Compilations albums were big business in the 80s, even more than they are now. Lead by the “Now That’s What I Call Music” and “The Hits Album” series which sold millions throughout the decade. This was the so called “Compilations War” the ensued for years with both series’ outselling one another before “Now” continued into the 90s and beyond. Here we list all the albums, plus a few more less well known.
Here we look back to where the Now That’s What I Call Music series all began and it’s fierce rival The Hits Album series.
This section also includes Out Now series some and other less known compilations.
Some of the biggest selling artists of The 1980s featured on at least one of these multi million selling albums, this was also the main reason for the introduction of the compilations albums chart in 1989.
These albums sold so well and reached the top of the charts so often, that they were stopping original artist albums from reaching the top spot in the charts, The Compilations Chart was therefore introduced.
The Album Chart and Compilations chart are both still in use today.
List of Compilation Albums-
Now That’s What I Call Music-
- Now That’s What I Call Music 1 (1983)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 2 (1984)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 3 (1984)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 4 (1984)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 5 (1985)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 6 (1985)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 7 (1986)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 8 (1986)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 9 (1987)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 10 (1987)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 11 (1988)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 12 (1988)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 13 (1988)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 14 (1989)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 15 (1989)
- Now That’s What I Call Music 16 (1989)
The Hits Album-
- The Hits Album (1984)
- The Hits Album 2 (1985)
- The Hits Album 3 (1985)
- Hits 4 (1986)
- Hits 5 (1986)
- The Hits Album 6 (1987)
- The Hits Album 7 (1987)
- The Hits Album 8 (1988)
- The Hits Album (9) (1988)
- The Hits Album 10 (1989)
- The Hits Album (Monster Hits) (1989)
Out Now-
Chart Hits-
- Chart Hits ’81 Volume 1 (1981)
- Chart Hits ’81 Volume 2 (1981)
- Chart Hits ’82 Volume 1 (1982)
- Chart Hits ’82 Volume 1 (1982)
Super Hits
- Super Hits Volume 1 (1981)
- Super Hits Volume 2 (1981)
Chart Busters-
- Chart Busters ’82 Volume 1 (1982)
- Chart Busters ’82 Volume 2 (1982)
Others-
- Raiders of the Pop Charts (1982)
- Chart runners (1982)
- The Greatest Hits of 1986 (1986)
- The Chart Volume 1 (1986)
- The Chart Volume 2 (1986)
- Love Songs (1984)
- Don’t Stop Dancing (1984)