Erasure Compilations Compared: Pop!, Hits!, Total Pop! and Always

For the early singles: Pop! The First 20 Hits. For a one-CD introduction covering more years: the standard 2015 Always. For a longer singles collection: Total Pop! The First 40 Hits.

These collections overlap, but their track lists and formats differ. Choose the songs and format you want before deciding which cover belongs on your shelf.

Pop! The First 20 Hits: the early singles in order

Pop! arrived in November 1992, collecting the singles from “Who Needs Love Like That” through the Chorus period and “Take a Chance on Me.” It reached number one in the UK.

This is the straightforward choice if “Sometimes,” “A Little Respect,” “Chains of Love,” and “Blue Savannah” are the songs you came for. Its twenty tracks follow the early run in sequence. It stops before “Always,” so choose a later collection if that song is essential.

Hits! The Very Best of Erasure: a one-disc 2003 selection

Hits! brings “Always,” “In My Arms,” and “Solsbury Hill” into the selection. It gives up some of Pop!’s early singles to fit later material on one disc. If you find a well-priced copy, compare its track list with Always and pick the one with more of your favorites.

Total Pop! The First 40 Hits: forty singles across two CDs

Total Pop! carries the singles sequence further, across two discs in its standard edition. Choose it when twenty songs leave too much out and you want to follow the changes from one album period to the next.

Expanded versions add material beyond the forty singles. Check the edition’s disc count and contents before paying extra; the standard set is enough if the singles are what you want.

Always: check whether you are buying the CD or vinyl edition

The 2015 Always: The Very Best of Erasure came as a twenty-track standard CD and a three-CD deluxe set. The standard selection covers the years from “Who Needs Love Like That” to “Elevation” and includes “Sometimes 2015.” The deluxe set adds two remix discs.

The 2023 double LP changes the selection, bringing “Love You to the Sky” and “Hey Now (Think I Got a Feeling)” into its final stretch. It is a separate buying choice, with a different track list from the 2015 CD.

Which one fits?

• Early singles, in release order: Pop!
• A one-CD introduction including “Always”: the standard 2015 Always, or Hits! if you prefer its track list.
• A longer singles history on CD: the standard two-disc Total Pop!
• A broader hits selection on vinyl: the 2023 double-LP Always.
• Extra remixes: check the three-CD 2015 Always deluxe set.
• A first studio album instead: The Innocents.

Sources: official Erasure release pages for Pop! and Always, the 2023 vinyl announcement, and the sources on the linked album pages.