Greatest is an update of the 1989 tenth anniversary compilation album,
Decade. The new release includes songs from their
eponymous debut album through 1997's
Medazzaland (excluding 1995's
Thank You). The album includes all 14 songs featured in
Decade, plus "
New Moon on Monday" and four singles from the '90s. However, several songs on the disc are presented in their edited forms in order to fit on a single CD. In addition, the disc uses an edit of "
Rio" that was not actually used on any of the song's US single releases, and to this day, has not appeared on any release other than
Greatest or
The Essential Collection. The album was released by
EMI after parting ways with the band following the unsuccessful
Medazzaland album release in 1997, marking the first of many releases designed to capitalise on the band's extensive EMI-controlled back catalogue. To coincide with the release of the
Greatest album in the United Kingdom, the song "
Electric Barbarella" was released as a single in that territory. This track was originally released as a single in North America in 1997 to promote the
Medazzaland album (which was never released officially in Europe until 2022). By 2008, the collection had sold 1.3 million copies in the United States, and was certified Platinum by the
RIAA. Greatest was released on vinyl in 2025 for the first time (with a remastered CD edition as well); that release used the album version of
Notorious instead of the 45 mix that was on the previous releases. ==Track listing==