Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic says the album is "a terrific time capsule, at the very least, capturing what American pop radio sounded like in the late '90s" and "an entertaining snapshot of a fleeting era in pop music history".

Another strand of the Now Yearbook series, in August 2022, is the somewhat experimental release of a limited edition, extended play, 7" vinyl single, containing 2 tracks each from the 1983 and 1984 Yearbooks.If your song ends up on a commercial, especially one featuring a person dancing, congrats, dude—your song is probably music. The presentation of each release has evolved notably over time: from 1986 through to 2013, all double and triple CD sets were released in chubby Jewel cases which could hold up to 6 discs. It’s a big reason why Now 38’s Points Average is so high, and hence why Now 38 ranks so high (though “Fuck You” by Cee Lo Green and “Grenade” by Bruno Mars also do some heavy lifting). Towards the end of the series, 3-CD digipak sets were issued, but in 2010, the long-running title was retired, and all subsequent dance-themed Now collections have been issued under the Special Editions series.

But this has been a long article, and you’re probably ready to move on, so here are just a few highlights on an album that is 100 percent full of them: an anthemic, all-girl, four-song run featuring Katy Perry ( “Firework”), Pink ( “Raise Your Glass”), Kesha ( “We R Who We R”), and Rihanna; “LIKE A G6” (emphasis mine) by Far East Movement; “No Hands” by Waka Flocka Flame; and freakin’ “Stereo Love” by Edward Maya and Vika Jigulina. A really tough listen all the way through, Now 58 starts with a low-impact Kelly Clarkson song (“Piece by Piece”) and continues with a slew of artists’ lesser hits (“Roses” by the Chainsmokers, “In the Night” by the Weeknd, “Out of the Woods” by Taylor Swift, and “Middle” by DJ Snake) and also songs by G-Eazy (again!A further release, The Final Chapter, a deluxe 4-CD and 3-LP set, was issued in December 2022, rounding off the Yearbook years 1980 to 1984. It was very difficult choosing the most essential song off Now 6, which tells you why it’s ranked so high. I’m beginning to suspect that T-Pain has a problem interpreting the messages sent to him by various strippers. Klaxons' version of It's Not Over Yet is fab, remember that more from being on the Debenhams adverts than from the radio/music channels I think, but I still liked it at the time.

That “Incomplete” by Sisqó landed on Now 5 is the most solid evidence we have pointing to the Now religion including karma—it’s on there because “Thong Song” is not on Now 4, or any Now for that matter. The sound of a car turning signal has haunted me since the day “The Middle” was released as a Target commercial on January 28, 2018.For the 30th anniversary of Now in 2013 and the release of Now 100 in Summer 2018, the first Now album was re-compiled and re-issued. However, starting with Now 32 in 2009, the compilations began including a set of four to six bonus tracks titled “Now What’s Next. The band is on five Now albums, which is way more than other rock bands like the Killers (one time), Radiohead (one time), Kings of Leon (zero times), and the White Stripes (zero times—not even “Seven Nation Army” is music). November 2023) 33 tracks with only Kate Bush and Lil Louis missing, although Lil Louis was just a bonus track on the original CD version and did not appear on the vinyl and magnetic cassette versions.