Greatest Hits (Robbie Williams album)

Greatest Hits
Greatest hits album by Robbie Williams
Released 18 October 2004
Recorded 1997–2004
Length 78:43
Label EMI
Producer Guy Chambers
Robbie Williams chronology
Live at Knebworth
(2003)Live at Knebworth2003		 Greatest Hits
(2004)		 Intensive Care
(2005)Intensive Care2005
Singles from Greatest Hits
  1. "Radio"
    Released: 4 October 2004
  2. "Misunderstood"
    Released: 6 December 2004
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Greatest Hits is a hits compilation released by British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams on 18 October 2004. The album includes two new songs, these being "Radio" and "Misunderstood", which were both released as singles. The album is his seventh overall released in the United Kingdom.

Greatest Hits was one of the fastest selling albums upon release in the UK, where it debuted at the number-one spot with first week sales of over 320,000 copies. Certain versions of the album feature a picture of Williams in a pose exposing his pubic hair on the cover, and in the booklet is the Latin phase "...si quid habet mammas vel rotas, res habebis difficiles aliquando", translating into "if it has tits or wheels, it makes life difficult." A special edition box set, containing all of Williams' singles, was released on the same day.[2]

Singles

Although Williams admitted on his website to being "perplexed at the prospect" of a greatest hits album, saying, "I rarely, if at all, look back over my career", he took the opportunity to also reveal two new songs he had been working on with his new collaborator, Stephen Duffy.[3] Both were released as singles. "Radio", the compilation's first single, was released in October 2004, debuting at number-one of the UK Singles Chart, becoming Williams' sixth number-one hit selling 41,732 copies.[4] The song was also a number-one hit in Denmark and Portugal, and it hit the top ten around the world. The album's second single, the ballad "Misunderstood", was included on the soundtrack of the film Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, and hit the top ten around the world in December of that year.

Commercial performance

Debuting at number one, the album sold 320,000 copies in its first week, becoming the fastest selling greatest hits album ever released in the United Kingdom.[3] The album hit the top spot in 18 countries: France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the aforementioned United Kingdom, Argentina, Colombia, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Switzerland among others.[3] The album became the best selling album of the year in the United Kingdom, becoming the 61st best selling album in UK music history, with sales of 2 million copies, being certified 8× Platinum by the BPI.[5]

Greatest Hits also became the best selling album of the year in Europe being certified 5× Platinum for over 5 million copies sold[6] worldwide. The album ended up selling slightly under 8.5 million copies becoming one of Williams' best selling albums ever. In Germany, the album debuted at number one and reached this position in total nine times non-consecutively, Williams' second album to do so, the other one being Swing When You're Winning. With 102 weeks on the German Albums Chart it's his second longest chart one, just behind Sing When You're Winning, with 106 weeks. By selling 900,000 copies and reaching 9× Gold, Greatest Hits is the 20th best-selling album of the decade 2000–2009 in Germany and his 5th album to reach a position in the top twenty of the best-selling album of the decade, the others being Swing When You're Winning (4th best-selling), Escapology (5th best-selling), Intensive Care (8th best-selling) and Live at Knebworth (19th best-selling).[7][8]

Track listing

  • Standard edition
  1. "Old Before I Die" from Life thru a Lens
  2. "Lazy Days" from Life thru a Lens
  3. "Angels" from Life thru a Lens
  4. "Let Me Entertain You" from Life thru a Lens
  5. "Millennium" from I've Been Expecting You
  6. "No Regrets" from I've Been Expecting You
  7. "Strong" from I've Been Expecting You
  8. "She's the One" from I've Been Expecting You
  9. "Rock DJ" from Sing When You're Winning
  10. "Kids" from Sing When You're Winning
  11. "Supreme" from Sing When You're Winning
  12. "Let Love Be Your Energy" from Sing When You're Winning
  13. "Eternity" Non-album single
  14. "The Road to Mandalay" from Sing When You're Winning
  15. "Feel" from Escapology
  16. "Come Undone" from Escapology
  17. "Sexed Up" from Escapology
  18. "Radio" Previously unreleased
  19. "Misunderstood" Previously unreleased
  • The Asian edition of the album removes "Lazy Days", but instates "Better Man" as track 14.
  • The Australian edition of the album removes "Lazy Days", "Eternity" and "The Road to Mandalay", but instates "Better Man" as track 11, "Something Beautiful" as track 16 and "Monsoon" as track 17. Many Australian copies of the album were misprinted with the British track listing on the sleeve instead.
  • The New Zealand edition of the album removes "Old Before I Die", "Lazy Days" and "The Road to Mandalay", but instates the New Zealand-only single "Win Some Lose Some" as track 7, "Better Man" as track 13 and "Something Beautiful" as track 16. Some New Zealand copies of the album were also misprinted.
  • The South American edition of the album removes "Lazy Days" but instates "Angels" (Spanish Version) as track 8.
  • The Argentine edition of the album removes "Lazy Days" and "Angels", but instates "Angels" (Spanish version) and "Better Man" (Spanish version).
  • The French edition of the album removes "Supreme", but instates "Supreme" (French version).

