All My Hits: Todos Mis Éxitos is a greatest hits album by American singer Selena. It was released posthumously on March 9, 1999, through EMI Latin to commemorate its ten-year anniversary since entering the music industry. The album coincided with the fourth anniversary of Selena's death, though then-president Jose Behar rebuffed the idea that the album was an exploitive ploy by the company. Following Selena's death on March 31, 1995, Abraham Quintanilla expressed his interest in preserving his daughter's memory through her works. Selena's family has been criticized by fans and the media for exploiting the singer and cannibalizing her murder by commercializing her repertoire. According to the singer's brother, A.B. Quintanilla, one of Selena's wishes was for her to "never go away", citing a conversation he shared with Selena and their sister Suzette Quintanilla, that if anything were to happen to any one of them, their wish would be to continue on with their music.
By 1999, Selena remained EMI Latin's top-selling act, outselling living musicians, and contributed to the company's dominance in the United States Latin music market. Behar wanted to release a commemorative album that would help continue to preserve Selena's music. He based his marketing strategy on Capitol Nashville's The Hits (1994) by Garth Brooks. He figured that a limited distribution run of three months and including a pin bearing Selena's name would generate interest. Lupe de la Cruz, marketing director for EMI Latin, believed the included pin would distinguish it from previous releases that contain unreleased material. A direct-TV campaign was headed by Castilian Music on English and Spanish-language networks in the United States, the first of its kind for a Latin album.
The recording includes 16 previously released songs that range from Selena's second studio album Ven Conmigo (1990) to the posthumous 1997 Selena movie soundtrack. The album received a mixed reception among music critics, John T. Davis called the recording a solid release and applauded its wide marketing, though found it to be of no value to die-hard fans and found the quality subpar in comparison to its predecessors. All My Hits: Todos Mis Éxitos peaked at number one on the US Billboard Top Latin Albums and Regional Mexican Albums chart, selling 25,380 units on its first week of availability. It also peaked at number 54 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album provided Selena with her fifth number one album on the Top Latin Albums chart, the most of any artist at that time. All My Hits: Todos Mis Éxitos was the second-highest sold Latin album for the first quarter of 1999, despite its two months' availability. All My Hits: Todos Mis Éxitos ended 1999 as the top Regional Mexican Album of the year while ranking as the third-most sold album on the Top Latin Albums chart.
The recording provided Selena with her second consecutive album to place atop the year-end chart for the Regional Mexican Albums category, following Anthology (1998). All My Hits: Todos Mis Éxitos sold 360,000 units by mid-December, contributing 40% of EMI Latin's cumulative units sold in the United States. The record company posted a sales gain for the first time since Selena's death in 1995, as a result of All My Hits: Todos Mis Éxitos. In 2017, the album was certified diamond (Latin) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting 600,000 units consisting of sales and on-demand streaming. All My Hits: Todos Mis Éxitos has sold 100,000 units in Mexico, and received a platinum certification by Music Canada for selling 100,000 units. The album was proceeded by a VHS tape of the singer's music videos and All My Hits: Todos Mis Éxitos Vol. 2 (2000).
Background On March 31, 1995, American Tejano music singer Selena was shot and killed. The crossover-planned album Dreaming of You was released posthumously on July 18, 1995, debuting and peaking atop the United States Billboard 200 albums chart, the first majority Spanish-language recording to do so in the chart's history. The album's release started a "buying frenzy" for anything related or containing Selena among Hispanic and Latino Americans. The releases of Selena's works continue a promise Abraham Quintanilla told his family following his daughter's death, that he will continue to keep Selena's memory alive through her music. According to A. B. Quintanilla, Suzette Quintanilla, and Selena collectively agreed that if anything were to happen to any one of them, their wish would be to continue on with their music. A. B. said that one of Selena's wishes was for her to "never go away". Since Selena's death, her family has been criticized by fans and the media for exploiting the singer and cannibalizing on her murder by commercializing her repertoire.
By 1999, Selena remained EMI Latin's top-selling artist, outselling living musicians such as Thalía and Carlos Ponce. In the past five years, Selena has been the record company's top-selling performer, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Then-president of EMI Latin Jose Behar, who discovered the singer at the 1989 Tejano Music Awards, recognized Selena for her contributions that made EMI Latin "the house that Selena built". Industry executives collectively agreed on Selena's impact on EMI Latin, they credited Selena with propelling the label to the top of the US Latin music industry.
