Now That's What I Call Music! 782290 225167754 2008-07-12T06:51:27Z Wolfer68 6204905 {{OR|date=March 2008}} {{moresources|date=March 2008}} : ''This article refers to the "Now That's What I Call Music!" series as a whole. For other uses (including the first albums in various series with the same or similar names), see "[[Now That's What I Call Music! (disambiguation)]]"''. '''''Now That's What I Call Music!''''' (1983-present) (often shortened to '''''Now!''''')<ref name="exclamation">There was no [[exclamation mark]] in the titles of the original UK series until ''Now! That's What I Call Music 18'' in 1990. With ''Now That's What I Call Music! 20'', the exclamation mark was moved to follow the word "music", where it has remained since. This is also the most common form of the name to appear on albums in the subsequent foreign ''Now!'' series.<!-- Used the gatix.net fan site scans to check this. BTW, According to http://www.anuragjain.com/richardbransonvirgin.html, the original advertising poster slogan was "Now, that's what I call music!", but I'd like to see a scan of the poster before including that "fact". Fourohfour, 31 Jan 06 --></ref> is a long-running series of [[Various Artists|various artists]] [[compilation album]]s released in the [[United Kingdom]] by [[Polygram]]/[[EMI]]/[[Virgin Records]]; spinoff series were later started in the [[United States]] and elsewhere. ==Original United Kingdom series== [[Image:Now.jpg|thumbnail|200px|Logo used on UK ''Now!'' releases circa 1984<!--## NOW 3 ONWARDS ##-->-1989]] Devised by [[Ashley Abram]] of [[Box Records]] (a consultancy specialising in producing compilations), the series took its name from an advertising poster for [[Denmark|Danish]] meat products which showed a pig listening to a whistling cockerel. The pig became the ''Now!'' series' mascot for a while, making its last appearance on ''[[Now That's What I Call Music 5 (U.K. series)|Now That's What I Call Music 5]]''.{{Fact|date=June 2008}} The first ''Now!'' compilation appeared in 1983<ref name="now 1 us">{{cite web|last=Kellman|first=Andy|title="Now, Vol. 1" - Overview|url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3nfqxq9jldse|publisher=[[Allmusic]]|accessdate=2008-03-29}}</ref> and collected thirty UK hit singles from that year on a double [[Gramophone record|vinyl LP]] or [[Compact audio cassette|cassette]]. The concept of a compilation of recent hit singles was not new; [[Ronco]] and [[K-tel]] had been issuing single-disc collections since the early 1970s. However, by spreading tracks across two discs instead of one, the ''Now!'' series was able to achieve better sound quality (tracks were often edited to fit a running time on K-Tel and Ronco single disc compilations). In addition, since the albums were a collaboration between major record companies, a greater number of major hits could be included (the first album in the series boasted of "11 number ones" on its sleeve, something previously unheard-of). The album went to number one and soon had a major rival in [[CBS]]/[[Warner Music Group|WEA]]'s ''[[The Hits Album]]'' which adopted a similar format to ''Now!'' The two series co-existed for the rest of the 1980s. The sheer longevity and ubiquity of the ''Now!'' series in the UK has led to its becoming something of a cultural icon. Many people now collect the albums as a series, something made easier by the fact that the series was a hit from the start, so even the long-deleted early albums are easy to find second-hand. Although the rate of release varied in the early days, it has now settled down to three per year: one release around Easter, another during the summer break (to pick up some of the summer's dance hits), and a third around November (in time for the [[Christmas]]). The latest in the series, [[Now That's What I Call Music! 69 (U.K. series)|Now That's What I Call Music! 69]], was released on [[March 17]], [[2008]]. The UK series continues to follow the double-album format, now exploiting the capacity of the [[Compact disc|CD]] to include forty - forty-five songs over its two discs. At the current time, the Now series are only released on CD and digital download formats. The most successful has been 1999's ''[[Now That's What I Call Music! 