The Best... Album in the World...Ever! is a compilation album brand from Circa Records (trading under the 'strategic marketing' brand name of EMI Records/Virgin Records). It was the brainchild of marketer Stephen Pritchard at Virgin Records.
Usually the album's title is made of the main title, genre and maybe issue number (so albums would include The Best Ibiza Album in the World...Ever!, The Best Rock Album in the World...Ever! etc.). However, on a number of indie music collections, the genre aspect was replaced by a full list of artist names. Due to this, these were just normally listed as The Best Album in the World...Ever!, and featured many Britpop acts, as well as dance acts such as Chemical Brothers.
Although most albums use the Album in the World...Ever! suffix, some towards the late 1990s change the suffix to Anthems...Ever!, with a plural on the theme (example the album The Best Celtic Anthems...Ever!). Some even just use ...Ever! as a suffix (such as The Best TV Ads...Ever!)
Many of the albums in the series were compiled by Ashley Abram.
History The series started with The Best...Dance Album in the World...Ever! (1993) which was a success, spending four weeks at number one on the UK Compilation Chart and ending up as the third biggest selling compilation of the year. The Dance strand led to a fourteen volume subseries. Other successful subseries included Air Guitar, Sixties, Club Anthems and the aforementioned alternative rock Best...Album in the World Evers.
The Best Club Anthems...Ever!, featuring house, big beat, techno and electronica was released in 1997, and there have been 16 sequels. One difference from The Best Dance Album in the World..Ever! and The Best Club Anthems...Ever series is that Club Anthems originally had its tracks mixed, although this stopped beginning with 2003's Very Best Club Anthems release.
The Best Air Guitar Album in the World...Ever!, referred to in retrospect as Air Guitar I, released 5 November 2001, was compiled by Brian May. A sequel was released in November 2002 and another in November 2003, the latter proclaiming itself to be the last Air Guitar Album in the World...Ever!. Both sequels were again compiled by Brian May. In 2005, a 3CD The Best of the Best Air Guitar Album in the World...Ever! was released. Whilst Air Guitar III proclaimed to be the final volume, the liner notes written by May in The Best of the Best start with "OK, we lied."
Sometimes, the albums have captured a moment of popularity for things other than music, such as The Best TV Ads...Ever!, a compilation released in May 2000 of songs from current and famous TV adverts, which was released just days after the "100 Greatest TV Ads" poll from Channel 4 and The Sunday Times aired on the former. Furthermore, many other albums with a similar concept followed from other labels, including Switched On from rival label Telstar, Classic Ads from Universal, Commercial Breaks from Beechwood Music and the similarly titled Commercial Break from Castle Music.
The series was immensely popular, and most of the volumes performed well in the compilation charts, with some even making number one. The series started to become subject to popular culture parodies, such as spoof band Shirehorses titling their first album from 1997 The worst...album in the world...ever...EVER!. Blur, who appeared on some of the albums in the series, were originally going to title their 2000 compilation Blur: The Best of as Best Blur Album in the World Ever.
The series originally featured a globe on each album cover, to represent the world, as referred to in the album titles. When the Anthems...Ever! and the simply ...Ever! titles started to appear in 1997, the globe didn't usually appear on the cover. The globe continued to be featured on in the World...Ever! covers nonetheless, although in 2001–02, it started to become absent from the album covers of in the World...Ever! albums too, as it is absent from the Air Guitar covers and one of the Dance covers.
