The Very Best of Prince

The Very Best of Prince
Greatest hits album by Prince
Released	July 31, 2001 (2001-07-31)
Length	73:18
Label	Warner Bros.
Producer	Prince The Revolution The New Power Generation
Prince chronology
Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic (2001) The Very Best of Prince (2001) The Rainbow Children (2001)
Digital cover

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[2]
Q	[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[4]

The Very Best of Prince is a greatest hits album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on July 31, 2001, by Warner Bros. Records. The album contains most of his commercially successful singles from 1979 to 1991 including the US number 1s "When Doves Cry", "Let's Go Crazy", "Kiss" and "Cream".

The Very Best of Prince does not include the US number 1 hit "Batdance" most likely due to the licensing of the character Batman. Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine believed that the Batman album was unofficially being written out of Prince's discography.[1] All the songs included in this compilation were all previously included in the 3-disc box set The Hits/The B-Sides (1993), with the exception of "Money Don't Matter 2 Night".

Commercial performance

On the chart dated August 18, 2001, The Very Best of Prince debuted at number 66 on the US Billboard 200.[5] As of September 21, 2004, the album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling 1 million copies in the United States.[6]

The Very Best of Prince sold 179,000 album-equivalent units (100,000 in pure album sales) in the week following Prince's death,[7] thus allowing the album to re-enter the Billboard 200 at number one; this makes the album Prince's fifth number-one on the chart.[8] The following week the album fell to number two on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 391,000 equivalent copies (216,000 in pure album sales) behind Beyoncé's Lemonade.[9] In 2016, the album has sold 660,000 recognized copies in the United States in addition to the over 2 million copies sold prior to 2016.[10]

Track listing

All songs are written by and credited to Prince, except where noted.

The Very Best of Prince track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Original album	Length
1.	"I Wanna Be Your Lover" (single edit)		Prince (1979)	2:58
2.	"1999" (single edit; credited to Prince & the Revolution)		1999 (1982)	3:37
3.	"Little Red Corvette" (credited to Prince & The Revolution)		1999	4:56
4.	"When Doves Cry" (single edit; credited to Prince & the Revolution)		Purple Rain (1984)	3:47
5.	"Let's Go Crazy" (credited to Prince & the Revolution)		Purple Rain	4:40
6.	"Purple Rain" (credited to Prince & the Revolution)		Purple Rain	8:40
7.	"I Would Die 4 U" (single version; credited to Prince & the Revolution)		Purple Rain	2:56
8.	"Raspberry Beret" (credited to Prince & the Revolution)		Around the World in a Day (1985)	3:32
9.	"Kiss" (single edit; credited to Prince & the Revolution)	Prince, arr. by David Z	Parade (1986)	3:46
10.	"Sign o' the Times" (single edit)		Sign o' the Times (1987)	3:42
11.	"U Got the Look" (featuring Sheena Easton)		Sign o' the Times	3:47
12.	"Alphabet St."		Lovesexy (1988)	5:38
13.	"Thieves in the Temple"		Graffiti Bridge (1990)	3:21
14.	"Gett Off" (credited to Prince and The New Power Generation)		Diamonds and Pearls (1991)	4:31
15.	"Cream" (credited to Prince and the New Power Generation)		Diamonds and Pearls	4:13
16.	"Diamonds and Pearls" (single edit; credited to Prince and the New Power Generation)		Diamonds and Pearls	4:19
17.	"Money Don't Matter 2 Night" (credited to Prince and the New Power Generation)	Prince, Rosie Gaines	Diamonds and Pearls	4:47

Personnel

• Prince – lead vocals and various instruments

The Revolution Lisa Coleman – keyboards, vocals Wendy Melvoin – guitar, vocals Bobby Z. – drums, percussion Brown Mark – bass guitar, vocals Matt (Dr.) Fink – keyboards, vocals The New Power Generation Levi Seacer Jr. – rhythm guitar, backing vocals Tony M. – rapping, backing vocals Tommy Barbarella – "PurpleAxxe" sampling, keyboards Kirk Johnson – percussion, backing vocals Damon Dickson – percussion, backing vocals Sonny T. – bass, backing vocals Michael B. – drums Rosie Gaines – vocals, "PurpleAxxe" sampling, organ

Additional musicians Jill Jones – co-lead vocals (on "1999") Dez Dickerson – co-lead vocals (on "1999" & "Little Red Corvette"), lead guitar (on "Little Red Corvette") Mazarati – backing vocals (on "Kiss") Sheena Easton – vocals (on "U Got the Look") Sheila E. – drums, percussion (on "U Got the Look" & "Alphabet St."), vocals (on "Alphabet St.") Cat Glover – rap (on "Alphabet St.") Eric Leeds – brass, vocals (on "Alphabet St."), flute (on "Gett Off")

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2001) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[11] 40 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[12] 13 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[13] 18 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[14] 3 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[15] 6 Irish Albums (IRMA)[16] 1 Spanish Albums (AFYVE)[17] 18 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[18] 28 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 17 UK Albums (OCC)[20] 2 US Billboard 200[21] 66 2011 weekly chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2011) Peak position Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[22] 16 2016 weekly chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2016) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[23] 2 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[24] 5 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[25] 1 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[26] 7 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[27] 12 French Albums (SNEP)[28] 8 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[29] 5 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[30] 5 Irish Albums (IRMA)[31] 2 Italian Albums (FIMI)[32] 12 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[33] 1 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[34] 2 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[35] 4 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[36] 1 UK Albums (OCC)[37] 2 US Billboard 200[38] 1

Monthly charts Monthly chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2016) Peak position Argentine Monthly Albums (CAPIF)[39] 3 Year-end charts 2001 year-end chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2001) Position Canadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[40] 47 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[41] 32 UK Albums (OCC)[42] 75 2002 year-end chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2002) Position Canadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[43] 131 2016 year-end chart performance for The Very Best of Prince Chart (2016) Position Australian Albums (ARIA)[44] 19 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[45] 30 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[46] 77 UK Albums (OCC)[47] 42 US Billboard 200[48] 14

Certifications

Certifications for The Very Best of Prince

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[49]	2× Platinum	140,000^^
Belgium (BEA)[50]	Platinum	50,000^*
Canada (Music Canada)[51]	Gold	50,000^^
Germany (BVMI)[52]	Gold	150,000^‡
Netherlands (NVPI)[53]	Platinum	80,000^^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[54]	Platinum	15,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[55]	3× Platinum	900,000^‡
United States (RIAA)[6]	Platinum	2,660,000[10]
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

1. Allmusic review
2. Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
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6. "American album certifications – Prince – The Very Best of Prince". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 28, 2013.
7. "Prince Dominates Album Sales After His Death". HipHopDX. April 25, 2016. Retrieved April 25, 2016.
8. "Prince Rules at No. 1 & 2 on Billboard 200 Albums Chart with 'The Very Best Of' & 'Purple Rain'". Billboard. April 24, 2016. Retrieved April 24, 2016.
9. "Beyonce Earns Sixth No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart With 'Lemonade'". Billboard. May 1, 2016. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
10. Grein, Paul (December 20, 2016). "The Top-Selling Albums of 2016". Yahoo Music!.
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