Packaging her biggest tracks as advertised,
Avril Lavigne
's
Greatest Hits
collects two decades of pure, punked-up pop gems. With all her most notable songs in one place, her legacy and impact on music in the early 2000s is apparent. Understandably culling the bulk of the collection from her massive first two albums -- 2002's diamond-certified
Let Go
and 2004's
Under My Skin
--
owes almost half of its runtime to these chart-topping genre classics, which have collectively sold over 25 million copies worldwide since their release. These are truly "hits only," so lower charting singles from the era (like "Mobile" and "Fall to Pieces") are omitted to make room for what followed.
The Best Damn Thing
adds big ballads ("When You're Gone" and "Keep Holding On") and one of her most popular punk blasts, "Girlfriend," as follow-up
Goodbye Lullaby
follows a similar pattern with the heartwarming "Smile" and the raucous "What the Hell." At about this point in the discography, sales and chart positions couldn't match her peerless first decade, but whether people listened or not, she kept pumping out great tracks, including "Here's to Never Growing Up" from 2013's self-titled effort and 2019's "Head Above Water," a title track that was a surprise smash on Christian radio. Capping off the hit fest,
Lavigne
is sure to prop her most recent album (at the time), 2022's
Love Sux
, back into the spotlight, giving four slots to that return-to-form revival and including
Yungblud
,
Machine Gun Kelly
, and
Blackbear
in the mix.
serves its purpose as a reminder of her undeniable presence in pop music into the 2010s, making a statement for a singer who is deserving of more credit than she might receive. ~ Neil Z. Yeung