Since Kim left RAK Records, a truckload of compilation albums has been released by EMI, who own the RAK back catalogue. The first one was The Very Best of Kim Wilde, released in 1984, supported in France by the release of Bitter Is Better on single.
This album was re-released in 1993 as Love Blonde: the Best of Kim Wilde with three bonus tracks by EMI France. This was in the same year as the MCA compilation The Singles Collection 1981-1993, which had to be pushed back to the summer of 1993 because of this.
In 1985, EMI France released their own version of The very best of Kim Wilde as Disque d’Or, and also a compilation called Top 16, the only European compilation to include the track Bitter Is Better up to that point. Also released in France only was the compilation tape 1 Heure de Musique.
In 1995 and 1996 EMI released no less than five different compilations (The Gold Collection, 20 Classic Tracks, The Best of Kim Wilde, Premium Gold Collection and the Centenary collection), plus the three-CD box set The Originals, containing all three Kim Wilde albums from her EMI period.
Some of these compilations were released by the Disky label. They also released the compilation album More of the Best in 1998. It was the first in a long line of compilation album to actually contain a track that hadn’t been released commercially on CD before, Shane. Another compilation to contain two new CD tracks was also released in 1998: Collection. Disky followed this up pretty quickly with their own Collection, a limited release combining ‘The Best of Kim Wilde’ and ‘More of the Best’ in one double CD set.
Two more Disky compilations followed, a re-release of The Best of Kim Wilde and The Best of the 80’s.
EMI then set up the new label EMI Plus to release The Divine and Rough & Tough in 2000 and 2001 respectively.
A separate category altogether is formed by Golden Collection, a compilation album from Russian origin, but listing EMI UK Ltd. as manufacturer. It is an illegal release.
Universal, the record company owning Kim’s MCA material, released two compilations in 2001: You Keep Me Hangin’ On in Germany and The Collection in the UK.
In the autumn of 2001, EMI released, for the first time with the cooperation of Kim Wilde herself, The Very Best of Kim Wilde, featuring one new track and two new remixes.
In 2005, two Disky cd’s followed: Ultra Selection and the imaginatively named Kim Wilde.
In 2006, EMI released The Hits Collection in the UK. This was re-released on the European mainland as The Hits later in the same year.
In 2007, Disky released The Collection, whereas Universal released the double cd The Best of Kim Wilde: Say You Really Want Me.
In 2008, Woolworths released a budget version of ‘The Hits Collection’. The same year, EMI released two compilation albums: The Essential and Platinum.
The 2009 compilation Heroes of Music was released as a digital download only.
In 2011, a 6 cd boxset with compilation albums of six different artists – one of which was Kim – was released, entitled Eighties: 6×6. Later in the year, a re-release of Essential followed. In February 2012, EMI released The Collection, the first compilation album to include material from Kim Wilde’s 2006 album Never Say Never.
A more or less definitive compilation album was released in 2021: Pop Don’t Stop: Greatest Hits.
You can find a full alphabetical listing of compilation albums below, with links to descriptions elsewhere in the Encyclopedia.
