50,000 is the group's first career-spanning compilation album, with a selection of songs from the 1978 EP Bingo-Master's Break-Out!

In November 2018, the album was repackaged and expanded as 58 Golden Greats on Cherry Red Records.

[1] Critic Phil Freeman included the compilation on a list of records attempting to define "the state of music since 1979" in the 2007 book Marooned: The Next Generation of Desert Island Discs.

[9] Noting the Fall as "one of the most polarizing bands on the planet", Freeman wrote that the album "will either begin a lifelong obsession, or you'll never make it to track two.

"[10] Comedian Frank Skinner became a Fall fan, "with all the zeal of a convert", after listening to the compilation in 2005, calling it "the music I've been searching for my whole life.