Why do artists call their greatest hits albums greatest hits when really they are all the artists songs with usually 2 new ones thrown in. Surelly a greatest hits album should be what it says, their greatest hits.
In most cases, it IS their "greatest hits". The fact is that in 90% of cases, most bands don't have enough serious hits to fill a CD single, which means that they have to fluff it out with as much crud as possible. All in the interests of "value for money", of course.
and, in the case of Miss/Mrs Kevin Spears, she's had to use all of her 'hits', since she's only had about 10 of them anyway. It's madness. First Westsh*te, then Britney...who next? S Club Juniors? McFly?
It's true that years ago, bands used to issue far more singles, and had more hits, but these days it is a marketing ploy to get people to buy singles they already own again, with the carrot of a couple of new songs. Cynical? Moi?
The answer is quite simply money. People WILL buy it. Peter Andre's Greatest Hits? All 2 of them? Still made him a mint, though.
But then, if you were the artist, what would you call your re-releases album? The Superlative Anthology? Nobody would buy it. Keep it simple - 'Greatest Hits'. It's a safe bet, as the consumer knows it'll have pretty much all the songs they want on it.
As well as the above, sometimes the greatest hits may have been written by other people whereas the 'filler' tracks will have been written (or more likely 'co-written') by the artists themselves ensuring a far larger chunk of money for them as writers.
:P lots of people do make crap on their so called "GREATEST HITS album" Im a fan of Britney but i got there by being a fan of In the Zone, They only had 4 Hits .....Me against the music,Toxic,Eveytime and Outreagous(Only released on radio since knee injurie). If someone like Eminem(not a big fan) Released a greatest Hits then Id understand GREATEST HITS!