The track-listing includes all 33 of the band's Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Songs chart) number-one singles, as well as other songs which reached number-one on the former Radio & Records (now Mediabase) chart; each of the non-Billboard number-one hits made the top-five on that chart.

Three previously-unreleased tracks are also included: "How Do You Fall in Love" (which reached number-two on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in late 1998), "Keepin' Up" (which reached the top-20 on the same chart in early 1999) and "Five O'Clock 500" (which remained an album cut as it was not released as a single).

In some cases, the songs were nearly two minutes shorter than their original album versions.

In his review of The Essential, AllMusic reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine stated that the new album title eliminated "the misleading subtitle that claimed all of the songs on the album hit No.

"[2] A disclaimer on the back of the album indicates that The Essential is the newly reissued For the Record.