Interesting to know, I know a lot will have made the Hits series instead but a handful won't have made it to either due to what I assume were licensing issues (Blood On The Dancefloor, Candle In The Wind 1997, Pretty Fly (For A White Guy) and possibily Teletubbies) or simply because they weren't chosen. I can't think of many examples of the latter, but I'm sure if Hits had wanted To You I Belong they could have had it, seeing as all of B*Witched's other big singles made it. Also, it's debateable whether either Now or Hits ever even asked for The Millennium Prayer, I can't imagine they were fighting over it but not sure if it would have been licensed anyway.

Edited February 9, 20214 yr by gooddelta

The Take That ones of the mid-90s were odd omissions seeing as they did appear on some of them and not on others. Now 26 and Now 29 had Pray and Sure but neither Now 27 or 28 had Everything Changes.

Edited February 9, 20214 yr by Colm

The Take That ones of the mid-90s were odd omissions seeing as they did appear on some of them and not on others. Now 26 and Now 29 had Pray and Sure but neither Now 27 or 28 had Everything Changes.

 

It did make the original Now 1994 though :)

Definitely some bizarre omissions. For example Shaggy ‘angel’ and Busted ‘crashed the wedding’. Both acts had previous songs that were on Now albums and both of these songs would have easily fitted on the upcoming Now 49 and 56.

Definitely some bizarre omissions. For example Shaggy ‘angel’ and Busted ‘crashed the wedding’. Both acts had previous songs that were on Now albums and both of these songs would have easily fitted on the upcoming Now 49 and 56.

 

Just because they were on previous Nows doesn't mean they were always available though.

Just because they were on previous Nows doesn't mean they were always available though.

 

True. But you would have thought in the case of Busted it might have been as all of their previous songs had been, as were subsequent songs.

Edited February 9, 20214 yr by robbied

With a really big hit, I'd always go with it being unavailable (because the label didn't want to hurt sales of the artist's single or album at that time) or wanting too much money for the licence, over it just being forgotten about or overlooked.

It can of course sometimes be the other way. There are of course examples of massive hits being on Now albums some time before their single release (Groovejet and Mad World for example).

I remember no Wasteoflife songs appearing on NOW albums back when I used to buy them, did any later ones get included?

With a really big hit, I'd always go with it being unavailable (because the label didn't want to hurt sales of the artist's single or album at that time) or wanting too much money for the licence, over it just being forgotten about or overlooked.

 

I agree. It may then be available for the edition after, but by that point it's either deemed too old or the artist has moved onto another big single so the compilers use that instead. I believe that's probably what happened with Busted in that example, and also why To You I Belong was never on a Hits album, as Blame It On The Weatherman was available to them at that point instead.

 

The Smash Hits compilations also used to pick up a few of the songs missed by both Now and Hits, presumably again due to timing. Crashed The Wedding was on a Smash Hits album released in early 2004, by which point the record company were probably happier to license it out as it had been and gone.

Edited February 9, 20214 yr by gooddelta

I remember no Wasteoflife songs appearing on NOW albums back when I used to buy them, did any later ones get included?

 

From 2005 (You Raise Me Up) onwards I think they started to appear more regularly. I can only assume it's because the Hits series was floundering at this point and Sony and its subsidiaries were happier to license to Now than they had been before. Prior to that was it just Uptown Girl that was used on Now 50? That featured a few other artists that Now rarely got (J.Lo, Five), so they must have had a one-off deal with Sony as it was a landmark.

Yeah I see why some record labels would want to push more sales onto the single. Although in the late nineties/early 2000s there’s lots of cases of songs featuring on Now albums at the height of their popularity - often songs that were out that week or had been released a week or two before. It would be interesting to see what caused the decision from the record label. More money perhaps?

Yes, Uptown Girl was their only appearance until You Raise Me Up, then a few more of their songs including The Rose were featured, so they had 11 #1s not featured - which is two fewer than Madonna.

From 2005 (You Raise Me Up) onwards I think they started to appear more regularly. I can only assume it's because the Hits series was floundering at this point and Sony and its subsidiaries were happier to license to Now than they had been before. Prior to that was it just Uptown Girl that was used on Now 50? That featured a few other artists that Now rarely got (J.Lo, Five), so they must have had a one-off deal with Sony as it was a landmark.

 

That's really interesting! :o

 

Thanks

From 2005 (You Raise Me Up) onwards I think they started to appear more regularly. I can only assume it's because the Hits series was floundering at this point and Sony and its subsidiaries were happier to license to Now than they had been before. Prior to that was it just Uptown Girl that was used on Now 50? That featured a few other artists that Now rarely got (J.Lo, Five), so they must have had a one-off deal with Sony as it was a landmark.

 

Yeah Will Young & Gareth Gates spring to mind too.. their early hits were only on Hits too.

 

Some of the Hits comps in the late 90s and early 00s were actually better than the equivalent Now

Kylie & Jason - Especially for you

Kylie - Hand on your heart

Kylie - Tears on my pillow

Jason - Too many broken hearts

Jason - Sealed with a kiss

 

Has any of the Band Aid versions ever been on a regular NOW album?

1990 was wired year only 2 now not 3

1990 was wired year only 2 now not 3

 

 

Same with 1987 and 1991.

 

In my opinion that led to much stronger Christmas Nows in 1990 and 1991 as there were twice as many potential inclusions in each.

This is slightly off topic but is there anyone here who owns every single NOW album physically? Or at least most of them? I'd be interested to know, as I started collecting them a couple of years ago as you can get them for as little as 50p in charity shops (obviously not the older ones as they're much rarer), but obviously my collection stopped when the pandemic hit!

Edited February 10, 20214 yr by Mangø

This is slightly off topic but is there anyone here who owns every single NOW album physically? Or at least most of them? I'd be interested to know, as I started collecting them a couple of years ago as you can get them for as little as 50p in charity shops (obviously not the older ones as they're much rarer), but obviously my collection stopped when the pandemic hit!

 

Got 1 to 7 re realise Cd

And now 10 to 107 cd

 

Now 100 hits