44 (U.K. series)|Now That's What I Call Music! 44]]'', which has sold 2.3 million copies and is the 46th best selling album in UK chart history, and the biggest selling compilation album ever. [http://www.everyhit.com/recordalb.html] 2008's ''[[Now That's What I Call Music! 69 (U.K. series)|Now That's What I Call Music! 69]]'' sold 382,759 units in the first week of sales, the biggest ever first week sale of any Now album beating the previous record of ''[[Now That's What I Call Music! 57 (U.K. series)|Now 57]]'' in 2004.<ref>Now 69 record sales [http://www.musicweek.com/story.asp?sectioncode=22&storycode=1033611&c=3 musicweek.com]</ref> [[Mark Goodier]] has been the voice of ''Now!'' adverts since the 21st volume in 1992, going back to his days with [[BBC Radio 1]]. Although starting out on vinyl records and cassette tapes, the formats in which the albums have been released on have changed over the years: *Unabridged (double CD) versions of Now were first available starting with [[Now That's What I Call Music! 10 (U.K. series)|Now 10]] in 1987.<ref name="vinyl">Said in the inlay of 'Now That's What I Call Music! Decades', released in 2003.</ref> *[[Vinyl]] editions ended in 1996 with [[Now That's What I Call Music! 35 (U.K. series)|Now 35]].<ref name="vinyl">Said in the inlay of 'Now That's What I Call Music! Decades', released in 2003.</ref> *[[MiniDisc]]s of the now series started with [[Now That's What I Call Music! 43 (U.K. series)|Now 43]] in 1999 and ended with [[Now That's What I Call Music! 48 (U.K. series)|Now 48]] in 2001.{{Fact|date=April 2007}} *Related ring tones from the Now series started with [[Now That's What I Call Music! 54 (U.K. series)|Now 54]] in 2003. *[[Now That's What I Call Music! 62 (U.K. series)|Now 62]] in 2005 was the first Now album to be released as a [[digital download]] across [[online music store]]s, and the first that allowed you to unlock a secret Now 62 area on the Now website, with features such as exclusive interviews and music videos. *Cassette tapes ceased in the mid-2000s. [[Robbie Williams]] is the artist to be featured the most times in the UK Now! series. In the first 69 ''Now!'''s he has appeared 29 times (including 4 times with [[Take That]]). His first appearance was with Take That on [[Now That's What I Call Music! 22 (UK series)|Now 22]] with "[[It Only Takes a Minute]]" and his most recent appearance was on [[Now That's What I Call Music! 66 (U.K. series)|Now 66]] with "[[She's Madonna]]". [[Kylie Minogue]] is second with 21 appearances, starting on [[Now That's What I Call Music 11 (U.K. series)|Now 11]] with "[[I Should Be So Lucky]]" and features on [[Now That's What I Call Music! 70 (U.K. series)|Now 70]] with "[[In My Arms (Kylie Minogue song)|In My Arms]]". [[U2]] are third with 18 appearances, starting on [[Now That's What I Call Music 4 (U.K. series)|Now 4]] with "[[Pride (In the Name of Love)]]" and most recently on [[Now That's What I Call Music! 66 (U.K. series)|Now 66]] with "[[Window in the Skies]]". [[Britney Spears]] is in fourth place with 15 appearances, starting with #1 single, [[...Baby One More Time]], and more recently, [[Break The Ice]] on [[Now That's What I Call Music! 70 (U.K. series)|Now 70]].<ref>[http://www.moopy.org.uk/forums/archive/index.php/t-28060.html An All New NOW 1-69 Index Thread [Archive&#93; - Moopy<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. ===Spin-offs=== <!--## THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A COMPLETE LIST; ADD TO "LIST OF NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC! ALBUMS" INSTEAD ##--> In addition to the main "Now That's What I Call Music" series, there have been a number spin-off compilations in the UK using the name, including: * Now Dance - a series in its own right, these compilations originally consisted of 12" mixes of current hits. They now focus on 7" mixes of recent dance hits, and a "Very Best of Now Dance" compilation has been released. * At least two different series of year-by-year "retrospective" compilations, covering 1983 to 1995, and 1980 to 1999 respectively (the latter known as ''Now! - The Millennium Editions''). * At least two "best-of" compilations covering the entire "Now!" series. * At least one tie-up with [[Smash Hits|''Smash Hits'' Magazine]] in 1987, called [[Now Smash Hits]] <ref>[http://gratrix.net/now/ "Welcome To My Now Music Page!"], gratrix.net. Article retrieved [[2006-11-10]].