Paint the Sky with Stars


Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya is the first greatest hits album by Irish singer-songwriter Enya, released on 3 November 1997 by WEA. Following her worldwide promotional tour in support of her previous album The Memory of Trees, Enya began selecting tracks for a compilation album in early 1997, as her recording contract with WEA permitted her to do so. The album contains songs from her debut album Enya to The Memory of Trees and two new tracks, "Paint the Sky with Stars" and "Only If...".
Paint the Sky with Stars received positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, reaching number 4 in the United Kingdom and number 30 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. In the latter territory, the album continued to sell over the next eight years, reaching four million copies shipped in 2005. In Japan, it became the first non-Japanese album under the Warner label to receive a Japan Gold Disc Award in the Grand Prix Album category for selling over one million copies.

Critical reception

Paint the Sky with Stars received universal acclaim from music critics. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic rated the album five stars out of five and says that Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya is an excellent 16-song overview of Enya's career, containing 14 selections from The Celts, Watermark, Shepherd Moons, and The Memory of Trees, including "Caribbean Blue", "Anywhere Is", "Marble Halls", "Book of Days" and, of course, "Orinoco Flow"—as well as two previously unreleased songs that fit comfortably with her past work.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Roma Ryan, except for "Marble Halls", all music composed by Enya and all songs produced by Nicky Ryan.

Production

  • Produced by Nicky Ryan
  • Arranged by Enya and Nicky Ryan
  • Lyrics by Roma Ryan
  • Marble Halls arranged by Enya and Nicky Ryan
  • All tracks published by EMI Songs Ltd
  • Principal photography: David Scheinmann
  • Calligraphy and Design: Brody Neuenschwander
  • Mastered by Arun

Charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australian Albums Chart67
Austrian Albums Chart50
Belgian Albums Chart 46
Belgian Albums Chart 83
Dutch Albums Chart57
European Albums Chart24
German Albums Chart65
Japanese Albums Chart44
Swedish Albums Chart47
UK Albums Chart90
US Billboard 20083
US Billboard New Age Albums Chart2