''The Ultimate Collection'' is the second

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

album released by pop

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Steps. The album was released on 10 October 2011 through

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

. The album was released to mark the tenth anniversary of the group's split back in 2001 alongside the groups reformation. The album features Steps' first recording in ten years, a cover of the

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

hit " Dancing Queen". The album debuted at number one in the United Kingdom selling 34,000 copies within its first week. On 22 July 2013, the album was certified Gold by the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

selling over 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom. The album was certified platinum for sales over 300,000 on 13 March 2020.

Background and release

In 2011, Steps appeared on the

Sky Living Sky Living was a British pay television television channel, channel owned and operated by Sky Limited, Sky. The channel's programming was aimed mainly at women and young adults. It originally launched as UK Living yet became Sky Living by 2011. H ...

documentary ''Steps Reunion'' depicting their split and the interim years leading them to bury old wounds and reunite for their second greatest hits album ''The Ultimate Collection''. It marked ten years since the group released their first greatest hits album Gold: Greatest Hits and was Steps' first release since the release of their 2002 compilation, '' The Last Dance''. On 10 October 2011, Steps appeared for the first time on '' This Morning'', performing " It's the Way You Make Me Feel" and "

Tragedy A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a tragic hero, main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsi ...

" and announced their 14-date 2012 arena tour The Ultimate Tour. They also announced that they had reformed as a band full term. The track listing places the singles in chronological order and is similar to the 2001 '' Gold: Greatest Hits'' compilation. However, ''The Ultimate Collection'' includes the singles "I Know Him So Well" and "You'll Be Sorry", not featured on ''Gold'' but excludes the single "Words Are Not Enough" (although the music video is included on the DVD edition). The release features a version of

's " Dancing Queen" featured as a bonus track. The deluxe edition of the album includes a DVD containing all of Steps' music videos and a live recording of "I Know Him So Well" from the Abbamania TV Special. The standard version of the album featured a black cover while the deluxe edition has a white cover and both have a cardboard sleeve surrounding the jewel case. Steps have signed the booklets on both CD and deluxe editions. The Ultimate Collection: Tour Edition was released on 27 April 2012 to coincide with their first arena tour in ten years since their Gold Tour. The release includes a bonus disc of karaoke versions of the singles.

Tour

During the ''Steps Reunion'' TV show, plans for a tour started to develop, with each member of the group having mixed feelings about whether or not to release tickets. They sold out all of their initial dates which led to adding more dates. The group filmed another TV documentary entitled ''Steps: On The Road Again'', which followed the group on tour and showed the issues they faced whilst touring together as a band.

Commercial performance

On 16 October 2011, the album debuted at number one in the United Kingdom and Scotland selling 34,000 copies within its first week. The album also charted at number thirteen in Ireland. In its second and third week the album charted at numbers three and nine, respectively. The album spent a total of 16 weeks on the chart leaving at number seventy-seven on 29 January 2012. The album re-entered the chart at number sixty-four on 29 April 2012 and remained in the chart for another six weeks before leaving the chart at number seventy-six on 3 June 2012. The album was certified Gold in the United Kingdom by the

on 22 July 2013. It was then certified Platinum by the BPI on 13 March 2020. Following their return for their 20th anniversary, the album entered the chart at number fifty-one on 17 March 2017.

Track listing

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ultimate Collection (Steps Album) 2011 greatest hits albums Steps (group) albums Jive Records compilation albums