Greatest Hits is the first compilation album by the American singer-songwriter Bruce Springsteen, released February 27, 1995, on Columbia Records. It is a collection of some of Springsteen's hit singles and popular album tracks through the years along with four new songs at the end, mostly recorded with the E Street Band in 1995. The latter constituted Springsteen's first (albeit very partial) release with his backing band since the late 1980s. Some of the songs are shorter versions of the original album releases.

The recording of the new tracks was depicted in the 1996 documentary Blood Brothers. "Murder Incorporated" and "This Hard Land" were outtakes from the 1982 sessions for Born in the U.S.A., with the latter being re-recorded more than a decade later, and both have been frequently performed by Springsteen in concert. "Blood Brothers", on the other hand, has been played on only four occasions, including as the opening number of the first concert following keyboardist Danny Federici's death in April 2008. "Secret Garden" became well-known when it was featured on the soundtrack of the 1996 film Jerry Maguire. Alternate versions of several of these new tracks were released on the 1996 Blood Brothers EP and the 1998 box set Tracks.

The compilation was commercially successful, hitting number one on the Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart, and sold six million copies in the U.S.Grein, Paul. "Week Ending Oct. 19, 2008: Battle Of The Hat Acts" . Yahoo! Music. October 22, 2008.

Critical reception Greatest Hits received mixed reviews upon release, with critics pointing out the challenge of summarising a lengthy career with only one album, including both notable omissions and the inclusion of four new tracks that had been cut from earlier albums. William Ruhlmann pointed out that the timing of the release (the day before the Grammy Awards) was notable as "Streets of Philadelphia" was up for five awards.

David Browne of Entertainment Weekly referred to the liner notes when pointing out that some songs appeared to be "chosen for their chart success rather than for artistic merit" which means that several important songs were overlooked. He described the album as invigorating, but also felt that "Murder Incorporated" (a song about the 1930s organized crime group of the same name) was the only good new song on the album and that overall the album felt as if Springsteen did not believe in himself any more.

The Rolling Stone review of the album by Parke Puterbaugh is rather unfavorable. Parke felt that the songs on the collection belonged on their original LP releases, that songs from before Born to Run should have been included, and that the new songs weren't very good.

Commercial performance The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 the week of March 18, 1995, with more than 250,000 copies sold, it remained on the chart for 43 weeks. As of March 2009 it has sold over 4,092,000 copies in the United States according to Nielsen SoundScan. It was certified six times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on May 25, 2022, for shipments of 6 million copies

In the United Kingdom the album entered at number one on March 11, 1995, and topped the chart for two non-consecutive weeks. It was present on the chart for 134 weeks. It was certified four times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on March 21, 2014, denoting shipments of 1.2 million units.

Track listing

Personnel Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Greatest Hits.

Bruce Springsteen – vocals, guitars, harmonica on "Thunder Road", "This Hard Land", and "Blood Brothers" Steven Van Zandt – vocals and guitar on “Glory Days”, electric guitar on "Badlands”, acoustic guitar on "Murder Incorporated" and "Born in the U.S.A.", mandolin on "This Hard Land" and "Glory Days" Nils Lofgren – guitar on "Secret Garden", "Blood Brothers", and "This Hard Land" Garry Tallent – bass Roy Bittan – piano, synthesizer Danny Federici – organ, synthesizer, accordion Max Weinberg – drums Clarence Clemons – saxophone, percussion Patti Scialfa – harmony vocals on "Human Touch" and background vocals on "Better Days" Backing vocals ("Murder Incorporated") – all of the above except Nils Lofgren and Patti Scialfa Frank Pagano – percussion on "Blood Brothers" and "This Hard Land" Production Produced by: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau and Chuck Plotkin (and by Steven Van Zandt on "Murder Incorporated") Recorded by: Toby Scott Mixed by: Bob Clearmountain Mastered by: Bob Ludwig Assistant engineers: Carl Glanville, Pete Keppler, Ryan Freeland, Jay Militscher and Tony Duino-Black Sequence editing: Brian Lee Recorded at The Hit Factory

Charts

Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for Greatest Hits Chart (1995) PeakpositionDanish Albums (Nielsen Marketing Research)2European Albums (Music & Media)1Finnish Albums (Seura)1French Compilations (SNEP) Search for "Bruce SPRINGSTEEN" on the drop-down menu to see results.1Hungarian Albums Chart7Irish Albums (IFPI)1Italian Albums (FIMI) Search "Bruce Springsteen" as a "Artista" then click "Classifiche". 1Portuguese Albums (AFP)1Spanish Albums (AFYVE)1Zimbabwean Albums (ZIMA)* Zimbabwe. Kimberley, C. Zimbabwe: albums chart book. Harare: C. Kimberley, 20001

Year-end charts +1995 year-end chart performance for Greatest HitsChart (1995)PositionGerman Albums Chart 10 +2019 year-end chart performance for Greatest HitsChart (2019)PositionIrish Albums (IRMA)49 +2020 year-end chart performance for Greatest HitsChart (2020)Position Irish Albums (IRMA)30 +2021 year-end chart performance for Greatest HitsChart (2021)Position Irish Albums (IRMA)25

Certifications and sales

See also List of best-selling albums in Australia

References