The Best So Far

The Best So Far
Greatest hits album by Robbie Williams
Released 2 September 2006
Recorded 1997–2004
Length 61:46
Label Som Livre
Robbie Williams chronology
Intensive Care
(2005)Intensive Care2005		 The Best So Far
(2006)		 Rudebox
(2006)Rudebox2006

The Best So Far is an updated version of Greatest Hits, released exclusively in Brazil to celebrate Robbie's Close Encounters tour. Even with Greatest Hits being released in Brazil, The Best So Far updates the track listing slightly, adding "Sin Sin Sin", "Advertising Space" and "Tripping", but removing earlier hits such as "Old Before I Die", "Lazy Days" and "She's the One".

Track listing
  1. "Sin Sin Sin" – 4:09
  2. "Advertising Space" – 4:37
  3. "Feel" – 4:22
  4. "Angels" – 4:25
  5. "Sexed Up" – 4:20
  6. "Millennium" – 4:08
  7. "Come Undone" – 4:38
  8. "Rock DJ" – 4:18
  9. "Supreme" – 4:19
  10. "Tripping" – 4:07
  11. "No Regrets" – 5:11
  12. "Radio" – 3:51
  13. "Misunderstood" – 4:02
  14. "Let Me Entertain You" – 4:21

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/Sales
Argentina 7× Platinum[14] 280,000+
Australia 8× Platinum[15] 560,000+
Austria 4× Platinum[16] 120,000+
Belgium Platinum[17] 40,000+
Denmark 2× Platinum[18] 60,000+
European Top 100 Albums[9] 6× Platinum[19] 6,000,000
Finland Platinum[20] 40,367+
France Platinum[21] 300,000+
Germany 9× Gold[8] 900,000+
Hungary Gold[22] 5,000+
Italy 8× Platinum 610,000+
Mexico 2× Platinum[23] 300,000+
Netherlands Platinum[24] 80,000+
New Zealand 2× Platinum[25] 30,000+
Polish Albums Chart[11] Gold[26] 10,000+
Portugal Platinum[26] 20,000+
Spain 2× Platinum[27] 160,000+
Sweden Gold[28] 30,000+
Switzerland 3× Platinum[29] 120,000+
United Kingdom 8× Platinum[30] 2,400,000

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ "Rakuten.co.uk Shopping: CD - Music". Archived from the original on 30 January 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 "RobbieWilliams.com". RobbieWilliams.com.
  4. ↑ "Radio" first week sales in the United Kingdom Archived 12 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ BPI Certification for "Greatest Hits"
  6. ↑ IFPI Certiciation for "Greatest Hits" Archived 17 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche". musicline.de. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
  8. 1 2 "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Robbie Williams; 'Greatest Hits')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  9. 1 2 Billboard - Robbie Williams Chart History
  10. ↑ "ロビー・ウィリアムスのアルバム売上ランキング". Oricon Style.
  11. 1 2 "OLiS: sales for the period 18.10.2004 - 24.10.2004". OLiS.
  12. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved August 4, 2018.
  14. ↑ CAPIF Archived 25 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ↑ ARIA
  16. ↑ "IFPI Austria - Verband der österreichischen Musikwirtschaft". Archived from the original on 16 July 2007.
  17. ↑ "Skynet.be - LE portail belge - DE Belgische portaalsite!".
  18. ↑ "ifpi.dk". IFPI.dk.
  19. ↑ "IFPI Platinum Europe Awards 2011".
  20. ↑ IFPI Finland
  21. ↑ Disque En France Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  22. ↑ "MAHASZ - Magyar Hangfelvétel-kiadók Szövetsége Közös Jogkezelő Egyesület - slágerlisták, hírek, jogok, jodíjak". Archived from the original on 26 June 2007.
  23. ↑ "Certificaciones - Amprofon".
  24. ↑ "Goud / Platina".
  25. ↑ RIANZ – 21 February 2005 Archived 4 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  26. 1 2 "artistas-espectaculos.com". Archived from the original on 10 December 2008.
  27. ↑ PROMUSICAE Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  28. ↑ IFPI Sweden – 2004 Certifications Archived 25 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  29. ↑ IFPI Switzerland
  30. ↑ BPI Archived 21 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine.
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