The Very Best of Elton John

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The Very Best of Elton John
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Greatest hits album by Elton John
Released 1 October 1990
Recorded 1970–1990
Genre Rock, pop
Length 2:17:56
Label Polygram
Producer Gus Dudgeon, Clive Franks, Chris Thomas, Don Was
Elton John chronology
To Be Continued
(1990)To Be Continued1990		 The Very Best of Elton John
(1990)		 The One
(1992)String Module Error: Match not found1992
Singles from The Very Best of Elton John
  1. "You Gotta Love Someone"
  2. "Easier to Walk Away"
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 4.5/5 stars [1]

The Very Best of Elton John is a greatest hits compilation album by Elton John, released in October 1990. His first career-retrospective album, and fourth official greatest-hits album overall, it was released in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe, and in other countries such as Japan and Australia, but not in the United States, where the box set To Be Continued... was released the following month instead.

The album spans his second album Elton John in 1970 to the successful then most-recent 1989 album Sleeping with the Past. After the huge hit that was the double A-sided "Sacrifice/Healing Hands" single, which was the third best-selling single of 1990 in the United Kingdom, the album became an instant smash in that country. It spent its first two weeks at #1 and then nine strong weeks at #2. It was kept from the top during all nine weeks by Madonna's Immaculate Collection. In all the album spent 145 weeks inside the UK top 200 album chart, making a total of 11 re-entries, and it was certified 9× Platinum by the BPI on 1 March 1995.[2]

It includes a total of 28 hit singles plus the new songs "Easier to Walk Away" and "You Gotta Love Someone", which also made the charts between 1990 and 1991.

The release also spawned a music video compilation, which was originally released on both laserdisc and VHS, and reissued on DVD.

Track listing

Disc one
No. Title Writer(s) Album Length
1. "Your Song"   Elton John, Bernie Taupin Elton John, 1970 4:03
2. "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going To Be a Long, Long Time)"   John, Taupin Honky Château, 1972 4:42
3. "Honky Cat"   John, Taupin Honky Château 5:15
4. "Crocodile Rock"   John, Taupin Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player, 1973 3:58
5. "Daniel"   John, Taupin Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player 3:56
6. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"   John, Taupin Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, 1973 3:17
7. "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting"   John, Taupin Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 4:57
8. "Candle in the Wind"   John, Taupin Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 3:51
9. "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me"   John, Taupin Caribou, 1974 5:38
10. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"   Lennon–McCartney Non-album single, 1974 6:17
11. "Philadelphia Freedom" (Edited version) John, Taupin Non-album single, 1975 5:19
12. "Someone Saved My Life Tonight"   John, Taupin Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, 1975 6:47
13. "Pinball Wizard"   Pete Townshend Tommy soundtrack, 1975 5:16
14. "The Bitch Is Back"   John, Taupin Caribou 3:46
Disc two
No. Title Writer(s) Album Length
15. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (with Kiki Dee) John, Taupin (but credited to Ann Orson/Carte Blanche, respectively) Non-album single, 1976 4:32
16. "Bennie and the Jets"   John, Taupin Goodbye Yellow Brick Road 5:21
17. "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word"   John, Taupin Blue Moves, 1976 3:51
18. "Song for Guy"   John A Single Man, 1978 6:41
19. "Part-Time Love"   John, Gary Osborne A Single Man 3:16
20. "Blue Eyes"   John, Osborne Jump Up!, 1982 3:28
21. "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues"   John, Taupin, Johnstone Too Low for Zero, 1983 4:46
22. "I'm Still Standing"   John, Taupin Too Low for Zero 3:04
23. "Kiss the Bride"   John, Taupin Too Low for Zero 3:56
24. "Sad Songs (Say So Much)"   John, Taupin Breaking Hearts, 1984 4:11
25. "Passengers"   John, Taupin, Johnstone, Phineas McHize Breaking Hearts 3:24
26. "Nikita"   John, Taupin Ice on Fire, 1985 5:45
27. "I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That"   John, Taupin Reg Strikes Back, 1988 4:00
28. "Sacrifice"   John, Taupin Sleeping with the Past, 1989 5:08
29. "Easier to Walk Away"   John, Taupin Soon to be released on To Be Continued..., 1990 4:25
30. "You Gotta Love Someone"   John, Taupin Days of Thunder soundtrack, 1990 5:01
  • Track 25 is different on European version of the album. "Whispers" from Sleeping with the Past takes the place of "Passengers".
  • "Pinball Wizard", "The Bitch Is Back", "Passengers" and "I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That" are excised from the vinyl and cassette versions of the compilation.
  • The timings are different on the back cover and the actual CD. On Disc 1, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is listed as 6:12, while the actual song runs at 5:38 and "Philadelphia Freedom" runs at 5:42, rather at 5:19. On Disc 2, the back cover shows Song For Guy running at 5:02, but the actual track runs at 6:40 (the album length of the song). The same applies for "Nikita", which the back cover states for 4:53 but the actual song plays at 5:44. "I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That" fades slightly earlier on the CD (4:00) instead of the back cover's listing of 4:33.

