The Hits | The B-Sides

By the early 1990s Prince had already accumulated a massive body of hit singles, and his label, Warner Bros. Records, was eager to release a compilation of his best-known material. The three-disc box set The Hits/The B-Sides was released on September 10, 1993.

Two of the discs, The Hits 1 and The Hits 2, were made available as individual releases, but the only way to acquire the album of B-Sides and a previously unreleased song, "4 the Tears in Your Eyes," was to purchase the full box set. The albums were accompanied by in-depth liner notes by Prince's longtime tour manager, Alan Leeds.

Incredibly, all three versions of the album — the full box set, and the individual The Hits 1 and The Hits 2 releases — debuted on the Billboard 200 chart, where it remained for 18 weeks. Collectively, The Hits 1 and The Hits 2 have sold over 3 million copies in the U.S. alone.