Anthology was originally released as a triple-album greatest hits set by legendary Motown family unit, The Jackson 5, in 1976.

The most recent re-release, issued by Motown in 2000 (the first time the release doesn't contain any hits from Michael or Jermaine), was repackaged in 2005 in North America as part of its Gold series, and in 2006 internationally as The Jackson 5 Story.

Reviewing Anthology in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), American music journalist Robert Christgau wrote: "The only one of Motown's triple-LP retrospectives to concentrate on (or even include much) '70s music documents an institution in decline.

Initially, the company marshalls everything it's got for one final push—not for nothing was the group's songwriting-production combine called The Corporation, and it's a measure of their seriousness that they asked the Crusaders to help with the tracks.

The proof is that the old-formula filler often surpasses the desperate imitations that became minor hits—better 'E-Ne-Me-Ne-Mi-Ne-Moe' than 'Skywriter' or 'A Little Bit of You.'