48 of the greatest greatest hits albums of all time - ranked in order
The essential essentials. Who's on top?
48) Primus - The Singles: Where would we be without Primus, an often forgotten band they are the origin of so much modern American rock. Check them out in all their dischordant glory.
47) The Killers - Direct Hits: Are they over? Aren't they? Lament the possibilities with this greatest hits album.
46) Foo Fighters - Greatest Hits: They aren't the best rock band ever, but when they shine they really shine.
45) Blink 182 - Greatest Hits: The pop punk progenitors in all their immature glory are starting to sound better with age.
44) Eminem - Curtain Call: While not all of Eminem's back catalogue is as good as it should have been, this does a good job at selecting the highlights.
43) The Smashing Pumpkins - Greatest Hits: The band who took grunge to the next level but then became a bit lame, check out all the good bits on here.
42) Suede - Best Of: The late 80s alt-rock group are an amazing band that many have yet to discover and with their 2013 comeback their best days could be ahead of them.
41) Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits: A true classic rock heavyweight, Petty and co. have sold millions of albums and picking this up you can see why.
40) Bjork - Greatest Hits: Experimental Icelandic insanity for the brain, this is a great (and challenging) collection.
39) The Cure - Standing On A Beach: This is a simply beautiful collection that is an essential for any music lover out there.
38) The Police - Greatest Hits: Oh Sting why did you choose to go solo?
37) The Ramones - Greatest Hits: An under-appreciated band in their time and now adorned forever on T-shirts of people who have no idea about their legacy.
36) The Fugees - Greatest Hits: Another group that redesigned Hip-Hop and brought a powerful female to the genre in the from of Lauryn Hill.
35) Manic Street Preachers - Forever Delayed: The Manic's are a great band and more than deserving of a place in the top hits of all time.
34) 2Pac - Greatest Hits: Another larger than life musician who burned out to quickly, 2Pac has some of the best tracks in the history of rap.
33) Blur - The Best of Blur: Another Brit Pop essential, a great collection but not quite as good as Oasis, sorry...
32) Elton John - Greatest Hits 1970 -2002: Compiling all of John's greatest hits including 'Tiny Dancer' this is the seminal hit for any collector
31) The Jam - Greatest Hits: The modfathers who gave Paul Weller to the world, The Jame are just as important to British music today as they were back then.
30) AC/DC - Hell's Hits: Hopefully heading for a Christmas No.1 thanks to a Christmas campaign, AC/DC invented ballls to the wall rock and roll.
29) Guns N Roses - Appetite For Destruction: Collecting the band's hits before they imploded, you can hear the fire that tore them apart before the travesty that was Chinese Democracy.
28) Black Sabbath - The Greatest Hits: The band responsible for modern day metal as a genre still hold just as much power and never more so than on their hits collection.
27) Bruce Springsteen - Greatest Hits: The boss is called the boss for a reason.
26) Radiohead - Best of: Thom Yorke and company are undeniable and as forward thinking as they have ever been on this collection.
25) Jefferson Airplane - Journey: Another psychadelic rock rock classic, it's just a shame it was all over so early.
24) Michael Jackson - History: Past, present and Future: While it hasn't stood the test of time as well as Prince's classics, this is still an incredible collection with a mind blowing amount of hits featured.
23) N.W.A. - The Strength of Street Knowledge: This collects all the tracks which, in many ways, put hip hop on the map, it's still incredibly raw and aggressive.
22) U2 - The Best of 1980-1990: Love them or hate them their importance is undeniable, pick up this collection rather than later ones and you get to avoid all the stinkers.
21) Depeche Mode - The Best Of: Perhaps one of the hardest working bands out there, they are an inspiration to so many of the artists currently reinventing pop music.
20) Lynyrd Skynyrd - Greatest Hits: It may seem like a CD you might give your dad at Christmas, give it a listen and you'll be taken aback by just how good it is.
19) Leonard Cohen - The Best Of: The king of misery (as some might call him) is still one of the greatest songwriters of all time.
18) Led Zeppelin - Greatest Hits: Combining blues and rock was sacrilege at the time, now it is the stuff of legend.
17) Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits: This year has been the year Fleetwood Mac reunited for their O2 shows and it proved just how relevant they are in the history of music.
16) Prince - The Hits/The B-sides: We haven't seen the last of the pop icon, but here is the collection of all his classic tracks with a few juicy b-sides.
15) Oasis - Stop the Clocks: The pinnacle of Brit Pop, Oasis defined the era.
14) New Order/Joy Division - Total: Collecting the full evolution of New Order into Joy Division, it's an emotional journey that is hard to let end.
13) Stevie Wonder - At The Close of the Century: With a sound that spans across generations this album captures exactly what it is that gives him eternal appeal.
12) The Smiths - The Very Best of the Smiths: Not the jolliest record ever but bloody hell is it good.
11) Johnny Cash - The Legend of Johnny Cash: A contemporary of the late and great Elvis, cash is an extremely important figure in the formulation of American rock.
10) Nirvana - The Best Of: The definitive grunge group led by Kurt Cobain, the ended prematurely but left more great material than most bands make in a lifetime.
9) David Bowie - Bowie The Singles Collection: He may have made a comeback this year but this 1993 album collects all of his greatest hits dating from 1969-1993
8) The Doors - The Best of the Doors: The influence of Jim Morrison's poetry is present even today and in many ways is left unmatched.
7) Pink Floyd - Echoes: A band that redefined the art of song recording, concept albums and song progression they provide a sonic journey that is well worth embarking on.
6) The Who - Greatest Hits and More: Still going strong today, Roger Daltrey and company have earned their place in the rock and roll hall of fame.
5) Bob Marley and the Wailers - Legend: If you don't know the words - what's wrong with you?
4) Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits: The power of Dylan's songwriting is still undeniable despite his later output and Starbucks affiliations.
3) Jimi Hendrix - Smash Hits: The man who redefined guitar playing sounds just as fresh today as he was in his glorious heyday.
2) Beatles - 1: This collection of remastered classics is the definitive collection of Beatles classics (on one CD at least).
1) Queen - Greatest Hits: Let's be honest there isn't another GH album that could be sitting at the top spot.
Tags: Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, The Beatles, Queen
Greatest hits albums can be a troublesome bunch, with a collection of single after single one often misses out all the joy of listening to the cohesive whole of the original album. Secondly it may mark the end of a band's career, as we have seen in the suspicions recently raised by The Killers album Direct Hits.
Anyhow without further ado here are our picks for the 48 greatest greatest hits albums, see if you agree with our choices...