Buying Now That's What I Call Music CDs

Now That's What I Call Music CDs began in the UK in 1983 and reached the US in 1998. The name came from an old bacon ad, and the TV commercials sold the rest.

current mood: popcurrently listening to: ♫ track 1 of whatever Now was newest

Written by Daniel Rivera · October 9, 202656k: ~1 min

In the middle of a commercial break, a loud voice announced a new Now That's What I Call Music CD and twenty hit songs flew past in thirty seconds. Now That's What I Call Music was a series of compilation albums that packed the biggest radio hits of the moment onto one disc, and the first US volume came out on October 27, 1998. The series started in the United Kingdom in 1983, where it's still a huge deal. In the US, every new volume arrived with a TV ad blasting short clips of every song, and for a lot of kids it was the easiest way to own all the hits without buying a dozen singles. It became one of the best-selling album series ever.

Where the name came from

The idea came from Virgin Records in London in 1983. Stephen Navin and Jon Webster are credited with creating it, with Virgin teaming up with EMI to combine their artists. The deal was reportedly signed on Richard Branson's boat.

That name came from an old Danish Bacon advertising poster that showed a pig saying "Now, that's what I call music." The line stuck. A pig showed up on the early covers and came back for anniversary editions.

That first UK volume came out on November 28, 1983, with 30 hits on double vinyl or cassette. It was so successful that by 1989, compilation albums were taking up so much of the UK albums chart that a separate chart was created for them.

The US series arrives

The American series launched in 1998, brought over by music executive Bob Mercer. The first US volume had songs like "MMMBop" by Hanson, "Barbie Girl" by Aqua, "As Long as You Love Me" by the Backstreet Boys and, a little surprisingly, "Karma Police" by Radiohead. It reached number 10 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum.

Then it got bigger. The first 29 US volumes all went at least platinum, and 18 of them hit number 1 on the Billboard 200. Now 5, released in 2000, was the best-selling US volume, certified four times platinum. In July 2001, Now 7 sold 621,000 copies in its first week alone.

Why did people buy Now CDs?

People bought Now CDs because one disc held most of the songs they heard on the radio and on TRL that season. Buying each single or album separately cost a lot more, and burning music wasn't easy yet for everyone. A Now CD was a safe gift for birthdays and holidays, and grown-ups could buy one for a kid without knowing a single song on it.

It was also the soundtrack of a lot of car rides. Parents tolerated it, kids memorized the track order, and every disc had one song people skipped and one they played four times in a row, usually loud enough to annoy the driver.

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The UK numbering race

In the UK, the series picked up even more partners. Universal, then called PolyGram, joined from Now 8 in 1986 and stayed through Now 42 in 1999. Executives at one point worried that teenagers would lose interest once the numbers passed 21. They didn't. Now 70, released in 2008, had the biggest first week of any UK volume, selling 383,002 copies.

Part of the fun was the number itself. You knew exactly which year a Now came from by its volume, and people still date their memories that way. Ask someone which Now they got for Christmas in a certain year, and they'll usually know.

The commercials

The TV ads were part of the experience. A loud voice announced the new volume number, then played a few seconds of each song, one after another, with the artist's name flashing on screen. By the end you had heard 20 hits in 30 seconds, and you were somehow already humming the third one.

Those ads ran so often that people could recite them. For many kids, those clips were how they first heard some of the songs. Hearing a few seconds of a new hit and then waiting for the CD to come out felt like a countdown of its own, and the day it hit stores, someone in every class had it by lunch.

Where to buy them

Now CDs were sold everywhere, from music stores to big-box chains and grocery store racks. You might have bought one while flipping through CDs at Tower Records, or grabbed one at a checkout line on the way home. They also came on cassette in the early years, back when people still made tapes.

Is Now That's What I Call Music still around today?

Yes, Now That's What I Call Music is still around, especially in the UK, where it reached its 100th volume in July 2018. The US physical series kept going until Now 90, released in May 2024. Sales fell a lot as iTunes and then streaming took over. Now 77 sold about 7,500 copies in its first week, compared with the hundreds of thousands earlier volumes sold.

Now 44, from 1999, is the best-selling UK volume, with about 2.3 million copies sold. Robbie Williams has had more songs on the UK series than anyone else.

Songs you skipped and songs you replayed

• Getting a new Now CD in your stocking every December
• The track you skipped every single time
• Songs on the CD you'd never heard until you played it
• The scratched disc that skipped on the same song
• Arguing about which volume was the best
• The ads that seemed to air during every commercial break

Your own compilation

People also made their own versions. Some taped songs off the radio and others burned their own CDs. On FriendCrib, you can pick a profile song and list your songs on repeat. Grab a crib and make your own Now.

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