If I Could Turn Back Time: Cher's Greatest Hits is the fourth U.S. compilation album by American singer-actress Cher, released on March 9, 1999, by Geffen. In January 2000, the album was certified Gold by the RIAA for selling more than 500,000 copies in the US. Billboard stated in November 2011 that the album had sold 955,000 copies in the US.[1]
The album was released in United States and Canada in March 1999 by Cher's former record company, Geffen Records. It peaked at #57 on the US Billboard 200 album chart and #40 on the Canadian album chart.[2] As it was made available as an import in some countries, the album peaked at #2 on the Danish albums chart in February 1999, being held from the top spot by Cher's current studio album Believe.[3]
The album was originally released with a remix of "Don't Come Cryin' To Me," a track that was recorded during the Heart of Stone album sessions, but the track was later removed per Cher's personal request. In November of the same year, Cher's current record label Warner Brothers released the compilation The Greatest Hits outside North America, which does contain her last 1998 worldwide hit - "Believe".
AllMusic noted that the compilation "concentrates on Cher's big hits of the late '80s and early '90s" and "does not do this badly", but added that it "hardly results in a balanced retrospective", concluding that it "can be enjoyable" as long as it is not considered "definitive".[4]Entertainment Weekly gave the compilation an A for its "breadth", stating that it contains "pleasures so guilty, they deserved life imprisonment", while noting its appeal and historical intrigue despite its "brazenly artificial" qualities.[5] The Buffalo News wrote that the last song on the record, "I Got You Babe", "provides just the right touch of nostalgia and pathos for a career that has seen Cher survive the pitfalls of life and stardom".[6]