Aerosmith’s New ‘Greatest Hits’ Compilation Reigns on Top Hard Rock Albums

Aerosmith’s latest best-of package, Greatest Hits, debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Hard Rock Albums chart dated Sept. 2.

In the Aug. 18-24 tracking week, Greatest Hits earned 19,000 equivalent album units in the U.S., according to Luminate. That sum includes 10,000 units from album sales. (Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums [TEA] and streaming equivalent albums [SEA]. Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album.)

Released Aug. 18, Greatest Hits is the band’s first such compilation that spans Aerosmith’s full discography since its entire catalog was collected at Capitol/UMe. Previously, the group’s catalog was housed at two labels — Sony’s Columbia and Universal’s Geffen. Columbia released the act’s studio albums from its debut in the 1970s through 1982, and again from 1997 through 2012. Geffen released Aerosmith’s studio sets from 1985 through 1993.

The new Greatest Hits is easily confused with the band’s first best-of set, Columbia’s Aerosmith’s Greatest Hits, released in 1980. The latter covered the rockers’ biggest hits to that point, followed by a reissue in 1997 that added more material through 1988.

The newest Greatest Hits is available in multiple iterations, including a standard 10-track edition (on vinyl), an 18-track edition (on CD, vinyl and digital download), a 20-track edition (on vinyl) and a 44-track edition (on CD, vinyl, digital download and streaming services). All versions are combined for tracking and charting purposes. On the 44-track edition, 23 of the band’s 28 Billboard Hot 100 hits are represented, including all eight of its top 10s.

Greatest Hits is Aerosmith’s second Top Hard Rock Albums No. 1 since the chart’s 2007 inception, following Music From Another Dimension, which reigned for a week in November 2012. It’s the band’s final album of new material to date.

The new compilation also starts at Nos. 4 and 7 on Top Rock Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Albums, respectively.

On the all-format Billboard 200, Greatest Hits bows at No. 36. It’s Aerosmith’s 31st entry on the ranking, dating to its first, its self-titled debut, which started at No. 190 in October 1973 and peaked at No. 21 in April 1976.

It’s also Aerosmith’s 21st top 40 on the Billboard 200. Of those, Big Ones (1994, No. 6 peak), O, Yeah! Ultimate Aerosmith Hits (2002, No. 4) and Devil’s Got a New Disguise: The Very Best of Aerosmith (2006, No. 33) were also best-of compilations.

Concurrently, “Dream On,” one of the 44 songs featured on Greatest Hits, jumps 7-5 on the Hard Rock Streaming Songs chart with 4.2 million official U.S. streams, up 3%, according to Luminate. The song was Aerosmith’s first chart hit, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1976.