GHV2
GHV2 (an abbreviation of Greatest Hits Volume 2) is the second greatest hits album by American recording artist Madonna. It was released by Maverick and Warner Bros. Records on November 13, 2001, coinciding with the video album, Drowned World Tour 2001. A follow-up to The Immaculate Collection (1990), GHV2 contains a collection of singles during the second decade of Madonna's career. Madonna mentioned that she only included "songs that I could listen to five times in a row" on it. The album did not contain any new songs, but a promotional single titled "GHV2 Megamix" was released, which contained remixes by Thunderpuss, John Rocks & Mac Quayle and Tracy Young. A promotional remix album was also issued, titled GHV2 Remixed: The Best of 1991–2001.
GHV2
November 13, 2001
1991–2000
68:26
GHV2 received generally positive reviews from music critics, who deemed it an essential compilation, although some criticized the absence of new material. Commercially, the compilation was successful, peaking at number seven on the US Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Elsewhere, GHV2 also attained success, reaching the top five in Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom and several other European countries. It was the 14th best-selling album of the year and has sold more than seven million units worldwide.
Release and promotion[edit]
In order to promote the album, Madonna's recording company Warner Bros. spent £1 million (£1.76 million in 2021 pounds)[16] on its promotion, to generate excitement in the album without the support of media interviews or TV performances, as Madonna was in Malta filming Swept Away. A company executive said, "There will be no Top of the Pops appearance or interview on Radio One or in Q magazine this time so we want the unusual name to get people thinking about the association between Madonna and GHV2" and to generate extra media interest to compensate for the artist's unavailability to promote the release at the time.[17] However, in December, Madonna made an appearance at the 2001 Turner Prize award ceremony and mentioned that she "had a new record in stores called GHV2".[18]
Madonna's company Maverick Records sent a promotional megamix titled "GHV2 Megamix" to radio stations on October 29, 2001.[19] However, it was limited to airplay, and was never released commercially nor included on GHV2.[20] The songs featured, in chronological order, were "Don't Tell Me", "Erotica", "Secret", "Frozen", "What It Feels Like for a Girl", "Take a Bow", "Deeper and Deeper", "Music" and "Ray of Light". Remixes were produced by Thunderpuss, Johnny Rocks & Mac Quayle and Tracy Young. Chris Cox from Thunderpuss explained, "Basically, they were doing the greatest-hits album... and so they approached actually a couple of different remix entities to take a stab at doing a megamix, and it was kind of a cattle call, actually. They basically liked ours the best and so they put it out."[21] The remix peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.[22] An accompanying music video for the remix, directed by Dago Gonzalez of Veneno Inc., was compiled of images of Madonna's live performances and previous music videos and premiered on November 2, 2001, through Total Request Live (TRL) and MTV's website.[14][21] Chuck Taylor from Billboard complimented the remix, saying that "its quite a trip down 80s memory lane from an artist whose continually evolving body of work stands strong—even when summarized in this novel context."[20]
On December 20, 2001, Maverick Records also released a promotional album GHV2 Remixed: The Best of 1991–2001, featuring remixed versions of tracks from GHV2, except "Take a Bow", "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", and "The Power of Good-Bye". Remixes were done by Victor Calderone, Junior Vasquez, BT, Sasha, Timo Maas, and Hex Hector.[23] MTV France listed the remixes on their website for streaming.[24]