Not including albums that came out before the band had more hits, you will notice some Hits albums with obvious hit single omissions. Take 1977's The Greatest Of The Guess Who, which is missing No Sugar Tonight and Share The Land, two staples of their hit cannon. Or Bob Seger's Greatest Hits album from 1994, missing some huge hits like Shame On The Moon, Fire Lake and Shakedown, which was a #1 on billboard. And Billy Joel's Greatest Hits 1 & 2, a double album on cd and still it doesn't have Honesty or Don't Ask Me Why (depending on the cd version), either of which were big hits. And Don't Forget Pat Benetar's Best Shots, missing Sex As A Weapon and her cover of John Mellemcamp's I Need A Lover that would become an AOR hit. In each case they could have either found space on the album for inclusion (like on The Guess Who's Greatest) or omitted lesser known and/or newly recorded songs (live the live track on Best Shots or the new tracks on the Seger Greatest) to make space. Any other good examples?
Note that many of the examples you listed were authored by someone other than the artist. When an artist released a greatest hits album, it often cannibalized the sales of all albums previous to the comp. Therefore artists (or their management) were reluctant to include covers and outside material, as it would cut into the publishing royalties of what would likely be the biggest selling album of their career.
That would definitely make it more fascinating than just the songs that the rock radio stations play.
Every Breath You Take-The Singles is missing Synchronicity II and the original don’t stand so close to me
Journey greatest hits missing "Feeling That Way" and "Stone in Love". That's all I know. I hate greatest hits.
Huey Lewis And The News Time Flies... skips Jacob's Ladder (US #1) and several other hits in favor of 5 (admittedly quite decent) new compositions.
Why the title track from that album isn't on 10 From 6 exscapes (<-- sic, I know ) me. That was certainly a significant hit song.
Yeah, but the UK version had "Candle In The Wind" instead. That's a win in my book. I never understood the popularity of "Bennie And The Jets" or "Border Song". And 45 years later I still don't. Had "The Bitch Is Back" and either "Levon" or "Tiny Dancer" been used instead of "Bennie And The Jets" and "Border Song", that would have been a Helluva Greatest Hits album.
Bring up the omission of "Please Please Me" from 1 at your peril. A few Hoffmanites have forceful opinions on the matter. There's another active thread about this general subject: The most annoying "Best of", "Greatest Hits" Compilations (key hits missing, live tracks, etc.)*
Madonna’s Immaculate Collection excludes “Angel,” “Dress You Up” and “True Blue”—all top 5 U.S. hits.
It wasn't a big hit in the UK. It only peaked at number 37, and that was two and a half years after it hit number one in the US.