16 Biggest Hits (Merle Haggard album)

16 Biggest Hits
Greatest hits album by Merle Haggard
Released	July 14, 1998
Genre	Country
Length	50:46
Label	Legacy Recordings
Merle Haggard chronology
1996 (1996) 16 Biggest Hits (1998) For the Record, 43 Legendary Hits (1999)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

16 Biggest Hits is a 1998 Merle Haggard compilation album. It is part of a series of similar 16 Biggest Hits albums released by Legacy Recordings.

All songs except "Big City", "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)" and "Going Where the Lonely Go" are re-recordings from October 1994.

The album was certified Gold in 2002 by the RIAA.^[2] It has sold 955,000 copies in the US as of May 2013.^[3]

Track listing

1. "Swinging Doors" (Merle Haggard) – 2:50
2. "The Bottle Let Me Down" (Haggard) – 2:42
3. "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive" (Casey Anderson, Liz Anderson) – 3:09
4. "Branded Man" (Haggard) – 3:09
5. "Sing Me Back Home" (Haggard) – 2:50
6. "Mama Tried" (Haggard) – 2:10
7. "Hungry Eyes" (Haggard) – 3:37
8. "Workin' Man Blues" (Haggard) – 2:41
9. "Okie from Muskogee" (Roy Edward Burris, Haggard) – 2:41
10. "The Fightin' Side of Me" (Haggard) – 2:52
11. "Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man)" (Haggard) – 3:39
12. "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink" (Haggard) – 3:40
13. "Big City" (Haggard, Dean Holloway) – 3:00
14. "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)" (Haggard) – 4:14
15. "Going Where the Lonely Go" (Haggard, Holloway) – 4:50
16. "Silver Wings" (Haggard) – 2:47

Personnel

• Merle Haggard – vocals, guitar

The Strangers:

• Roy Nichols – lead guitar
• Norman Hamlet – steel guitar
• Tiny Moore – mandolin, fiddle
• Eldon Shamblin– guitar
• Ralph Mooney – steel guitar
• Gene Price – bass
• Gordon Terry - fiddle
• Ronnie Reno – guitar
• Bobby Wayne – guitar
• Marcia Nichols – guitar
• Clint Strong – guitar
• Mark Yeary – piano
• George French – piano
• Dennis Hromek – bass
• James Tittle – bass
• Johnny Meeks - bass
• Jerry Ward – bass
• Wayne Durham – bass
• Biff Adam – drums
• Eddie Burris – drums
• Don Markham – saxophone
• Jimmy Belkin – fiddle
• Gary Church – horns

Chart performance

16 Biggest Hits peaked at number 55 on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums chart in 1999.^[4]

Chart (1998–1999)	Peak position
US Billboard Top Country Albums	55
Chart (2016)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[5]	167

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[2]	Gold	500,000^^
^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

1. https://www.allmusic.com/album/r366311
2. "American album certifications – Merle Haggard – 16 Biggest Hits". Recording Industry Association of America.
3. Paul Grein (May 8, 2013). "Week Ending May 5, 2013. Albums: Kenny Closes In On Garth". Yahoo Music (Chart Watch). Retrieved May 16, 2013.
4. "Chart listing for 16 Biggest Hits". Allmusic. Retrieved 21 September 2010.
5. "Merle Haggard Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.