Only the Hits

Billie Jo Spears had a series of top ten and top 20 songs on the North American country charts. This included the chart-topping "Blanket on the Ground", along with "What I've Got in Mind" and "If You Want Me". Her singles would find popularity in the United Kingdom, where Spears often devoted more of her career towards. Her final top 20 single was "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad",[3] which was included on Only the Hits. The album would be Spears's final with her long-time record label. The project was recorded at Sound Emporium, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Sessions were held in July 1980 and were produced by Larry Butler.[4]

Only the Hits consisted of ten cover songs.[1] The album was named for the fact the original recordings had been hits for other music artists.[4] Seven of the project's songs had originally had been top ten or number one singles on the Billboard country chart: Anne Murray's "Snowbird", Don Williams's "Lay Down Beside Me", Larry Gatlin's "Broken Lady", Tammy Wynette's "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad", Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces" and Lynn Anderson's "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden".[5] Also featured were songs that had originally been top ten Billboard pop singles: the Eagles's "Desperado", Ray Stevens's "Everything Is Beautiful", Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and Jackie DeShannon's "What the World Needs Now Is Love".[6]

Only the Hits was released in February 1981 on Liberty Records. It would be Spears's final album with the label. It was distributed as a vinyl LP and a cassette.[4] In Europe, it was titled as Special Songs and included two additional songs previously released on Spears's earlier studio albums.[7][8] The album was given a negative review from Billboard magazine in 1981. "What a remarkable voice like Spears' is doing amid this garland of pop perennials is a mystery. It's like using a chainsaw to slice white bread," they remarked.[2] Two singles were included on the album. The first was Spears's cover of "Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad", which was released as a single in November 1980.[9] It spent 13 weeks on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs, reaching number 13 in March 1981. It was Spears's final top 20 single there.[10] Spears's cover of "What the World Needs Now Is Love" was released as the second single in March 1981.[11] The song reached number 58 on the Billboard country chart later that year.[5]

All credits are adapted from the liner notes of Only the Hits.[4]