</ref> (''Smash Hits'' later went on to release their own compilations). * Christmas releases, including some classic Christmas favourites * Video releases, including [[Videocassette recorder|video cassette]] editions of many early 'Now!' compilations, and (more recently) yearly [[DVD|DVD video]] releases. * Other releases include "Now Karaoke" and the interactive DVD "Now That's What I Call A Music Quiz." A more complete list can be found at the [[list of Now That's What I Call Music! albums|list of ''Now That's What I Call Music!'' albums]]. ==''Now!'' series in other countries== [[Image:Now24.jpg|thumbnail|200px|right|[[Now That's What I Call Music! 24 (U.S. series)|Volume 24 in the U.S. series]]. The [[Computer-generated imagery|computer graphic]] style seen here is representative of ''Now!'' artwork, including that of UK releases.]] {{mainarticle|List of Now That's What I Call Music! albums}} More recently, there have been numerous different versions of the brand in other parts of the world, including: * [[Arabia]] (under the name "[[Now That's What I Call Arabia]]") * [[Argentina]] * Asia region * [[Australia]] * [[Canada]] * [[China]] * [[Czech Republic]] * [[Denmark]] * [[Finland]] * [[Egypt]] * [[Greece]] * [[Hungary]] * [[Israel]] * [[Italy]] * [[Japan]] * [[Mexico]] * [[New Zealand]] * [[Poland]] * [[Portugal]] * [[South Africa]] * [[South America]] * [[Spain]] * [[Turkey]] * [[United States]] Although there is some overlap in content between current releases in different markets, there are also differences such as the inclusion of local hits, and (for example) the single-CD format of the U.S. releases, in contrast with the traditional double-album UK format. ===Argentina=== Now has been seen in [[Argentina]], with at least 9 releases. The track listings on the Argentine Now's are only slightly different from those of the Mexican ones. ===Asia Region (Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc.)=== The first Asian "[[Now That's What I Call Music! (Asia)|Now That's What I Call Music!]]" was released in 1995. The albums contains 16 tracks. [[Now That's What I Call Music! 8 (Asia)|Now That's What I Call Music! 8]] was released several years after the 7th release of the series. The series is often called Now Asia since Now 1 and Now 2 are from EMI Hong Kong, Now 3 and Now 4 are from EMI Malaysia, Now 7 is from EMI Taiwan and NOW 5, Now 6 and Now 8 are from EMI Asia. The Indonesian versions of the albums are slightly different from the Asian ones. EMI Asia has also released Now Dance (2000), [[Now The Essential Collection]] (2003), [[Now +]] vol. 1 (2004) and Now + vol. 2 (2005). Now Asia had a rival competition from another label records, with same format, [[Max (Album)|Max]] was a compilation album with the biggest singles from [[Warner Music Australasia|Warner]], [[BMG]], and [[Sony Music]]. Max has been released in 11 editions from 1996 - 2003. ===Australia=== The Australian series is a single disc edition and began in 2002, as a replacement for the long-running [[100% Hits]] brand. The series is a joint venture between EMI Music Australia and Warner Music Australia. [[Now 01]] appeared in July of that year, followed by ''Now 02'' in time for Christmas 2002. 