"Best of Def Leppard" is a compilation album featuring some of the band's most popular songs, reaching No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart. It supplements the 1995 release "Vault: Def Leppard Greatest Hits (1980–1995)" as a definitive collection of their work. The first disc of "Best of" essentially mirrors the Vault (UK Version) compilation with the addition of "Long Long Way to Go" from the album "X." A limited edition 2-CD version was released in a slipcase, including more obscure fan-favorite tracks on the second disc, with a bonus cover of The Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset" in the UK, hinting at the band's upcoming '70s cover album "Yeah!"
While "Best of" was released in various territories, it did not appear in North America, where "Rock of Ages: The Definitive Collection" was issued instead. The single-CD edition features material from "High 'n' Dry" (1981) to "X" (2002), focusing on the band's late '80s and early '90s hits. The track distribution includes a song from "High 'n' Dry," two from "Pyromania," six from "Hysteria," four from "Adrenalize," two from "Retro Active," and one from "X," along with "When Love & Hate Collide," the only new song from "Vault."
The 2-CD version offers a broader overview of the band's career, starting with songs from "On Through the Night" (1980) and including tracks from "Slang" (1996) and "Euphoria" (1999), culminating with the new cover of "Waterloo Sunset." The album primarily features the original album versions of the songs, with a few exceptions, such as the video edit of "Pour Some Sugar on Me," the single edit of "Rocket," and a slightly earlier fade-out for "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" compared to its original version.
