John Denver, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter and Poet Laureate of Colorado, released over twenty studio albums in his three decade career; 12 gold and 4 platinum to go along with a string of gold singles. He is best known for the beloved songs "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "Take Me Home Country Roads," "Sunshine On My Shoulders," and "Rocky Mountain High," all of which appear on his first compilation album, Greatest Hits, originally issued on RCA Records in late 1973.

In addition to songs that date back to the onset of Denver's career like "For Baby (For Bobbie)," the 11-song set introduced new versions of several of his already established songs including "Follow Me," "Starwood in Aspen," "Rhymes and Reasons," "Leaving on a Jet Plane," "The Eagle and the Hawk," "Sunshine On My Shoulders" and "Poems, Prayers, and Promises," many of which went on to become the definitive versions.

Denver explained the reasoning for rerecording some of the material: "I felt that some of these songs had grown a bit, that I am singing better than I was four or five years ago, and that I would like to treat some of the songs a little differently than I had in the original recordings."

Greatest Hits climbed all the way to the top of the Billboard 200 pop album chart while selling in excess of 10 million copies and stands as the best selling album of John Denver's career.