Greatest Hits is Linda Ronstadt's first major compilation album, released at the end of 1976 for the holiday shopping season. It includes material from both her Capitol Records and Asylum Records output, and goes back to 1967 for The Stone Poneys' hit "Different Drum."
It remains the biggest-selling album of Ronstadt's career, being certified seven times Platinum (over 7 million US copies shipped) by the Recording Industry Association of America in America alone, with 1.87 million units consumed after 1991 when SoundScan started tracking sales. It peaked at No. 6 on the main Billboard album chart and also reached No. 2 on Billboards Top Country Albums chart, where it remained for over three years.
The album was criticized by the Rolling Stone Record Guide for being "premature," as Ronstadt continued to have record-breaking mainstream successes for many years following this release. By the time this collection came out, however, Ronstadt had already been recording hit records (as a solo artist and with the Stone Poneys) for a decade, and there were many examples of other artists releasing greatest hits albums much sooner, such as Elvis Presley.
In terms of being released while the performer was still in the midst of their career, this collection is unusual for a major artist in that it compiled works from two unrelated labels thanks to, as the sleeve states, a "special arrangement" between Asylum and Capitol; this overlap mirrors the situation in which Ronstadt briefly alternated releasing albums between Capitol and Asylum in 1973âÂÂ74 in order to fulfil her contract with Capitol.
The CD reissue of the album was compiled with Ronstadt's second greatest hits collection and released by Rhino records in 2007 as Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & 2.
From the Liner Notes on the Original Vinyl Album.