2003's ''Now 03'' came with a bonus DVD; the first standalone DVD release (''Now Vision 2004'') appeared the following year. After ''Now 08'' the series changed its name to ''Now Winter 2005'', ''Now Spring 2005'' etc. In 2006 the ''Now Summer 2007'' was the first double disc edition in the Australian series. In 1994 4 albums were released, all with the title "Now That's What I Call Music - 100%" then Dance, Ballad, Rap or Alternate. ===Canada=== A single CD with the same logo and full name "Now That's What I Call Music" was released in the mid 80's. The similarly themed and named Canadian "Now!" CDs were first released in 1996, and have been released annually since then, usually in the summer. This Canadian series is not officially affiliated to the UK or US series. ===China=== Following its introduction in [[China]], the ''Now!'' series has enjoyed great success, with a new compilation released approximately every three to four months. Each album contains current and recent hit singles from Chinese artists signed to [[EMI]] or [[Polydor]], and from British and Australian pop acts such as [[Kylie Minogue]], [[Sophie Ellis-Bextor]], [[Sugababes]] or [[Robbie Williams]]. [[As of 2006|As of late 2006]], ''EMI China'' and ''Polydor China'' have together released a total of 19 Now Compilations; the latest, Now 19 was released on [[November 20]], [[2006]], and reached Number 1. Now 20 is due out on [[April 2]] [[2007]]. ===Czech Republic (''Now Hity'')=== ''[[Now Hity]]'' is the Czech version of the ''Now That's What I Call Music!'' series. Originally branded under the main family name, it was changed to ''Now Hity'' later in the run. There have also been spin-offs like "Now! 2006". ===Denmark=== ''NOW Music'' is a Danish record label set up especially to release ''Now That's What I Call Music!'' albums in Denmark. As well as the ''Now'' regular series (as of November 2007 up to the 19th release), there have also been spin-offs including ''Now Big Hits'', ''Now Christmas'', ''Now Summer'', ''Now Clubbing'', ''Now Dance'' and ''Now Hip Hop'' [[Robbie Williams]] is the artist to be featured the most times in the regular Danish ''Now'' series, just as he also is in the UK ''Now!'' series. He has appeared 10 times in the Danish series. The Danish act to be featured the most times is the [[R&B|r&b]]/[[rap]] duo [[Nik & Jay]], who appears 8 times. ===Finland=== The first Finnish ''Now That's What I Call Music'' was released in 2003 where it replace the ''Absolute Hits'' series. The albums are released as double discs. [[As of 2007]], eight ''Now!'' albums have been released in Finland. There have also been [[spin-offs]] including ''[[Now That's What I Call Music Pop Hits (Finnish series)|NOW That's What I Call Music Pop Hits]]'' and ''NOW That's What I Call Dance Music''. ===France=== In France the Now series is called ''Now! Hits Référence''. There have been released Now! Hits Référence 1-7 and Now! Hits Référence 2005, 2006 and 2007. ===Greece=== In Greece the Now series is called ''Now Αυτά Είναι Τα Hits Σήμερα!'' ("Now These Are the Hits Today!") [http://www.nowmusicforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=5822&sid=a6d80cf5acb7a73524a85a6de955a5de]. [http://www.greekshops.com/q_/asp/RefID=725/ProdID=724358035025/_q/detail.htm Now No. 1] was released in 2002 and Now No. 9 was released in 2006. There have also been released some Now Dance albums in Greece. ===Israel=== Now has been seen in [[Israel]], starting in 1999, with a cover design similar to [[Now That's What I Call Music! 44 (U.K. series)|Now 44]] of the UK series and the cover of UK [[Now That's What I Call Music! 45 (U.K. series)|Now 45]] was similar to the cover of Israel [[Now That's What I Call Music! 2 (Israel series)|Now 2]] and so on [http://www.nowmusicforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=5785&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15&sid=119718d8da186977450e7122081d4464]. The first 3 albums are double discs. [[Now That's What I Call Music! 4 (Israel series)|Now 4]] was the first single disc. ===Japan=== The first Japanese ''Now That's What I Call Music'' was released in 1998. The albums contain major hits from both Japanese and British acts, like [[Kylie Minogue]] or [[Sophie Ellis-Bextor]] (in a similar manner to the Chinese ''Now!'' compilations). [[As of 2006|As of late 2006]], twenty-one ''Now!'' albums have been released in Japan with great success. ''EMI Music Japan'' and ''Polydor Japan'' plan to release ''Now 22'' on [[December 4]], [[2006]]. ===Mexico=== Now has also been seen in [[Mexico]], with at least 10 releases. The track listings on the Mexican albums are only slightly different from those of the Argentine ones. Accepted. ===New Zealand=== 'Now That's What I Call Music' has released 27 albums, the