sales; Utada had previously sold over 10 million units for their debut album First Love (1999). Hamasaki originally thought the statement was a "joke", but was against the overall idea. She felt that majority of her single material for the album was "insufficient" at the time. She said, "It was too early for release. My 'best album' was something I dreamt of doing my way, but one day the company came to me and said 'your best album has to be released on this month and on this day." The date announcement was a widely controversial topic throughout Japanese and Western media, which claimed the two singers were "rivals" on both personal and professional circumstances. Hamasaki denied the claims, but decided to take more control of her future material and asserted that she didn't want to be marketed as a "product" by Avex. During the album's production and mastering phase, Avex requested Hamasaki to hand-pick her favourite singles past-2001. Nearly every single from her three studio albums: A Song for ××, Loveppears (1999), and Duty appeared on the compilation album. Knowing that the material was still insufficient, Hamasaki reluctantly re-recorded three tracks; "Trust", "Depend on You", and the non-album single "A Song for...". Hamasaki had to re-record the tracks whilst recording the material for I Am.... The track "Boys & Girls" was re-composed by Japanese musician Dai Nagao, whilst retaining Hamasaki's original vocals. The track "End Roll" was re-recorded by Hamasaki, and re-composed by Nagao. Hamasaki selected the tracks "M" and the non-single "Who..." to be included on the album; "Who..." did not feature the hidden track "Kanariya", which appeared on Loveppears. "M" appeared on the I Am... album, and whilst the studio album also spawned the singles "Evolution" and "Never Ever" before the compilation's release, they were not included. Release A Best was released on March 28, 2001 in two formats; a standard compact disc, and a digital download. Both the CD and digital download includes 16 tracks, with the physical editions housed in a cardboard sleeve. The cardboard sleeve of the album was photographed by Keita Haginiwa, whilst the booklet was designed by Shigeru Kasai from RICE. The black-and-white cover features a close-up shot of Hamasaki, with a tear falling down her face. The cover was reported by several publications at the time, many whom believed it was a visual response to the album's release and reports of