The album became a top thirty success in the United Kingdom, where it peaked it number 28 on the UK Albums Chart, and was eventually certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales in excess of 300,000 copies. The only new track in the set, a cover of the Goffin-King song "Goin' Back," a 1966 international hit for English singer Dusty Springfield, recorded especially for this collection and served as a single in several markets.
Allmusic editor Andrew Hamilton called the compilation a "splendid [...] very comprehensive and thoughtfully chosen package [...] This is as good as it gets. Compiling a more complete and pleasing package with the same number of tracks to work with will never happen. The circus-sounding "The Happening" is a nuisance, but you can skip or program it out entirely if it bothers you."[1]
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
References
^ a b"Love & Life: The Very Best of Diana Ross". AllMusic. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
^"Part of Diana Ross ARIA Albums chart history 1988 to 2022, received from ARIA in 2022 page 2". ARIA. Retrieved December 3, 2023 – via Imgur.com. N.B. The High Point number in the NAT column represents the release's peak on the national chart.
^"Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 13, 2022.
^"Swedishcharts.com – Diana Ross – Love & Life - The Very Best Of Diana Ross". Hung Medien. Retrieved November 1, 2020.