''Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume III'' is the twenty-seventh

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

released 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 1987, 10 years after '' Elton John's Greatest Hits Volume II'', the compilation album features his greatest hits from 1979 to 1986 and was made available only 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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. All of the songs featured had previously been released on a previous album.

History

The album was initially released under

Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint. Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...

after John returned to his US label. Geffen was later bought out by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

in 1990. John had just left MCA after the label released ''Greatest Hits Volume II''. One-third of the album is composed of songs from ''

Too Low for Zero ''Too Low for Zero'' (stylised as ''2 ▼ 4 0'') is the seventeenth studio album by English musician Elton John. Released in 1983, the album marked a comeback for John, whose previous four albums had failed to yield many enduring international ...

'', John's 1983 album that received the most critical and commercial acclaim for the early 1980s, including the songs " I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues" and " I'm Still Standing". Some of the John's less successful songs were also included on the tracking because they had been released in the past year. The album received a gold certification in February 1989, platinum in November 1991, and achieved 2× platinum in October 1995 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/ ...

. In 1992, two years after MCA purchased Geffen, ''Greatest Hits Volume III'' was removed from the artist's repertoire and replaced with the famed '' Greatest Hits 1976–1986'' album, and due to copyright issues, two tracks from ''Greatest Hits Volume II'', "

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 affectiona ...

" and " Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" were moved to ''Greatest Hits 1976–1986'' and replaced with " Tiny Dancer" and " I Feel Like a Bullet (In the Gun of Robert Ford)".

Track listing

All songs are written by

and

Bernie Taupin Bernard John Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English songwriter, singer and visual artist. He is best known for his long-term collaboration with musician Elton John, a songwriting partnership that is one of the most successful in history. Tau ...

, except where noted.

Credits

*Album coordinators – John David Kalodner & Robin Rothman *Originally mastering – Greg Fulginiti *Art direction/Design – Laura Lipuma *Management – John Reid

Charts

Certifications

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Albums produced by Gus Dudgeon Albums produced by Chris Thomas (record producer) 1987 greatest hits albums Elton John compilation albums Geffen Records compilation albums Albums produced by Elton John Albums produced by Thom Bell