List of compilations Original series Year#TitleRef19931The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Part 12The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Part 23The Best Christmas... Ever!19944The Best Country Album in the World... Ever!5The Best Rock 'n' Roll Album in the World... Ever!6The Best Rock Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 17The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 38The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 49The Best Reggae Album in the World... Ever!199510The Best... Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 111The Best Punk Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 112The Best Party Album in the World... Ever!13The Best Rock Album in the World... Ever! Vol. II14The Best Rock Ballads in the World... Ever! Vol. 115The Best Dance Album in the World... 95!16The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 517The Best Funk Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 118The Best Sixties Album In The World...Ever!199619The Best... Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 220The Best... Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 321The Best Opera Album in the World... Ever!22The Best Sixties Album in the World... Ever! Vol. II23The Best Rap Album in the World... Ever!24The Best Irish Album in the World... Ever!25The Best Christmas Album in the World...Ever!26The Best Swing Album in the World... Ever! Vol. I27The Best Swing Album in the World... Ever! Vol. II28The Best Punk Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 229The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 630The Best Jazz Album in the World... Ever!31The Best Footie Anthems in the World... Ever!199732The Best... Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 533The Best... Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 634The Best... Anthems... Ever! Vol. 135The Best... Anthems... Ever! Vol. 236The Best Disco Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 137 The Best Sixties Album in the World... Ever! Vol. III38The Best Sixties Album in the World... Ever! Vol. IV39The Best Seventies Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 140The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 741The Best Rock Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 242The Best Scottish Album in the World... Ever!43The Best Summer Album in the World... Ever!44Spice Girls Present... The Best Girl Power Album... Ever!45The Best Funk Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 2199846The Best... Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 747The Best... Anthems... Ever! Vol. 348The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 849The Best Disco Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 250The Best Seventies Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 251The Best Glam Rock Album in the World... Ever!52The Best Ska Album in the World... Ever!53The Best 90's Album in the World... Ever!54The Best Party Megamix Album in the World... Ever!55The Best Workout Album in the World... Ever!56The Best Girl Power Album in the World... Ever!57The Best Chart Hits Album in the World... Ever!58The Best Country Ballads in the World... Ever!59The Best Rock Anthems... Ever!199960The Best... Anthems... Ever! Vol. 461The Best Choral Album in the World... Ever!62The Best Blue Note Album in the World... Ever!63The Best Belly Dance Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 264The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 965The Best Classical Album of the Millennium... Ever!66The Best Sixties Love Album in the World... Ever!67The Best Pepsi Chart Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 168The Best Latin Party Album in the World... Ever!69The Best ...and Friends Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 170The Best Club Anthems 99... Ever!71The Best House Anthems... Ever!72The Best Love Songs... Ever!73The Best Celtic Anthems... Ever!74The Best Hip Hop Anthems... Ever!75The Most Relaxing Album in the World... Ever!77The Best Kid's Party in the World... Ever!78The Best 80s Album in the World... Ever!200079The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 1080The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! 200081The Best Ibiza Anthems... Ever! 2k82The Best Latino Carnival Album in the World... Ever!83The Best Pepsi Chart Album in the World... Ever! 200084The Best Proms Album in the World... Ever!85The Best Comedy Album in the World... Ever! 86The Best Cuban Album in the World... Ever!87The Best Summer Holiday Album in the World... Ever!88The Best Arabic Album in the World... Ever!89The Best Arabic Love Album in the World... Ever!90The Best Easy Album in the World... Ever!91The Best Jukebox Album in the World... Ever!92The Best Pub Jukebox in the World... Ever!93The Best Christmas Album in the World... Ever! (new edition)94The Best Blues Album in the World... Ever!95The Best Trance Anthems... Ever!96The Best Club Anthems... Ever! 2k97The Best Mix... Ever!98The Best Millennium Party... Ever!99The Best TV Ads... Ever!2001100The Best Air Guitar Album in the World...Ever! Vol. I101The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 112002102The Best Air Guitar Album in the World...Ever! Vol. II103The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! 2002104The Best Arabian Nights Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 1105The Best Italian Album in the World... Ever!2003106The Best Air Guitar Album in the World...Ever! Vol. III107The Best Prog Rock Album in the World... Ever!108The Best Panpipes Album in the World... Ever!109The Best Arabian Nights Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 3110The Best Dance Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 13111The Best Tango Album in the World... Ever!2004112The Best Gregorian Chant Album In The World... Ever!113The Best Classical Album in the World... Ever!114The Best Line Dancing Album in the World... Ever!115The Best Folk Album in the World... Ever!116The Best Heavy Metal Album in the World... Ever!117The Best Latin Jazz Album in the World... Ever!118The Best Khaleeji Album in the World... Ever!119The Best Christmas Album in the World...Ever!2005120The Best Military Bands Album In The World... Ever!121The Best Gospel Album In The World... Ever!122The Best of the Best Air Guitar Albums in the World... Ever!123The Best Arabian Nights Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 4124The Best Arabian Nights Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 52006125The Best Disney Album in the World... Ever!126The Best Arabian Nights Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 6127The Best Baroque Album in the World... Ever!128The Best ...and Friends Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 22007129The Best Kids Xmas Album in the World... Ever!130The Best Karaoke Album in the World... Ever!131The Best Unofficial Footie Anthems... Ever!2008132The Best Arabian Nights Album in the World... Ever! Vol. 7
Revival series (2019-present) After a few years of the series being dormant, Spectrum Music, a budget label owned by Universal Music Operations, in collaboration with Sony Music, started to regularly release 3-CD compilations under the Best... Album in the World...Ever! name as a companion to the revived The Hits Album series in 2019.