "When Doves Cry", "Let's Go Crazy", "Kiss" and "Cream".
The Very Best of Prince does not include the US number 1 hit "Batdance" most likely due to the licensing of the character Batman. Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine believed that the Batman album was unofficially being written out of Prince's discography. All the songs included in this compilation were all previously included in the 3-disc box set The Hits/The B-Sides (1993), with the exception of "Money Don't Matter 2 Night".
Commercial performance On the chart dated August 18, 2001, The Very Best of Prince debuted at number 66 on the US Billboard 200. As of September 21, 2004, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling 1 million copies in the United States.
The Very Best of Prince sold 179,000 album-equivalent units (100,000 in pure album sales) in the week following Prince's death in April 2016, thus allowing the album to re-enter the Billboard 200 at number one on the chart dating May 7, 2016; this makes the album Prince's fifth number-one on the chart. The following week the album fell to number two on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 391,000 equivalent copies (216,000 in pure album sales) behind Beyoncé's Lemonade. In 2016 alone, the album sold 660,000 recognized copies in the United States in addition to the over 2 million copies sold prior to 2016.
Track listing All songs are written by and credited to Prince, except where noted.
Personnel Prince – lead vocals and various instruments
The Revolution Lisa Coleman – keyboards, vocals Wendy Melvoin – guitar, vocals Bobby Z. – drums, percussion Brown Mark – bass guitar, vocals Matt (Dr.) Fink – keyboards, vocals
The New Power Generation Levi Seacer Jr. – rhythm guitar, backing vocals Tony M. – rapping, backing vocals Tommy Barbarella – "PurpleAxxe" sampling, keyboards Kirk Johnson – percussion, backing vocals Damon Dickson – percussion, backing vocals Sonny T. – bass, backing vocals Michael B. – drums Rosie Gaines – vocals, "PurpleAxxe" sampling, organ
Additional musicians Jill Jones – co-lead vocals (on "1999") Dez Dickerson – co-lead vocals (on "1999" & "Little Red Corvette"), lead guitar (on "Little Red Corvette") Mazarati – backing vocals (on "Kiss") Sheena Easton – vocals (on "U Got the Look") Sheila E. – drums, percussion (on "U Got the Look" & "Alphabet St."), vocals (on "Alphabet St.") Cat Glover – rap (on "Alphabet St.") Eric Leeds – brass, vocals (on "Alphabet St."), flute (on "Gett Off")
Charts
Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2001) PeakpositionSpanish Albums (AFYVE)18 +2011 weekly chart performance for The Very Best of PrinceChart (2011)Peakposition +2016 weekly chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2016) Peak position
Monthly charts +Monthly chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2016) PeakpositionArgentine Monthly Albums (CAPIF) 3
Year-end charts +2001 year-end chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2001) PositionCanadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)47 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 32 UK Albums (OCC) 75 +2002 year-end chart performance for The Very Best of PrinceChart (2002)PositionCanadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) 131 +2016 year-end chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2016) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 19 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 30 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 77 UK Albums (OCC) 42 US Billboard 200 14
Certifications
References