Greatest (Duran Duran album)
Greatest is a greatest hits album by the English pop rock band Duran Duran, released in 1998.
Background and release
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. 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.
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 ; that release used the album version of Notorious instead of the 45 mix that was on the previous releases.
Video album
Greatest was followed in 1999 by the release of a videotape compilation of the band's groundbreaking music videos. The video album was certified platinum by the RIAA on 29 January 2004. In November 2003, the video album was released in DVD format, titled Duran Duran: Greatest – The DVD, with hidden extra materials, including alternative versions of some of the videos and interviews of the band; however, this version is much criticised for its extensive use of Easter egg features, which make it difficult to find and play some materials. In 2005, the disc was re-issued in a "Sight & Sound" package, containing both the CD and the DVD minus all of the latter's bonus material.Personnel
Duran Duran
- Simon Le Bon – lead vocals
- Nick Rhodes – keyboards
- John Taylor – bass
- Andy Taylor – guitars
- Roger Taylor – drums
- Warren Cuccurullo – guitars, bass
- Sterling Campbell – drums
Production
- Nigel Reeve – mastering, co-ordination, compilation
- Terry Burch – mastering
- Malcolm Garrett – package design
Charts
Weekly charts
| Chart | Peak position |
| Danish Albums | 9 |
| Chart | Peak position |
| Chart | Peak position |
| Australian Albums | 82 |
| Chart | Peak position |
| Chart | Peak position |
| Chart | Peak position |
| Croatian International Albums | 3 |
Year-end charts
| Chart | Position |
| UK Albums | 74 |