Nature's Best is a series of three compilation albums of popular New Zealand Music songs, first released in 2002. The albums featured the Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time as voted by members and guest judges of the Australasian Performing Right Association.
A box set of all three albums was released in November 2005.
Background
The genesis of the idea was the 75th anniversary of the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) in New Zealand in 2001 and the selection of the top 100 New Zealand songs of the past 75 years. A list of over 900 candidate songs was prepared, and voting was open to APRA members and an invited academy.
The list of the top 100 songs was announced in stages in 2001, with the number one place going to the 1969 song "Nature" by Fourmyula."Wayne Mason and the song 'Nature'", New Zealand History online
Following the creation of the APRA Top 100 New Zealand song, a collaborative effort by representatives of major record companies and APRA – most notably Mike Chunn – took place to produce an album of the top 30 songs from this selection, titled Nature's Best, released in January 2022, and followed up with Nature's Best 2 in October 2022, and Nature's Best 3 in May 2023.
Nature's Best
Nature's Best: New Zealand's Top 30 Songs of All Time was released on 14 January 2002 on the Sony Music label. The album was named after its title track, the 1969 The Fourmyula song "Nature", which had been voted number one in APRA's list of Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time.
The album enjoyed great commercial success, going 8x platinum. The album sold over 100,000 copies in its first four months,"...the APRA-initiated 'Nature's Best Vol 1' which shifted well over 100,000 copies..." , nzmusician.co.nz, 2008 and eventually sold over 150,000 copies by its twentieth anniversary.
The album spent 11 weeks at number one on the RIANZ Official Aotearoa Music Charts.
Nature's Best was re-released as part of a Nature's Best Box Set on 29 November 2005.
Track listing
Nature's Best 2
Nature's Best 2: More of New Zealand's Top Songs of All-Time is a two-disc compilation album of 35 popular New Zealand music songs, first released on 4 October 2002.
The album featured songs numbered 31–65 on the APRA 75th Anniversary Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time.
The album spent four weeks at number one on the RIANZ Official Aotearoa Music Charts, and album sales were certified 4x platinum.
Nature's Best 2 was re-released as part of a Nature's Best Box Set on 29 November 2005.
Track listing
Nature's Best 3
Nature's Best 3: Completing the Top 100 NZ Songs of All-Time is a two-disc compilation album of 35 popular New Zealand music songs, released on 12 May 2003.
The album featured the songs numbered 66-100 on the APRA 75th Anniversary Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time.
The album peaked at number five on the RIANZ Official Aotearoa Music Charts, and album sales were certified platinum.
Nature's Best 3 was re-released as part of a Nature's Best Box Set on 29 November 2005.
Track listing
Follow-ups DVD release, 2003, music videos to sixty of the songs from the three albums Limited edition box set of the three albums and the DVD, 2005 (Nature's Best Box Set) More Nature, 2006, a selection of notable New Zealand songs since 2001
See also Australasian Performing Right Association Music of New Zealand
References
External links The National Anthems, New Zealand Herald, November 3, 2001