Review: Def Leppard – Greatest Hits

UMC – Mercury – June 12^th, 2026

Reviewer – Jason Hopper

I am a decades long, HUGE Def Leppard fan who has loved nearly every album in their catalog, including the highly divisive ‘Slang‘. That said, I was skeptical about reviewing ANOTHER greatest hits album, this being their fifth. With their last one released in 2018, the question one asks is, “Why?”

If you guessed cash grab, then you would be correct. This is a vinyl only issue with standard black vinyl as a pre-order and a special edition blood red marbled vinyl featuring 2026 tour artwork to be sold exclusively on their tour. The set is claimed to be newly mastered, but I believe they say this every time they put together a compilation. It sounds as great as you would expect it to sound, but no different than what I already have from the band. The original albums, prior greatest hits, and remastered anniversary editions make this new release pointless for a long-time fan like me.

A few questionable decisions I wish to point out about this release. First, the exclusion of one particular album. ‘Adrenalize‘ is their third best-selling album, and not one song from that release. Half of this collection is songs from ‘Hysteria‘. They couldn’t squeeze in one from that album? Second, is ‘When Love and Hate Collide’ a bigger hit than ‘Let’s Get Rocked’ or even ‘Two Steps Behind’? It’s a great track but an odd outlier amongst the other songs.

Unless you’re a completionist or wish to have newly mastered tracks of old songs on vinyl, this set is unnecessary. We all know and have these songs already, sometimes in multiple formats. A great band realizing their time on the road is finite and looking to make as much money as possible before they retire.