Honestly, if you grew up in the seventies or even the early eighties, you didn't just "buy" this album. You basically inherited it or found it already living in your house, like a piece of furniture or a pet that doesn't eat. It was everywhere. In 1974, Elton John's Greatest Hits wasn't just a record; it was a cultural monolith. It stayed at number one on the Billboard 200 for ten weeks. Ten. That’s a massive chunk of time for a compilation of songs everyone already owned on 45s.
But here is the thing: what we call "Greatest Hits" today is a messy, sprawling thing. Back then, it was a surgically precise ten-track masterpiece. Or eleven, depending on where you lived. It’s funny how we misremember the tracklist. People swear "Tiny Dancer" was on there. It wasn't. Neither was "Levon." The 1974 release was a snapshot of a man who was arguably the biggest star on the planet, accounting for about 2% of all global record sales at his peak. That's a staggering statistic.
The Mystery of the Missing Masterpieces
Why on earth would you leave "Tiny Dancer" off a hits collection? It feels like a crime now. But back in 1974, "Tiny Dancer" wasn't the "almost-national-anthem" it is today. It had actually stalled at number 41 on the charts. Instead, they included "Border Song." Most people forget that one, even though it was the first time Elton cracked the charts in North America.
The strategy was simple: focus on the heavy hitters from the "imperial phase." We're talking about the run from Honky Château through Caribou.
A Tale of Two Tracklists
If you bought the album in London, you got a different experience than someone in Los Angeles.
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- North America: You got "Bennie and the Jets." It was a massive number-one hit in the States, so it was a no-brainer.
- UK and Australia: You got "Candle in the Wind" instead. "Bennie" hadn't been released as a single over there yet, so they swapped it.
It’s wild to think that "Candle in the Wind"—a song that would eventually become the best-selling single of all time in its 1997 version—was once considered a "regional swap."
Why This Album Still Ranks as a Gold Standard
Most "Greatest Hits" packages feel like a cynical cash grab. Labels throw them out when an artist is touring or, worse, when they've run out of ideas. But Elton John's Greatest Hits felt like a victory lap. By November 1974, Elton and Bernie Taupin were basically a hit-making factory.
There’s a specific flow to the record that modern streaming playlists can't replicate. You start with "Your Song"—the intimate, "I-don't-have-much-money-but-boy-if-I-did" charm—and you end with the sheer, raucous stomp of "Crocodile Rock." It charts the evolution from a shy piano player into a flamboyant, stadium-filling superstar in under 45 minutes.
It’s also surprisingly dark. We remember the sequins and the giant glasses, but "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" is a song about wanting to abandon fame and go back to the farm. "Daniel" is about a blind veteran coming home from a war. "Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is practically a plea for emotional survival. There’s a weight to these songs that transcends the "pop" label.
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The 17-Times Platinum Elephant in the Room
As of the last official counts, this specific 1974 compilation has been certified 17x Platinum by the RIAA in the United States alone. That is 17 million copies. Worldwide? Over 24 million.
To put that in perspective, that’s more than most modern superstars sell across their entire discography. It remains Elton’s best-selling album in the U.S., even beating out the legendary Goodbye Yellow Brick Road double LP.
What Modern Fans Get Wrong
Today, if you look for this on Spotify or Apple Music, you might struggle to find the original 1974 version. It’s mostly been superseded by Diamonds or Rocket Man: The Definitive Hits. Those newer collections are great because they include the eighties comeback hits like "I’m Still Standing," but they lose the cohesion of the '74 release.
The 1974 album represents a specific era of "Elton-mania" that was pure, unfiltered, and deeply rooted in the partnership between Elton’s melodies and Bernie’s lyrics. Bernie was writing about his own life, his own frustrations with the city, and his own nostalgic view of America. Elton just turned those poems into hymns.
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How to Experience it Properly Today
If you really want to understand the impact of Elton John's Greatest Hits, don't just shuffle it. The sequencing matters.
- Find a Vinyl Copy: Honestly, they produced millions of these. You can find a decent used copy at almost any record store for less than the price of a sandwich.
- Listen for the "Live" Trick: On "Bennie and the Jets," listen closely to the audience. It’s fake. It was recorded in the studio, and they added reverb and crowd noise to make it feel like a concert. It was a genius production move that helped the song stand out on the radio.
- Check the Credits: Look at the names. Gus Dudgeon’s production and Paul Buckmaster’s arrangements are the secret sauce that made these songs sound so huge.
The album isn't just a list of songs; it’s a time capsule of a moment when the piano was the loudest instrument in the world. It’s a reminder that before the TikTok clips and the Vegas residencies, there was just a guy and his lyricist writing the soundtrack for an entire decade.
For those looking to dive deeper into the history, comparing the original 1974 tracklist against the later Volume II (1977) reveals just how much "filler-free" the first volume was. While Volume II has "The Bitch Is Back" and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight," it lacks the sheer wall-to-wall perfection of the debut compilation.
Go back and listen to "Rocket Man" as the second track on side two. It hits differently when you realize it’s placed there to ground the listener after the upbeat energy of "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting." That’s the kind of curation we lost when we moved to the "skip" button era.
Next Step: Dig through your local record store's "E" section and grab a vintage copy of the 1974 pressing—it’s the only way to hear the specific mastering that made these songs the biggest hits of 1975.