Music The album contains 16 tracks ranging from Selena's second studio album Ven Conmigo (1990) to the posthumous 1997 movie soundtrack. Offering listeners many of the singer's most recognizable songs, the recording starts off with "Amor Prohibido". It is followed by the mariachi track "Tú Sólo Tú", originally intended for the Don Juan DeMarco soundtrack, which was shelved by music producers. Following the impact of Selena's death, Christopher John Farley of Time magazine, wrote how the producers were most likely regretting their decision. The next track "Como la Flor", became Selena's signature song with essayist Ilan Stavans suggesting the emergence of Latin pop in the United States in the 1990s is attributed to the popularity of "Como la Flor". The fourth song on the album, "I Could Fall in Love" was previously on the planned crossover album Dreaming of You. The fifth track, "El Chico del Apartamento 512", is a lighthearted and comical song following the protagonist's attempts at finding "the guy in apartment 512" (this track was also included in the volume 2 of All My Hits: Todos Mis Éxitos). This was followed by "¿Qué Creias?", a song Selena often performed onstage with a male volunteer from the audience who portrayed her former lover, while Selena scorches them as the wronged partner. The seventh track, "Baila Esta Cumbia" was written following a medley A. B. had in his head while resting. "Dreaming of You" was among a selection of songs Selena was provided with from Capitol Records to choose from, the label vehemently controlled the entire crossover project and only allowed Selena to choose one song of her choice from this selection.
Track number eight, "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" was improvised during a rehearsal starting off as a song with few, if any, lyrics. Selena started singing, coming up with lyrics "as ideas came to her". It started off with lyrics about a cheerful fish swimming freely in the ocean, which Astudillo likened to a nursery rhyme, organized around a wah-wah guitar riff using a crybaby improvised by Selena's husband and the guitarist of the group Chris Pérez. "Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" transitioned into a cumbia and reggae song, its onomatopoeic title and its nonsensical lyrics suggest the sound of a woman's heart palpitating for the object of her affection. The following track, "La Llamada" follows the protagonist's former lover calling her and protesting his innocence, not buying his excuses, she tells him to refrain from calling her again. The eleventh song, "No Me Queda Más", was penned by keyboardist Ricky Vela, who had romantic inclinations toward the drummer of the group, Suzette, which he kept private from her. After hearing of her wedding to Bill Arriaga in September 1993, Vela wrote of his feelings of betrayal and unrequited love and hid the lyrics that he wrote based on these feelings. Vela eventually provided Selena with the lyrics and she recorded the song for Amor Prohibido. According to Abraham, Selena provided an emotional delivery while recording the track and was seen sobbing in the recording studio because "she knew how [Vela] felt" about Suzette.
The next song, "I'm Getting Used to You" was written by Diane Warren and produced by Rhett Lawrence. Writing for Newsday, Ira Robbins found the track's arrangement to be "slightly outdated" that masked any indications of Selena's Hispanic background. This was dramatized by Christian Serratos in the Netflix two-part limited drama Selena: The Series (2020–21), where the singer felt a sense of dissociation with the song. Warren commented that the scene was not how she recalls her time with Selena, who in reality loved the song. This was followed by "La Carcacha", which was inspired by a broken-down car in Ovalo, Texas. Biographer Joe Nick Patoski recognized that "La Carcacha" contained lyrics of teenage love that Selena never experienced. He wrote how A. B. would sometimes ask Selena about songs he should write for her, and Selena would request songs with storylines atypical of what she experienced. The fourteenth track on the album, "Disco Medley", is a medley of disco-era songs "Last Dance" (1978) and "On the Radio" (1979) by Donna Summer, "The Hustle" (1975) by Van McCoy and the Soul City Symphony, and "I Will Survive" (1978) by Gloria Gaynor and "Funkytown" (1979) by Lipps Inc. "Disco Medley" was performed live at the Houston Astrodome on February 26, 1995, cited as her last concert before she was murdered. Track number fifteen, "No Debes Jugar" was originally released as one of the studio tracks on Selena Live!. "Missing My Baby" finishes the tracklisting of All My Hits: Todos Mis Éxitos.
Promotion and release