Now That's What I Call Music! (often shortened to NOW) is a series of various artists compilation albums released in the United Kingdom and Ireland by Sony Music and Universal Music (Universal/Sony Music) which began in 1983. Spinoff series began for other countries the following year, starting with South Africa, and many other countries worldwide soon followed, expanding into Asia in 1995, then the United States in 1998.[1]
The compilation series was conceived in the office of Virgin Records in London and took its name from a 1920s British advertising poster for Danish bacon featuring a pig saying "Now. That's What I Call Music" as it listened to a chicken singing. The pig became the mascot for the series, making its last regular appearance on Now That's What I Call Music 5, before reappearing in 2018, and again since 2021.