The Essential Kinks is a two disc compilation album by English rock band the Kinks, released on 14 October 2014, on Legacy Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment.

[1] The album celebrates the Kinks' 50th anniversary[2][3] of their first release with RCA Records.

It was released as part of Sony's The Essential series and contains 48 tracks.

[2][1][4] The Davies brothers, who had not played together since 1996, revealed in early 2014 that they had met in person and put their animosity behind them.

[4] Sony has acquired exclusive licensing to the North American rights to albums made by the Kinks for both RCA Records and Arista between 1971 and 1985.