More than 41 million albums sold in the U.S; the top selling female artist in history; multi-platinum album sales in 32 countries including Canada, Australia, the UK, Indonesia, Holland and Norway; the sixth-biggest selling album of all time and sixteen top ten songs, half of which reached #1. Shania Twain is a phenomenon.
Most amazing of all, Shania has reached beyond all feasible music boundaries with just three albums - all of which have received Diamond certification by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for sales of 10 million copies in the U.S. She is the only artist to have three consecutive albums sell more than 10 million copies.
Behind all those statistics are millions of individuals who hear their own stories and feelings in her lyrics. Whether her songs are bursting with attitude or declaring her love in sweet and simple terms, they resonate with listeners. Now she's brought together all of the singles that fans have come to love on one record. Shania Twain's Greatest Hits boasts 17 favorites, plus three new songs.
One of the new songs, and the first single from the album, "Party for Two," is a flirty, fun duet with country artist Billy Currington that is receiving immediate kudos from critics bowing to its unabashed catchiness. There is also a second version of "Party for Two" with Sugar Ray front man Mark McGrath. Entertainment Weekly deemed Shania Twain's Greatest Hits one of the most anticipated albums of the fall, noting, "Let the hoi polloi lust after her hits. To the bubblegum aficionados among us, Twain and husband/producer Mutt Lange are the Queen and King of Pop. That's why we're craving the new confections, which include the ballad "Don't" and "I Ain't No Quitter," a country foot-stomper harking back to her twangier days."
Though she released an album in the early 1990s with little fanfare, most people consider 1995's The Woman In Me to be the first true Shania Twain album. That's because, unlike her debut record, it contained songs that Twain herself wrote and delivered in her own distinctive way. Produced by husband Mutt Lange, The Woman In Me stunned the country music world, brilliantly bringing a catchy pop sensibility to the genre. "Mutt, as a producer, obviously gave country a sound that it never had before," Twain said at the time. "That was a big bonus, it was a big risk too, but it turned out to be a bonus. Then you've got Mutt the co-writer who has done wonders for me as a songwriter, because so many of the titles or concepts for the songs on this album were things I had already written the year before for my first album and didn't get taken seriously the first time around. But I got together with Mutt and worked on those songs with him, and he was like, 'Wow, I can't believe this got overlooked. This is great!' He gave me a new confidence I had never had before, and that just opened up all kinds of doors. He contributed in a big way to my confidence, and that just made all the difference. "
"Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under," the first single from the album made an impression, but the brash and sassy "Any Man of Mine" really set the tone for Twain's impact on country music. A runaway hit, complemented by a video that showed Twain's star power off to dazzling perfection, the song became her first #1 followed by the equally attitude-filled "I'm Outta Here," and the more low-key "No One Needs To Know." The Woman In Me went on to sell over 12 million copies in the U.S., replacing Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits as the best-selling album by a female country artist, and earning Twain a Grammy in 1996 for "Best Country Album."