latest one released in early July 2008. ''NOW 25''has sold triple platinum (over 45 thousand copies).The series is compiled in co-ordination with New Zealand's top record companies. The series is one of the highest selling compilations in New Zealand music history (r.i.a.n.z) with multi-platinum album sales (New Zealand). ====Television commericals==== Television commercials remaning the albums sole marketing tool in New Zealand. The commercials for albums 18 through 25 are voiced by award winning broadcaster and MAI FM 88.6 dj, Doug "BIG D" Te Moni, and produced by Auckland television and film production company, "Flying start pictures" (www.fsp.co.nz). The success of the television commercials has been in part due to the delivery of the slogan by BIG D during the recording sessions for the album. The slogan, '''It's Hot''', was created for NOW 18 and delivered with an inflection that has made the slogan easily one of the most recalled by fans of the album. Variations of the slogan have included '''It's Super Hot''' and '''It's Sizzling Hot'''. ===Portugal=== ''Now'' has also been seen in [[Portugal]], with the series currently on [[Now 18 (Portuguese series)|Now 18]] and featuring a beach cover design. All ''Now'' albums are double discs, except for [[Now 15 (Portuguese series)|Now 15]] which was a single disc. The first [[List_of_Now_That%27s_What_I_Call_Music%21_albums#Portugal|Portuguese Now]] is [[Now 99 (Portuguese series)|Now 99]], as this was the year it was released (1999). [[Now 2 (Portuguese series)|Now 2]] came after, then [[Now 3 (Portuguese series)|Now 3]] and so on... There is also spin-offs such as ''Now Dance'' and [[Now DVD (Portuguese series)|''Now DVD'']]. ===Spain (Ahora! = NOW)=== Now has also been seen in [[Spain]] under the name of ''Now Esto si es música'' ("Now This ''Is'' Music"). The original series included 6 releases. Later the series started over with ''[http://www.nowmusicforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=5822&sid=a6d80cf5acb7a73524a85a6de955a5de Now Esto Es Música 1]'', which included songs from artists like [[Juanes]], [[Enrique Iglesias]], [[George Michael]], [[Sheryl Crow]], [[Tiziano Ferro]], [[Alex Ubago]], [[Las Ketchup]] and [[U2]]. ''Now Esto Es Música 2003'' has also been released [http://gratrix.net/now/#]. But due to the lukewarm success, no more albums were released since 2004. Currently have been seen in Spain ''Ahora!'' albums that means ''Now'' in english. It's their own ''Now'' spanish series! ===United States=== The U.S. series of ''Now!'' albums began in 1998, initially just called "Now" before being given the full "Now That's What I Call Music!" title in the second compilation. The most recent album in the series, ''[[Now That's What I Call Music! 28 (U.S. series)|Now That's What I Call Music! 28]]'', was released on [[June 3]], [[2008]]. The ''Now!'' compilations have done extremely well in sales in the U.S. Each of the first 26 volumes have received at least a [[Music recording sales certification|platinum certification]], and 12 albums from the series have peaked at #1 on the [[Billboard 200|''Billboard'' 200]] album chart. However, recent releases have not sold as well with ''[[Now That's What I Call Music! 27 (U.S. series)|Now! 27]]'' selling only 169,000 copies in its first week<ref>Jonathan Cohen, [http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003727383 "Ross Zooms By 'NOW,' Snoop To Debut At No. 1"], Billboard.com, March 19, 2008</ref>, compared to the 621,000 copies ''[[Now That's What I Call Music! 7 (U.S. series)|Now! 7]]'' sold in its debut week in July 2001.