When I think back on the success of the Classic Rock format over the past three decades or so, lots of factors come into play. The massive amount of Baby Boomers who grew up with the music was the table-setter. The music scene was being defined in large part by MTV and their reliance on new and pop music – therefore a large “hole” opened up for radio stations focused on the best music from the late ’60s and ’70s.
But of course, it was the quality of so much of the music that turned out to be the defining difference. Not only were there a lot of great artists and groups, but many of them recorded a deep catalogue of music spanning many years and many albums.
When your music is truly classic and there’s a lot of it, the “greatest hits” album becomes a huge marketing tool, not just to reap profits but to also find new listeners who may not be as familiar with the music. Some of the best-selling albums of all time are these compilations of mega-hits. And unlike a standard album where there are one or two hit songs, a bunch of random ones, and a stinker or two, a “greatest hits” album – assuming it lives up to its definition – features one great song after another.
Earlier this year, I wrote a post about how Rolling Stone writer Bob Sheffield named Creedence Clearwater Revival “the biggest band in America in 2024.” While John Fogerty and CCR were brilliant and prolific in their heyday, most critics and fans would likely name any number of bands first – the Beatles, Zeppelin, the Stones, and the list goes on.
One of the factors that played into Sheffield’s logic is that CCR’s famous greatest
hits package Chronicle pretty much had established permanent residency on the Billboard 200 chart. When he wrote his story last summer, Chronicle occupied the 39th position, an incredible feat given the album’s release was in 1976, nearly a half century ago during Jimmy Carter’s administration.
An anomaly? Most definitely, because recent Luminate data reported by Bloomberg News reports the sales of greatest hits albums have precipitously declined of late. In fact, we’re looking at a 54% sales drop in just the past two years.
The chart below, put together by Sherwood News tracks the wild ride of greatest hits albums, hitting the skids not long after the pandemic.
The culprit? Most sources lay the blame on streaming, led by services like Spotify that allow users to cherry-pick their own version of an artist’s biggest songs.
As a result, the need to buy a physical (and increasingly expensive) greatest hits package has fallen off in recent years.
A similar story and analysis recently appeared in a web publication from Mark Greentree, Subjective Sounds. He is in agreement these collections of monster hits packaged under the “greatest hits” banner are waning. In fact, Greentree goes a step further:
“In essence, the playlist has replaced the Greatest Hits release.”
And yet, Greentree lists several “pros” for greatest hits albums. These include cultural significance, the collectability of physical albums, and the marketing power of these anthologies.
Lastly, he points out these artist-driven staples make it more accessible and inviting for new or casual fans to learn about a musical star and their body of work. In this case, it’s not Spotify, Amazon, or Apple curating these greatest hits packages – it’s the artist and/or their producers not just selecting the songs, but choosing their order, and providing artwork and other historic artifacts that make music discovery fun and substantive.
As always, that leads us to radio and the only top 10 format left today with an “album orientation.” Classic Rock fans, more than most, are focused as much on the artist as they are on the songs.
A little “rebranding” on Saturday and Sunday could repurpose the “Block Party Weekend” into a more accessible “Greatest Hits Weekend” where your airstaff (go with me here) curates the best songs from favorite artists and groups and creates your station’s playlists of “greatest hits” collections.
via Subjective Sounds
Some produced staging with brief sound bites from the featured artists, and your station suddenly sounds more interesting than Spotify, more compelling than Apple Music, and more entertaining than Apple Music. (It’s not that hard.)
A step further – website voting by artist – and you’ve now engaged the audience while growing your database because you’re requiring an email address ahead of the selection process in order to (stay with me n0w), be eligible to win an actual “greatest hits” vinyl record album.
Expand your focus one more time and imagine a turntable (or two) in the studio
where you’re actually playing those featured songs from vinyl records – pops, scratches, and the occasional cue burn. This might require some staff training for learning the skills of cueing up a record and properly returning them to their sleeves and covers. I would be happy to join via Zoom to watch the fun – please invite me.
You want older and younger listeners? Play, feature, and give away actual vinyl. Then, listen to people actually talk about your radio station…again.
Radio is what we make it. And taking something as mundane as the decline of the “greatest hits” album and turning it into an event that only something radio can d0…
…now that would be great.
Maybe even greatest.
Originally published by Jacobs Media
