List of the top 20 Greatest Hits collections of all time might shock you

An amazing list of the top compilation albums ever. Some expected albums make the top 20, but there are plenty of shocks and surprises on there too.
Paul McCartney And George Harrison
Paul McCartney And George Harrison / brandstaetter images/GettyImages
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1 - Eagles - Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 - 41m

Way out in front on their own are the Eagles with their early hits. This collection has nine singles from that period and added “Desperado” to the track list.  It’s an amazing level of sales to reach for just those early years but it highlights the popularity of the band and their songs at that time.

Their top album, Hotel California, was yet to come when this came out in 1976. Hotel California is one of the top ten biggest selling albums ever at 42 million sales, so this is some combination of album dominance. Other huge albums followed taking them to a total of around 120 million sales, an astonishing success.

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Summary

Some of the surprises might be down to my perspective from the UK. I perhaps saw bands and their level of success in a different light. But there are still plenty of surprises, shocks, and brilliant achievements. Seeing Queen and The Beatles with multiple entries is indicative of the number of great songs they had. 

Perhaps the biggest surprise is the huge number of top artists that didn’t make this top 20 list. The Rolling Stones, KISS, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Metallica, and many others don’t appear in this top 20. I’d certainly have expected to see other artists in place of some of those listed.

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