B-sides

Song Format
"Medicine Man" "You Gotta Love Someone" 7"/12"/CD (UK)
"Medicine Man" (with Adamski) "You Gotta Love Someone" 12"/CD (UK)
"Made for Me" "Easier to Walk Away" 12"/CD (UK)
"I Swear I Heard the Night Talkin'" "Easier to Walk Away" 7"/12"/CD (UK)
"You Gotta Love Someone" 7" (France)

Music video compilation

  1. "Your Song" (Top of the Pops 1971 live version)
  2. "Daniel" (live German 1973 version)
  3. "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" (Top of the Pops 1973 live version)
  4. "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (with Kiki Dee)
  5. "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" (BBC Live Christmas Show version)
  6. "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long Long Time)" (live Wembley 1977 version)
  7. "Blue Eyes"
  8. "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues"
  9. "I'm Still Standing"
  10. "Kiss the Bride"
  11. "Sad Songs (Say So Much)"
  12. "Passengers"
  13. "Nikita"
  14. "Wrap Her Up"
  15. "Candle in the Wind" (live in Australia 1986 version)
  16. "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" (live in Prince's Trust 1987 version)
  17. "I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That"
  18. "Philadelphia Freedom" (live in Verona 1989 version)
  19. "Sacrifice"
  20. "You Gotta Love Someone"

Charts

Chart (1990) Peak
position
Austrian Top 75 Albums[3] 1
Finnish Albums Chart[4] 3
French Compilations[5] 1
German Albums[6] 2
Hungarian Top 40 Albums[7] 19
Italian Albums Chart[8] 1
New Zealand Top 50 Albums[9] 1
Norwegian Top 40 Albums[10] 1
Spanish Albums Chart[11] 1
Swiss Top 100 Albums[12] 1
UK Albums Chart[13] 1
Chart (1991) Peak
position
Australian Top 50 Albums[14] 1
Netherlands Top 100 Albums[15] 5
Swedish Top 60 Albums[16] 1
Chart (1995) Peak
position
Belgium (Flanders) 100 Albums[17] 28
Belgium (Wallonia) 100 Albums[18] 17

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Australia (ARIA)[19] 6× Platinum 420,000
Austria (IFPI Austria)[20] 3× Platinum 60,000
Brazil (ABPD)[21] Gold 100,000
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[22] Gold 25,000[22]
France (SNEP)[23] Diamond 1,000,000
Germany (BVMI)[24] 2× Platinum 1,000,000
Italy (FIMI)[25] 4× Platinum 400,000
Japan (RIAJ)[26] Gold 100,000
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[27] 3× Platinum 300,000
Sweden (GLF)[28] Platinum 100,000
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[29] 3× Platinum 150,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[2] 9× Platinum 2,700,000
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)[30] 5× Platinum 5,000,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

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Preceded by UK number-one album
17 November 1990 – 23 November 1990		 Succeeded by
The Immaculate Collection by Madonna
Preceded by Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
27 January – 2 February 1991		 Succeeded by
Rhythm Nation 1814 by Janet Jackson
  1. ↑ http://www.allmusic.com/album/r471536
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter The Very Best of Elton John in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Click Search Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "United_KingdomElton_JohnThe_Very_Best_of_Elton_JohnalbumCertRef" defined multiple times with different content
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Find "Elton JOHN" under the drop-down menu to see statistics.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ http://www.hitparadeitalia.it/hp_yenda/lpe1990.htm
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter Elton John in the field Interpret. Enter Very Best of in the field Titel. Select album in the field Format. Click Suchen
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "FinlandElton_JohnThe_Very_Best_of_Elton_JohnalbumCertRef" defined multiple times with different content
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Select Album e Compilation in the field Sezione. Enter Elton John in the field Filtra. The certification will load automatically
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Select the "Chart", enter ' in the field "Year". Select ' in the field "Semana". Click on "Search Charts"
  28. ↑ NO certyear WAS PROVIDED for SWEDISH CERTIFICATION.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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