The Essential Ozzy Osbourne

The Essential Ozzy Osbourne
Greatest hits album by
Released11 February 2003 (2009: 3 Disc Edition)
Recorded1980–2001 (–2007: 3 Disc Edition)
Genre
Length151:01
LabelEpic/Legacy
ProducerVarious
Ozzy Osbourne chronology
Live at Budokan
(2002)
The Essential Ozzy Osbourne
(2003)
Prince of Darkness
(2005)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic
Rolling Stone

The Essential Ozzy Osbourne is a compilation album by British heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, released in 2003. It reached No. 81 on US charts and No. 21 in the UK. Tracks featured here from the first two albums are the re-recorded versions from recent reissues (see Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman) as well as the remixed Bark at the Moon tracks. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on 5 February 2005 with an excess of 500,000 copies sold, then certified Platinum by the RIAA on 3 March 2016. This compilation was re-released in 2009 as a Limited Edition 3.0 package with an additional disc of bonus songs that were not on the original release.

The album tracks from Blizzard of Ozz and Diary of a Madman are from the 2002 remasters, for which they were partially re-recorded. The original drum and bass tracks were replaced with recordings by Osbourne's then-current bassist Robert Trujillo and drummer Mike Bordin, as a management response to legal action by original bassist Bob Daisley and drummer Lee Kerslake for unpaid royalty fees.

It does not feature any material from 1986's The Ultimate Sin; however, the limited edition bonus disc does include two tracks from said album.