Nov 21 2008
Duff “Best Of” Not One of Her Greatest Hits
Hilary Duff- seen here bsckstage at MTV’s TRL finale- is heading back to television after recent disappointments in the music and film worlds. (picture courtesy of Associated Press/Peter Kramer).
Lizzie McGuire herself- Hilary Duff- has a new greatest hits out. No, that is not a typographical error.
The release actually avoids including the words “greatest hits” in its title, rather opting for Best of Hilary Duff, which is Duff’s sixth and final album under her contract with Hollywood Records. Of those six albums, just three were studio efforts, while the remaining three either were a compilation or holiday album.
Duff’s previous compilation- 2005’s Most Wanted- was a mix of her favorite recordings, remixes and oddities. Since then, Duff’s released just one studio album (2007’s Dignity); but, just five Best Of tracks overlap from Most Wanted.
The most perplexing facet about Best of Hilary Duff’s existence lies in the fact that Duff has had just five entries chart on Billboard’s Hot 100- none cracked the top 10 or top 20, and three hit the top 40 (with another, “So Yesterday,” just missing at No. 42).
It’s not like Duff is the first recording act to release a hits compilation, and not have all that many hits. Heck, some acts have had best-of compilations and never even cracked the top 40 (Bjork, anyone?) or even the Hot 100.
When we see hits-challenged acts release compilations, it’s usually a record label’s attempt to cash in one last time on a once-very-popular act, or fulfill contractual terms. In the case of Best Of, the label’s helping Duff fulfill her contract, as she was never a consistently big seller (2003 debut Metamorphosis was her biggest hit, at 3 million units).
Whatever the case, out of the gate, Best Of has fared much worse than Most Wanted. Best Of recently entered the Billboard 200 at No. 125, selling a mere 5,500 units in its first week. By comparison, Most Wanted debuted at No. 1, selling 208,000 in its debut week.
One factor that helped Most Wanted was “With Love,” which reached No. 24 on the Hot 100. Best Of’s lead single- “Reach Out”- hasn’t come anywhere near reaching the Hot 100.
Now that her music career looks like it’s played itself out, and her movie career producing more recent duds than successes, Duff is returning to the medium that made her a star- television. She recently signed a one-year development deal with NBC, which will have her fronting her own show and making appearances on other NBC programs.
Where Duff fits into the current television landscape remains to be seen. Thetween audience that made her and Lizzie McGuire so popular have moved on to other Disney Channel personalities (Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers, among others).
It wouldn’t be all that shocking if former Lizzie fans and audiences in general look at Duff ’s new endeavors and find she’s so yesterday…
