On This Day in 1958, the World’s First ‘Greatest Hits’ Compilation Is Released by Johnny Mathis

The concept of the “greatest hits” record is a surprisingly new invention. The world’s first greatest hits compilation was released on this day, March 15, 1958, by pop and jazz artist Johnny Mathis. It’s wild to think that no “official” greatest hits compilation was released before then; Johnny Mathis is still alive today, too.

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Johnny’s Greatest Hits was an enormous success. It stayed on the Billboard 200 for a whopping nine years before Pink Floyd broke the record with the 1973 album The Dark Side Of The Moon.

Naturally, this format became the hot new thing to do for established musicians for years to come. Typically, such collections are utilized by artists who have been recording long enough to have a hefty discography of work. At least, that’s what the concept of “greatest hits” turned into. 

Johnny Mathis Set the Standard With the World’s First Greatest Hits Compilation

For Johnny Mathis, he was still a young musician without a huge catalog of music under his belt at the time. In fact, he had only been recording music for two years when his greatest hits album was released in 1958.

Mathis wasn’t trying to create a hot new trend in the music industry. Rather, he was trying to keep his career afloat. Mathis once explained to Songfacts that the real credit for creating the world’s first greatest hits compilation should go to his producer at the time, Mitch Miller.

“That [the compilation] was Mitch Miller’s idea,” said Mathis. “That was the first time I had a chance to go out of the country and go to Great Britain. They wanted me to go in the studio and make some more recordings. I had had some success with ‘It’s Not For Me To Say’, and I wasn’t able to record anything new, so he threw the first four recordings that I did, both sides on them, and called them ‘Johnny’s Greatest Hits’. That was a little flamboyant, because it was not the greatest hits, yet. But that was a great beginning for a lot of people. Even Mozart has a ‘Greatest Hits’ now. Good idea from Mitch Miller.”

The title of Mathis’ album was apt, in the end. It contains what would become some of Mathis’ greatest works of his career, from “Wonderful! Wonderful!” to “Chances Are”.

Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images

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