''The Very Best of Elton John'' is a

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

by English musician

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

, released in October 1990. His first career-retrospective compilation album, and fourth official greatest-hits album overall, it was released in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and throughout

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and in other countries such as

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, but not in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, where the box set '' To Be Continued...'' was released the following month instead. The compilation spans his second album ''

'' in 1970 to ''

Sleeping with the Past ''Sleeping with the Past'' is the 22nd studio album by English musician Elton John, released on 29 August 1989. It is his best-selling album in Denmark (where it was recorded) and is dedicated to his longtime writing partner Bernie Taupin. The ...

'' in 1989. After the

double A-sided The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

Sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

/ Healing Hands" single became a hit and the third best-selling single of 1990 in the United Kingdom, the album became an instant smash in that country. It spent its first two weeks at #1 followed by nine weeks at #2, kept there by

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

's '' Immaculate Collection''. In all, the compilation spent 145 weeks inside the UK top 200 album chart, making a total of 11 re-entries, and it was certified 9×

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

by the BPI on 1 March 1995. It includes a total of 28 hit singles plus the new songs " Easier to Walk Away" and "

You Gotta Love Someone "You Gotta Love Someone" is a song by English musician Elton John, written by John along with Bernie Taupin and released as a single from the ''Days of Thunder'' soundtrack in October 1990. The single was also used to promote the Rocket Records ...

", both of which also made the charts between 1990 and 1991. The release also spawned a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

compilation, which was originally released on both

laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

and VHS, and reissued on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

Track listing

;Disc one ;Disc two *Track 25 is different on European version of the album. "Whispers" from ''Sleeping with the Past'' takes the place of "Passengers". *"Pinball Wizard", "The Bitch Is Back", "I Don't Wanna Go on With You Like That" and "Easier to Walk Away" are excised from the vinyl version of the compilation. *The timings are different on the back cover and the actual CD. On Disc 1, "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is listed as 6:12, while the actual song runs at 5:38 and "Philadelphia Freedom" runs at 5:42, rather at 5:19. On Disc 2, the back cover shows Song For Guy running at 5:02, but the actual track runs at 6:40 (the album length of the song). The same applies for "Nikita", which the back cover states for 4:53 but the actual song plays at 5:44. "I Don't Wanna Go on With You Like That" is the radio single edit on the CD (4:00) instead of the back cover's album cut listing of 4:33.

B-sides

Music video compilation

# "

Your Song "Your Song" is a song written by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin, and performed by John. It was John's first international Top 10 chart single. "Your Song" was first released by American rock band Three Dog Night in M ...

" (''Top of the Pops'' 1971 live version) # "

Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...

" (''Top of the Pops'' 1973 live version) # "

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ''Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'' is the seventh studio album by English singer-songwriter Elton John, first released on 5 October 1973 as a double LP. The album has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and is widely regarded as John's magnum ...

" (''Top of the Pops'' 1973 live version) # "

Don't Go Breaking My Heart "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" is a 1976 duet by English musician Elton John and English singer Kiki Dee. It was written by John with Bernie Taupin under the pseudonyms "Ann Orson" and "Carte Blanche", respectively, and intended as an affection ...

" (with

Kiki Dee Pauline Matthews (born 6 March 1947), better known by her stage name Kiki Dee, is an English singer. Known for her blue-eyed soul vocals, she was the first female singer from the UK to sign with Motown's Tamla Records. Dee is best known for h ...

) # "

Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" is a song written by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin. It was recorded by Elton John and released in 1976, both as a single and as part of the ''Blue Moves'' album. It was John's seco ...

" (BBC Live Christmas Show version) # " Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long Long Time)" (live Wembley 1977 version) # "

Blue Eyes Eye color is a polygene, polygenic phenotypic character determined by two distinct factors: the pigmentation of the eye's Iris (anatomy), iris and the frequency-dependence of the scattering of light by the Turbidity, turbid medium in the Stro ...

" # "

I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" is a song by English musician Elton John, with music by John and Davey Johnstone and lyrics by Bernie Taupin. It is the first single from John's 17th studio album ''Too Low for Zero''. In the United ...

" # "

I'm Still Standing "I'm Still Standing" is a song written by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin, from John's 1983 album ''Too Low for Zero''. It was the second single released from the album in the UK, and the first single released in the Un ...

" # " Kiss the Bride" # "

Sad Songs (Say So Much) "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" is the closing track on English musician Elton John's eighteenth studio album ''Breaking Hearts'', written by John and Bernie Taupin, released in 1984 as the lead single of the album. It reached No. 7 on the UK chart an ...

" # "

Passengers A passenger (also abbreviated as pax) is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The ...

" # "

Nikita Nikita may refer to: * Nikita (given name) * Nikita, Crimea, a town in Crimea * Nikita the Tanner, a character in East Slavic folklore Film and television *''Little Nikita'', a 1988 film * ''La Femme Nikita'' (film), also known as ''Nikita'', a 19 ...

" # " Wrap Her Up" # "

Candle in the Wind "Candle in the Wind" is a threnody written by English musician Elton John and songwriter Bernie Taupin, and performed by John. It was originally written in 1973, in honour of Marilyn Monroe, who had died 11 years earlier. In 1997, John perfor ...

" (live in Australia 1986 version) # "

Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" (sometimes written "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)") is a song originally recorded by English musician Elton John. John composed it with his long-time songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. It was ...

" (live in Prince's Trust 1987 version) # " I Don't Wanna Go on with You Like That" # " Philadelphia Freedom" (live in Verona 1989 version) # "

" # "

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Very Best Of Elton John 1990 greatest hits albums Elton John compilation albums Albums produced by Gus Dudgeon Albums recorded at Trident Studios Albums produced by Chris Thomas (record producer) Albums produced by Don Was