It included two songs from Electric Ladyland and three tracks from the UK edition of Are You Experienced, which were previously unreleased in the US (including a stereo version of "Red House" from a different take than the original mono album version).

Neither the UK or US edition of Smash Hits contain any songs from Axis: Bold as Love.

In a review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album four and a half out of five stars.

He notes "the main strength of Smash Hits is that it contains the best-known big-name songs in one place.

[3] The running times are taken from the 1980 Polydor (Europe) and 1979 Reprise (US) reissues; the original Track Records and Reprise Records Smash Hits LPs did not include track lengths.