Greatest Hits was released along with a separately sold DVD containing most of their music videos from the same time period.
The album was released with Copy Control protection system in some European markets, but not in the United States.
Overviewedit
While their first hits compilation album What Hits!? encompasses material from their 1984 debut to 1989's Mother's Milk, this collection of songs takes off from that point, including material from their 1991 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik up through their 2002 album By the Way. It was during this period of their career that the band became a major commercial force in the music industry. Therefore, this compilation includes the majority of hit singles released since their breakthrough cover of Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground".
"My Friends" is the only track included from the 1995 album, One Hot Minute. However, the music video for "Aeroplane" is featured on the DVD version of the compilation. "Warped", the lead single from One Hot Minute, is also absent as both a song and music video on the DVD.
Of the band's eight U.S. number-one singles on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart up to that point, only one, "Can't Stop", from their 2002 album By the Way, was excluded, though the music video was featured on the DVD.
Also absent were top-10 hits "Around the World," from their 1999 album Californication and "The Zephyr Song" from By the Way although the DVD contained the music videos for the songs. Conversely, "Breaking the Girl" was not included on the DVD, as well as "Parallel Universe," the latter of which never had a music video released.
To date, Greatest Hits has outsold six of the band's 13 studio albums, including Mother's Milk and I'm with You, making it the band's fifth-highest-selling release.
Unreleased studio albumedit
In 2011, drummer Chad Smith discussed the recording sessions for Greatest Hits, mentioning that the band had recorded 16 songs and wished to release an entirely new album just for this material after a brief tour; however, guitarist John Frusciante was heavily against this idea at the time, claiming that his playing style had evolved and changed too much, as had his musical influences. Smith said there was an entire Red Hot Chili Peppers album out there that nobody would ever hear.[6]
Aside from the two new tracks on the album ("Fortune Faded" and "Save the Population") and the two b-sides from the "Fortune Faded" single ("Eskimo" and "Bunker Hill"), only two other studio tracks from these sessions have been officially released. "Bicycle Song" and "Runaway" appeared as bonus tracks on the deluxe edition of By the Way when it was released on iTunes in 2006 and can now be found on many other digital music stores. Live versions of several other songs have also been released. "Rolling Sly Stone" and "Leverage Of Space" were included on the Live in Hyde Park album in 2004 and "Mini-Epic (Kill for Your Country)" was released as an "official" bootleg in 2015. A studio in-house CD-R was leaked in 2014 which contained two instrumental tracks from these sessions, called "Starlight" and "50/Fifty", and 3 different takes of "Runaway".[7] The names of the remaining songs are either unknown or unconfirmed.
On February 7, 2014, in an interview with fans on Reddit, Smith claimed that the band hoped to one day release a box set including all unreleased material from the recording sessions for Greatest Hits.[8]
Greatest Hits and Videos was also released with the tracks above, including a DVD (available as Greatest Videos) containing the following music videos:
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
Referencesedit
^"RHCP Timeline". redhotchilipeppers.com. Archived from the original on 2015-02-06.
^"Greatest Hits [Warner Bros.] – Red Hot Chili Peppers". Allmusic.
^Brunner, Rob (November 14, 2003). "The Greatest Hits Review". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on February 1, 2014. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
^"Red Hot Chili Peppers: Album Guide". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 10, 2012.
^"ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2003". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Jahreshitparade Alben 2003". austriancharts.at (in German). Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Jaaroverzichten 2003" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Jaaroverzichten – Album 2003". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Best of 2003 - Albums". Irish Recorded Music Association. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
^"Classifica annuale 2003 (dal 30.12.2002 al 28.12.2003) – Album & Compilation" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
^"Årslista Album – År 20013" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2003". hitparade.ch. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2003". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2004". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Jahreshitparade Alben 2004". austriancharts.at (in German). Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Jaaroverzichten 2004" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Jaaroverzichten – Album 2004". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts". GfK Entertainment (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Classifica annuale 2004 (dal 29.12.2003 al 02.01.2005) – Album & Compilation" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
^"年間 アルバムランキング 2004年度" [Oricon Year-end Albums Chart of 2004] (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived from the original on July 13, 2019. Retrieved September 6, 2021.
^"Top Selling Albums of 2004". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2004". hitparade.ch. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2004". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2004". Billboard. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"2006 UK Albums Chart" (PDF). ChartsPlus. Retrieved April 9, 2021.
^"ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2013". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2016". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2016". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2017". Billboard. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2018". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2018". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2018". Billboard. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2018". Billboard. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"ARIA Top 100 Albums for 2019". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2019". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2019". Billboard. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2019". Billboard. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2020". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 5, 2021.
^"Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2020". Billboard. Retrieved December 5, 2020.
^"Top Rock Albums – Year-End 2020". Billboard. Retrieved March 7, 2021.
^"Japanese album certifications – Red Hot Chili Peppers – Greatest Hits" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved October 1, 2019. Select 2003年11月 on the drop-down menu
^"New Zealand album certifications – Red Hot Chili Peppers – Greatest Hits". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
^"Spanish album certifications" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved October 1, 2019. Select Álbumes under "Categoría", select 2004 under "Año". Select 1 under "Semana". Click on "BUSCAR LISTA".
^"Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2004" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-05-17. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
^"The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('Greatest Hits')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 10, 2013.
^"British album certifications – Red Hot Chili Peppers – Greatest Hits". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved May 14, 2021.