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| Every single NOW album so far...including NOW 100 © @NOWMusic on Twitter |
To celebrate, I thought that I would give you an insight into what the NOW series means to me and everyone else, as well as some facts about the most popular music compilation series in the UK ever.
I can't believe that I am typing these words...my first NOW album that I received was NOW 47, which was released in November 2000...meaning I was 7, making me feel old! From then on, I always loved receiving a NOW for either Christmas or my birthday, as they usually are released just before these important dates.
To put into perspective how old it is making me feel thinking about my first NOW, let's have a look at the track list. NOW albums consist of two CDs. Usually, CD 1 is classed as "the good CD," as it generally contains good songs, and CD 2 is classed at "the not great CD," meaning that whilst there are some good songs on there, the rest are usually obscure songs that no one has heard of or just not great.
On NOW 47, we have songs that are guaranteed to take you right back in terms of memories, whether you were having your cheesy pop phase, listening to Steps' Stomp, Spice Girls' Holler (minus Geri Haliwell who had left by then) and S Club 7's Natural, rocking out to Bon Jovi's It's My Life and U2's Beautiful Day, or getting all your friends together for a club night and dancing to songs such as Darude's Feel the Beat and Storm's Time to Burn. Going back to the cheesy pop phase, it is interesting to note that NOW 47 also includes 3 Spice Girls tracks from their solo careers: Mel C with I Turn to You, Mel B with Tell Me and Victoria Beckham (featuring Dane Bowers) with Out Of Your Mind. The other thing worth noting is aside from these three technically appearing twice on this album, with also get a a double dosage of the most featured artist on NOW album ever, Robbie Williams (31 on his own and 5 with Take That) and the Princess of Pop, Kylie Minogue, thanks to their duet Kids, and their solo songs, Rock DJ and On a Night Like This respectively.
Since NOW 47, I have added other NOW albums to my collection. These are (apologies in advance for the long list!): NOW 49, NOW 52, NOW 55, NOW 59, NOW 61, NOW 62, NOW 64, NOW 65, NOW 66, NOW 67, NOW 68, NOW 74, NOW 76, NOW 79 (nearly at the end!), NOW 81, NOW 82 and NOW 86. I downloaded NOW 86 from iTunes but I have the others on CD.
To give you guys an idea at how popular the NOW compilation is, it has got to number one on the UK albums chart multiple times and it has spawned special editions, such as NOW That's what I call Christmas, NOW That's what I call Running and NOW That's What I Call Footie Anthems, due to the 2018 World Cup. NOW That's What I Call Dad Rock and NOW That's What I Call Mum have also been released, in line with Father's Day and Mother's Day in the UK. Not only has the compilation got to number one multiple times and spawned special editions, NOW 44 is biggest selling NOW album to date and the best selling compilation album ever. Not bad going considering it all started with Richard Branson buying a Danish Bacon poster from his future wife, depicting a pig watching a chicken clucking, along with the words Now, That's What I Call Music.
In order to celebrate the success of the compilation, and the fact it has reached its 100th edition, NOW 100 has taken a different approach when it came to its track list. Whilst CD 1 focuses on the most recent hits, such as Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa's One Kiss, George Ezra's Shotgun and Anne Marie's 2002, CD 2 focuses on NOW's greatest hits, such as UB40"s Red Red Wine, which featured on the first NOW, Spice Girls' Wannabe, which featured on NOW 34, and most recently, Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk, featured on NOW 90. Yes, some people were hoping for more considering it was the 100th edition, but NOW That's What I Call NOW is due to be released in November 2018, consisting of 5 CDs filled with 100 best songs featured on a NOW CD.
So...what's next for the NOW compilations? Will it reach to NOW 200? Well...my honest answer is yes. Despite the easy access to many songs and albums, using streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify, I reckon that the NOW compilation albums will stand the test of time. Whether it will remain on CD is another story considering how advanced technology is becoming (10 years ago, we were only just getting an iPhone...how scary!) but I know that this won't prevent people from buying this beloved compilation. I mean, it's managed to get to the 100th edition so it must be doing something right!
As for me? Writing about the NOW albums and seeing images on Twitter of people with all, or most, of them has made me want try and see whether I could get as many NOW albums as I can. It'll be a challenge and I'll probably only get the ones from mid nineties onwards but we'll see!
Em x
Since NOW 47, I have added other NOW albums to my collection. These are (apologies in advance for the long list!): NOW 49, NOW 52, NOW 55, NOW 59, NOW 61, NOW 62, NOW 64, NOW 65, NOW 66, NOW 67, NOW 68, NOW 74, NOW 76, NOW 79 (nearly at the end!), NOW 81, NOW 82 and NOW 86. I downloaded NOW 86 from iTunes but I have the others on CD.
To give you guys an idea at how popular the NOW compilation is, it has got to number one on the UK albums chart multiple times and it has spawned special editions, such as NOW That's what I call Christmas, NOW That's what I call Running and NOW That's What I Call Footie Anthems, due to the 2018 World Cup. NOW That's What I Call Dad Rock and NOW That's What I Call Mum have also been released, in line with Father's Day and Mother's Day in the UK. Not only has the compilation got to number one multiple times and spawned special editions, NOW 44 is biggest selling NOW album to date and the best selling compilation album ever. Not bad going considering it all started with Richard Branson buying a Danish Bacon poster from his future wife, depicting a pig watching a chicken clucking, along with the words Now, That's What I Call Music.
In order to celebrate the success of the compilation, and the fact it has reached its 100th edition, NOW 100 has taken a different approach when it came to its track list. Whilst CD 1 focuses on the most recent hits, such as Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa's One Kiss, George Ezra's Shotgun and Anne Marie's 2002, CD 2 focuses on NOW's greatest hits, such as UB40"s Red Red Wine, which featured on the first NOW, Spice Girls' Wannabe, which featured on NOW 34, and most recently, Mark Ronson's Uptown Funk, featured on NOW 90. Yes, some people were hoping for more considering it was the 100th edition, but NOW That's What I Call NOW is due to be released in November 2018, consisting of 5 CDs filled with 100 best songs featured on a NOW CD.
So...what's next for the NOW compilations? Will it reach to NOW 200? Well...my honest answer is yes. Despite the easy access to many songs and albums, using streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify, I reckon that the NOW compilation albums will stand the test of time. Whether it will remain on CD is another story considering how advanced technology is becoming (10 years ago, we were only just getting an iPhone...how scary!) but I know that this won't prevent people from buying this beloved compilation. I mean, it's managed to get to the 100th edition so it must be doing something right!
As for me? Writing about the NOW albums and seeing images on Twitter of people with all, or most, of them has made me want try and see whether I could get as many NOW albums as I can. It'll be a challenge and I'll probably only get the ones from mid nineties onwards but we'll see!
Em x
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