''The Hits'' is the second

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 ...

, and first wide-released

greatest hits album 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 ...

, from American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Garth Brooks Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...

, released on December 13, 1994, by

Liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

. Brooks first greatest hits album, '' The Garth Brooks Collection'', was released three months earlier exclusively at

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

restaurants for a limited time to raise money for the Ronald McDonald Children's Charities. ''The Hits'' is now

out of print __NOTOC__ An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a book ...

due to Brooks' views for whole record sales, instead of albums of singles. He insisted it only be available for a limited time, but not before it sold well over 10 million copies (which at that time became his first album to achieve Diamond Series). The album debuted at #1 on the ''Billboard'' 200, and

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales a ...

. A CD Zoom containing 20-second sound bites of 61 songs accompanied ''The Hits''. In June 1995, the master was buried under Brooks’ star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

Track listing

Charts

''The Hits'' debuted at #1 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' 200, becoming his fourth, and #1 on the

, becoming his fifth #1 Country album. In November 1998, ''The Hits'' was certified 10× Platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hits, The 1994 greatest hits albums Garth Brooks compilation albums Liberty Records compilation albums Albums produced by Allen Reynolds Canadian Country Music Association Top Selling Album albums