<ref>{{cite news|last=D'Angelo|first=Joe|title=Nelly, A Perfect Circle No Match For Now 17|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1493607/20041110/nelly.jhtml|work=MTV News|date=2004-11-10|accessdate=2008-04-26}}</ref> The lowest-selling "Now!" album to date is the special edition, ''[[Now That's What I Call Music! Number 1's|Now #1's]]'', which has sold less than 500,000 copies to date. Another recent trend in the United States have been releases of "special edition" ''Now!'' albums being released in conjunction with albums from the main series. In March 2008, the series released a compilation composed fully of hits from the 1980s, aptly titled ''[[Now That's What I Call the 80s (U.S. series)|Now That's What I Call the 80s]]''<ref>{{cite web|last=Phares|first=Heather|title=" Now That's What I Call the 80s [1 CD]" = Overview|url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:j9fexzwjldke|publisher=All Music Guide|date=2008|accessdate=2008-03-29}}</ref>, at the same time that ''Now! 27'' was released. [[Beyoncé]] is the artist to be featured the most times in the ''Now!'' series. She has appeared 17 times, including her appearances as a member of [[Destiny's Child]]. [[Britney Spears]] is second, appearing 13 times (including the special edition ''[[Now That's What I Call Music! Number 1's|Now #1's]]). ===South Africa=== Volume 1 was released in 1983 (the same year as the original UK series launched).{{Fact|date=March 2007}} Of note is the fact that the series often makes use of ideas from previous UK "Now's" for its artwork. [[Now That's What I Call Music! 48 (South African series)|Volume 48]] was released on [[10 March]], [[2008]]. [[Now That's What I Call Music! 48 (South African series)|Volume 48]] has the exact same cover as ''[[Now That's What I Call Music! 69 (U.K. series)|Now That's What I Call Music! 69]]''. As of [[September 2]], [[2005]] there has also been a NOW DVD series, with volume 7 released on [[July 16]], [[2007]]. ==Rival Compilations== In the UK, the competing ''[[Hits (compilation series)|Hits]]'' series was run by [[Sony Music]] and [[BMG]]. In 2002, it was rebranded to ''Hits 51'' and timed for release very shortly after ''Now! 50''. ''Hits 60'' was released on the same day as ''Now! 59'', but with not much success, deciding to cancel new future releases, due the failure of Hits 60.{{Fact|date=March 2007}} In the U.S., another competing collection, [[Totally Hits]] was launched by [[Sony BMG]] and [[Warner Music Group]]. The first volume was released on [[November 9]], [[1999]]. Sales peaked with the release of the fourth and fifth editions, ''[[Totally Hits 2001]]'' and ''[[Totally Hits 2002]]'', respectively, as they were the only albums in the series to reach the Top 10 on the [[Billboard 200]] album chart and that were certified platinum sellers by the [[RIAA]]. In 2006, ''Totally Hits'' was renamed to ''Only Hits'', and BMG was no longer associated with the series.{{Fact|date=February 2008}} ''[[Only Hits Vol. 1]]'' was released on [[November 7]], [[2006]], and sold poorly. There have been no announced plans for a second volume. ==References== {{reflist}} ==See also== * [[List of Now That's What I Call Music! albums|List of ''Now!'' albums in various countries]] ==External links== *[http://www.nowmusic.com/site.html Official UK site (requires Java)] *[http://www.nowthatsmusic.com/ Official US site] *[http://www.universalmusic.fr/servlet/FrontCreatorServlet?action=discography&artiste_id=257981 Official French site] *[http://www.emimusic.jp/now/disco.htm Official Japanese site (includes Japanese NOW's until 2001)] *[http://www.myspace.com/nowportugal NOW Portugal MySpace] *[http://nowportugal.hi5.com/ NOW Portugal Hi5] *[http://www.freewebs.com/nowthatsmusicinfo/index.htm Now Worldwide collection including UK, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and US] *[http://destinyxnowmusic.freehostia.com/nowmusic/home.html Now Worldwide including UK, US, Arabia, Asia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Portugal and Italy (the last three under 'Now Misc.')] *[http://www.moopy.org.uk/forums/archive/index.php/t-28060.html NOW That’s what I call music 1 - 69 UK sorted by artists (the UK chart positions of the songs are shown in the brackets)] *[http://www.nowmusicforums.com/viewforum.php?f=16&sid=2d8cf1311bfe90db297783ce3be26ddc Now Worldwide forum] *[http://forums.nowmusic.com/viewtopic.php?t=2005&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=45 Now collection photos] *[http://gratrix.net/now/ Now! fansite] *[http://homepage.eircom.net/~twilightsounds/mainpage.html Another Now! fansite] {{NOW music albums}} [[Category:Compilation album series]] [[da:NOW Music]] [[es:Now That's What I Call Music]]