| Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980–1995) | |
| Type: | greatest |
| Artist: | Def Leppard |
| Cover: | Def Leppard - Vault Greatest Hits (1980–1995).jpg |
| Released: | [1] |
| Recorded: | 1981–1995 |
| Label: | Mercury |
| Prev Title: | Retro Active |
| Prev Year: | 1993 |
| Next Title: | Slang |
| Next Year: | 1996 |
Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980–1995) is the first greatest hits album and the second compilation album by English hard rock band Def Leppard. The album was originally released in the band's home country on 23 October 1995 by Mercury Records. It was released in North America a week later on 31 October by the same label. Vault went on to be certified gold in four countries, platinum in three and multi-platinum in two. In the US, the album is currently certified 5× platinum by the RIAA, and in June 2011 it topped the five million mark in sales there.[2] It won Metal Edge magazine's 1995 Readers' Choice Award for "Best Hits or Compilation Album."[3]
The album featured one newly recorded song, "When Love & Hate Collide", which was released as a single on 2 October 1995.
The collection's track listing varied by region, although none of the releases had any songs from the band's 1980 debut album, On Through the Night on the track listings.
On 23 October 1995, to promote the release of Vault, the band played acoustic shows on three continents in one day: Tangiers, Morocco in Africa, London, England, UK in Europe, and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in North America. The feat also made the Guinness Book of World Records.
One new track was recorded for this collection, "When Love & Hate Collide", previously a leftover from the Adrenalize recording sessions. The ballad became the band's joint highest-charting single in the UK, along with 1992's "Let's Get Rocked", hitting No. 2 in the fall of 1995.
The songs are the original album versions, with the following exceptions:
The art direction and design for Vault was handled by Exquisite Corpse with photography by Cythia Levine and Ross Halfin. Most covers of the album have a picture of an actual vault,[4] while a limited edition two disc collection has a picture of a green eye with a vault inside the eye.[5] The CD liner notes featured a three-page summary of the band's history by Peter Mensch, who appeared in two of the group's music videos. Although not featured on the North American release, other liner notes feature a note signed by the band members talking about the group's upcoming album, Slang.[6]
Although the releases of Vault had most of the same songs, there were some differences between the releases.
Exclusive to the North American release of Vault:
Exclusive to the European release of Vault:
Exclusive to the Japanese release of Vault:
"Foolin'" does not appear on the European release, but does appear on the North American release and the Japanese release.
The Japanese release features the first official release of the song "Can't Keep Away From the Flame," a song which was later released as a B-side on some of the "Slang" singles. Years later it was included on the deluxe edition of Slang.
The following people contributed to Vault:
| Peak position | |
| French Compilations[7] | 24 |
|---|---|
| Japanese Albums (Oricon)[8] | 9 |
| Position | ||
| UK Albums (OCC)[9] | 30 | |
|---|---|---|
| Chart (1996) | Position | |
| US Billboard 200[10] | 72 | |
| Chart (2002) | Position | |
| Canadian Metal Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)[11] | 44 | |
| Chart (2018) | Position | |
| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[12] | 80 |