| The Best of 1990–2000 | |
| Type: | greatest |
| Artist: | U2 |
| Cover: | u2bestof90-00.png |
| Released: | 5 November 2002 |
| Recorded: | 1990–2002 |
| Genre: | Rock, alternative rock |
| Label: | Island/Interscope |
| Producer: | Steve Lillywhite, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, William Orbit, Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr. Flood, Nellee Hooper, Paul Barrett, Howie B[1] |
| Prev Title: | 7 |
| Prev Year: | 2002 |
| Next Year: | 2003 |
The Best of 1990–2000 is the second greatest hits album by Irish rock band U2. It was released on 5 November 2002 through Island Records and Interscope Records. It was issued as both a single-disc CD compilation and as a multi-disc compilation called The Best of 1990–2000 & B-Sides, which included a second disc of 14 B-sides released between 1990 and 2000 and a bonus DVD. A video album of the same name was later released in December 2002.
The Best of 1990–2000 contained two newly recorded tracks: "Electrical Storm" and "The Hands That Built America"; the former was released as a single, while the latter was released on the soundtrack to Gangs of New York. The compilation also includes "new mixes" of several songs, as well the tracks "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" (a non-album single from 1995) and "Miss Sarajevo" (which was originally credited to Passengers and also released as a single in 1995).
The album charted at number one in 13 countries and was the twelfth-best-selling album of 2002, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.[2]
"Electrical Storm" was released as a single in promotion of the album. "Gone", "Discothèque", "Staring at the Sun", and "Numb" were remixed by Mike Hedges for the compilation. "Mysterious Ways" is identical to the album version with the exception of a single lyric. "Miss Sarajevo", co-written by Brian Eno, was originally included on the album Original Soundtracks 1, which was released by the band under the alias "Passengers".
"North and South of the River" was written with Christy Moore. "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" was written by Lennon–McCartney. "Your Blue Room" was written with Brian Eno.
"The History Mix" is a video montage anthologizing the band's nineties albums and tours. It includes snippets of interviews, promotional videos, and so forth. The live version of "Please" is from the Helsinki Olympic Stadium in Helsinki, Finland, recorded on 9 August 1997 and directed by Maurice Linnane.
| Peak position | |
| Greek Albums (IFPI)[3] | 1 |
|---|---|
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[4] | 3 |
| Spanish Albums (AFYVE)[5] | 1 |
| Position | ||
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[6] | 14 | |
|---|---|---|
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[7] | 34 | |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[8] | 12 | |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[9] | 25 | |
| Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[10] | 95 | |
| Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[11] | 28 | |
| Canadian Alternative Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) & B-Sides | 7 | |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[12] | 24 | |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] | 81 | |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[14] | 19 | |
| UK Albums (OCC)[15] | 108 | |
| UK Albums (OCC)[16] | 45 | |
| Worldwide Albums (IFPI)[17] | 12 |
| Chart (2003) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[18] | 24 | |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[19] | 54 | |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[20] | 34 | |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[21] | 73 | |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[22] | 36 | |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[23] | 93 | |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[24] | 35 | |
| UK Albums (OCC)[25] | 160 |
| The Best of 1990–2000 | |
| Type: | video |
| Artist: | U2 |
| Released: | 2 December 2002 |
| Recorded: | 1991–2002 |
| Genre: | Rock |
| Length: | 176:00 111:49 (main feature) 77:31 (tracks 1-16 only) |
| Label: | Island, Interscope |
| Director: | Kevin Godley, Stéphane Sednaoui, Jonas Åkerlund, Anton Corbijn, et al. |
| Producer: | Ned O'Hanlon |
| Prev Year: | 2002 |
| Next Year: | 2003 |
The Best of 1990–2000 was also released as a video compilation, featuring music videos from the songs on the album. The DVD version of the video featured one to two videos for each song on the album, plus seven bonus videos (for songs not on the album), as well as directors' commentaries, and three mini-documentaries. The VHS version of the video featured simply one video for the 16 songs from the album.
On all versions however, there is no video for "The First Time", as one was never made or rather released. In its place was put the video of "The Fly", which itself was on certain versions of the album. The DVD case had two disc slots, one for the main videos, the other for the "History Mix" DVD from the "A and B sides" version of the album. In its absence, a CD/DVD-shaped paper disc is used as a placeholder.
Music and words by U2, except where otherwise noted.
All tracks were remastered for these releases.
Credits adapted from liner notes.[28]