20 Greatest Hits (United States, 1982)

The US version of 20 Greatest Hits was released alongside the UK version and is the first career-spanning Beatles greatest hits release. Released to coincide with the 20th anniversary of their first single Love Me Do, all of the songs included hit number one in the US. In the US version, Hey Jude was edited to 5:09 due to time constraints, but the cassette version featured the full length version. 20 Greatest Hits featured the first US appearance of I Want To Hold Your Hand and I Feel Fine in true stereo. As with the UK version, sound quality was a major criticism, specifically that the bass was weak due to the high compression needed to fit 20 songs onto a single disc.

The US version was also issued in Canada and New Zealand even though the track list does not reflect the same chart success; in Canada, Can’t Buy Me Love only reached number three on the CHUM singles charts, and the Canadian number one hits All My Loving and This Boy are not included.

20 Greatest Hits is out of print and has not officially been released digitally or on compact disc.

Track list

Side A

1. She Loves You
2. Love Me Do
3. I Want To Hold Your Hand
4. Can’t Buy Me Love
5. A Hard Day’s Night
6. I Feel Fine
7. Eight Days A Week
8. Ticket To Ride
9. Help!
10. Yesterday
11. We Can Work It Out
12. Paperback Writer

Side B

1. Penny Lane
2. All You Need Is Love
3. Hello Goodbye
4. Hey Jude (edited)
5. Get Back
6. Come Together
7. Let It Be
8. The Long And Winding Road

Release history

• Capitol SV 12245, released October 11, 1982