Robbie Williams has been revealed as the most featured artist on ‘NOW That’s What I Call Music’ as the 100th compilation is released.
The ‘Let Me Entertain You’ hitmaker has had tracks on 30 of the records, his first was ‘Old Before I Die’ from the LP ‘Life thru a Lens’ on 1997’s ‘NOW 37’.
Whilst Rihanna, Kylie Minogue and Calvin Harris follow closely behind with 20 appearances.
‘NOW’ has been a staple tool in the childhood of many pop stars as he it was the one place to get all the biggest hits in one place since being launched by Virgin owner Richard Branson in 1983, and has stood the test of time with fans still purchasing the CD despite the rise of streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music.
One Direction’s Liam Payne told the BBC:
"That was the world’s first playlist almost, which now is the theme of the music industry. So they kind of kicked that off
‘Paradise’ hitmaker George Ezra said: "As a teenager, I wasn’t very up-to-date with pop culture – but Now was one thing that I did know. So when my manager told me I was going to be on one, it was very exciting."
Whilst Australian pop princess Kylie thanked the franchise for supporting her career since her first big hit ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ in 1988.
She added: "Wow, 100 editions of NOW! It’s amazing to think that these compilations have been around for 35 years. They’ve been a big part of my career right back to when ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ was on ‘NOW 11’, all the way up to 2018 with ‘Dancing’ being on ‘NOW 99’. So, thank you very much ‘NOW’ for having me on so many of the albums – 23 of them in fact – so here’s to the next 100 editions. I hope to see you there!"
To mark the 100th edition, ‘NOW1’ – which featured songs by Phil Collins, Duran Duran and Sir Rod Stewart – has been re-issued on CD, cassette and vinyl has been released.
Also to show how ‘NOW’ has moved with the times, pop music lovers can download the NOW Music App to download and listen to all 100 ‘NOW’ albums.