Greatest hits album

The greatest hits album format then gained popularity in the 1960s and 1970s among American and British rock and pop artists.

One notable example was the Beach Boys 1974 album Endless Summer, which upon release was certified 3× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

It propelled them from an opening act for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young to headlining their own tour in just a matter of weeks.

In the late 1960s, EMI Sweden released a series of greatest hits-EPs featuring artists such as The Supremes, Ray Charles and Louis Armstrong.

In 2005, Universal Music Group launched a similar line, Gold, which collects artists' greatest hits onto two discs.

In the late 2000s and 2010s, digital downloads and music streaming services increased in popularity, which allow users to listen to their favorite tracks without the need of a greatest hits package.

In 2016, Pitchfork said that "in the digital era, once a catalog enters a streaming service or an MP3 store, there's no need for a reissue and, therefore, there's no reason for a label to mine the vaults, searching for old music to make new again.

[7] Despite the popularity of streaming in the 2010s and early 2020s, some artists continued to issue physical greatest hits albums, including the White Stripes, Spoon, and the Weeknd.

[2] Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand echoed those sentiments when describing the decision to release the band's 2022 Hits to the Head compilation, stating that "I have friends who believe you're somehow not a 'real' fan if you own a best of rather than a discography.

In television, some shows have released compilations of their critically successful and highest-rated episodes to drive new viewers to watch a program, such as Family Guy's Freakin' Sweet Collection and South Park: The Hits.