Hits For Kids

The Norwegian installment of Hits For Kids compilation series. For Denmark, it's Hits For Kids (2). For Sweden, it's Hits For Kids (3). Inspired by the success of the Smurfehits series, which contained cover versions of famous hits, the Hits For Kids series was launched to test if there was a market for child friendly compilation albums containing original versions too. From the very beginning the goal has been not only to find the most child friendly hits, but also finding tracks that have been easy for children to dance to and sing along with. Norwegian swear words were sometimes edited out. The series became a success and more than 30 volumes have been released, plus a few special editions. Since the 2nd volume, the series has followed a twice a year release schedule, with one volume coming out in May and a second coming out in late September. The 15 first volumes in the series were released by Universal and followed Universal’s catalogue numbering. With the release of the 16th volume, the series was handed over to McMusic ANS, a joint venture between Sony and Polygram (Universal). It then received its own catalogue numbering, starting with KIDS 016. Following the takeover, “modern” cover versions of traditional children’s music were added to the mix, but the series later reverted to focusing on child friendly original versions of current hits. Volume 5 introduced a “secret bonus track” (i.e. uncredited) as the last track and the subsequent volumes continued this tradition. Most of these tracks were unreleased songs from the album Dreams, originally set to be released in 1999, but not actually released until 2012. There was no secret bonus track on the 14th volume, but bonus tracks were included on some later volumes. These typically stood out from the rest of the tracks and were often (but not always) credited instead of being secret.