The Best of Celine Dion

On 30 April 1988, Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest 1988 in Dublin, representing Switzerland with the song "Ne partez pas sans moi". Following her victory, the single was released across Europe in early May 1988, and Dion promoted it in Switzerland, France, Denmark, Germany, Finland, and Italy. The song reached number one in Belgium, number 11 in Switzerland, number 36 in France, and number 42 in the Netherlands.

In response to this success, Carrere Records and Mega Records issued a compilation album including "Ne partez pas sans moi" alongside selections from Dion's earlier French‑language recordings. The Best of Celine Dion was released on 2 May 1988 in Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.^[1][2] In Germany, the album was released under the title Vivre with the same track listing but different artwork.^[3]

The compilation opens with Dion's Eurovision‑winning entry, "Ne partez pas sans moi". The remaining tracks were previously issued in France on Du soleil au cœur (1983) and Les oiseaux du bonheur (1984), or as standalone singles: "C'est pour vivre" (1985), "Billy" (1986), "Je ne veux pas" (1987), and "La religieuse" (1988).

Alongside "Ne partez pas sans moi", the album includes another successful single, "D'amour ou d'amitié", which reached the French top‑10 in 1983 and was certified gold by the SNEP for sales exceeding 700,000 copies. Tracks recorded between 1982 and 1986 were produced by Eddy Marnay and Rudi Pascal, while later recordings (1987–1988) were produced by Romano Musumarra, Didier Barbelivien, Urs Peter Keller, and Atilla Şereftuğ.^[4]