The Very Best of Prince is a greatest hits album by American recording artist Prince. 3-disc box set The Hits/The B-Sides (1993), with the exception of 'Money Don't Matter 2 Night'. Create a book Download as PDF Printable version. The Hits / The B-Sides is a 3CD box-set compilation album by Prince. It was released simultaneously with The Hits 1, The Hits 2 (which comprised the first two discs of the set) and The Hits Video Collection home video in September 1993.

• Phonographic Copyright (p) – • Phonographic Copyright (p) – • Copyright (c) – • Phonographic Copyright (p) – • Copyright (c) – • Manufactured By – • Distributed By – • Manufactured By – • Distributed By – • Pressed By – • Recorded At – • Recorded At – • Recorded At – • Recorded At – • Recorded At – • Recorded At – • Recorded At – • Recorded At – • Recorded At – • Recorded At – • Recorded At – • Mixed At – • Mixed At – • Mixed At – • Mixed At – • Mixed At – • Mixed At – • Mixed At – • Remixed At – • Remixed At – • Engineered At – • Mastered At –.

Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • Album information [ ] In 1993, Prince wanted to release, the debut album by his band but refused and instead decided to finally release the greatest hits collection they had wanted to release two years earlier when Prince instead got released. Discs one and two were released separately, under the titles and respectively, but disc could only be obtained by purchasing the full set. The separate Hits discs and the full set were all released on the same day. Most of the songs () on The Hits/The B-Sides are represented in their edited single form. Exceptions to this were ', ', ', ', ', and '. This compilation marks the first time the single version of ' was made available on.

The third disc of B-sides also featured the 7' edits, with the exceptions of '200 Balloons', ', ', 'Horny Toad', 'Irresistible Bitch', 'I Love U in Me', 'God', and ' which were all original full-length recordings from the original singles. Among the previously unreleased material was the rare live version of ', only previously released in a 1985 TV broadcast for the concerts. Also included was a live version of ', recorded live January 27, 1992, at Paisley Park with.

The other four new tracks were. The oldest track was 'Power Fantastic', a moody ballad once considered for the project of 1986.

Another ballad, 'Pink Cashmere', was broadcast before some of the shows, dating it back to 1988 originally for his abandoned project. 'Peach' and 'Pope' were more recent, and both were played live during some 1993 after shows.

'Pope' was actually in the short-lived musical, which also spawned several songs later released on. Live jams of 'Peach' often extended into the title track of. While Prince had very little interest in the project, he insisted that his longtime manager write the liner notes instead of journalist Neal Karlen.

According to Prince biographer Per Nilsen, the record company paid Prince to not get involved with the making of this compilation. Commercial performance [ ] In the United States the album debuted at number 19 on the the week of October 2, 1993 with more than 87,000 copies sold combining the two abbreviated versions, Hits 1 and Hits 2; the last two debuted at numbers 46 and 55, respectively, the same week. The next week, the album dropped to number 32 on the chart. It was present on the chart for 18 weeks. The week following Prince's death, the album sold 40,000 equivalent copies (24,000 in pure album sales) thus allowing the album to re-enter the Billboard 200 at number 6. The next week it sold 106,000 units and hit a new peak of number four on the chart. The album was certified platinum by the on September 14, 1993 for shipments of one million.

As of April 2016 Hits 1 has sold 1,451,000 copies and Hits 2 sold 1,738,000 units according to, combined, they sold over 3,189,000 copies in the United States. In the the album debuted and peaked at number four the week of September 25, 1993, the next week it fell off to number twelve and remained on the chart for 18 weeks. Hits 1 debuted and peaked at number five on September 25, 1993 while Hits 2 opened at number six the same weeks and two weeks later it reached and peaked at number five. The Hits/The B Sides was certified gold by the on July 22, 2013 denoting shipments of 100,000 units.