Album Statistics

This page includes basic statistics and lists regarding Queen and solo albums, including chart performance, award status, length, and single performance. The data focuses on UK releases and considers Queen and solo albums combined, unless specified. The figures include all releases upto and including the 2021 reissue of 'Back To The Light', which is excluded from most lists anyaway, but also exclude 'Barcelona - Special Edition', and the two three-disc sets 'The Platinum Collection' and 'Freddie Mercury: Solo'.

Album Facts & Feats
Chart Positions
Weeks On Chart
Award Status
Longest And Shortest Albums
Percentage Of Tracks Released As Singles
Singles Highest Chart Positions
The #1 Albums

• In December 2005 it was announced that Queen had overtaken The Beatles to become the third best-selling chart act of all time, in terms of combined album and single weeks on chart. The list features Elvis Presley at no. 1 (2,574 weeks), Cliff Richard second (1,982), Queen third (1,755) and The Beatles fourth (1,749).
• In June 2005 it was announced that Queen had overtaken The Beatles to become the most successful albums chart act in the UK of all time. Queen have had 1,322 weeks on chart, compared to The Beatles 1,293, Elvis Presley's 1,280 and U2 on 1,150. Queen's total of 1,322 is equivalent to having an album in the charts every week for 25 years and 22 weeks.
• Queen spent more weeks in the chart in 1992 than any other act, with a total of 128 weeks. They spent 117 weeks on chart in 1987, behind only Madonna (127) and U2 (126). In 1986, they spent 107 weeks on chart, behind Dire Straits (217), Madonna (125) and Phil Collins (113)
• Queen are joint third in the list of the most number one albums, tied with Abba on 9, behind The Rolling Stones (10) and The Beatles (13).
• Queen's average weeks on chart per album statistic comes in at 55 weeks (one year, three weeks) on chart, per album.
• 'A Night At The Opera' was voted as the 13th best album of all time in a 2005 poll for Channel 4.
• In February 2014, it was announced that 'Greatest Hits' had become the first album to sell 6 million copies in the UK alone, which equates to 1 in 3 families owning a copy, or 1 in 4 households. The top 5 best selling albums was as follows, and was still the case in 2016:
  1. Queen - Greatest Hits (6 million)
  2. Abba - Gold: Greatest Hits (5.1 million)
  3. The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band (5.1 million)
  4. Adele - 21 (4.7 million)
  5. Oasis - What's The Story Morning Glory (4.6 million)
• The same source also revealed that 'Greatest Hits' has sold over 8 million copies in the USA and more than 25 million copies worldwide.
• 'Greatest Hits II' was ranked at number 10 in the same list, and has sold 19 million copies worldwide as of November 2016.
• 'Greatest Hits' is joint seventh in a list of the albums with the highest award status, on 11 x platinum:
  1. Oasis – What’s The Story Morning Glory (1995) - 14 x Platinum 
  2. ABBA – Gold Greatest Hits (1992) – 13 x Platinum
  3. Dire Straits – Brothers In Arms (1985) - 13 x Platinum
  4. Michael Jackson – Bad (1987) – 13 x Platinum
  5. Madonna – The Immaculate Collection (1990) - 12 x Platinum
  6. Simply Red - Stars (1991) - 12 x Platinum
  7. Michael Jackson – Thriller (1982) – 11 x Platinum
  8. Queen – Greatest Hits (1981) – 11 x Platinum
  9. James Blunt - Back To Bedlam (2005) - 10 x Platinum
  10. Robbie Williams - I've Been Expecting You (1998) - 10 x Platinum
• A single Platinum award is awarded after 300,000 sales. Apparently, according to multiple sources, award statuses are not automatic and the record companies have to pay the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) to research the number of sales in order to receive the most recent award. 'Greatest Hits' was awarded 11x Platinum on 1 January 1992, which means that EMI have not paid for this research since then. Based on the 2006 sales of 5,678,610, this gives the album an unofficial award status of at least 19 times platinum. Based on the figure of 3,746,404, 'Greatest Hits II' is at least 12 times platinum.
• Based on combined sales of albums, singles, videos and downloads, Queen are the third best-selling act in the UK:
  1. Madonna (25.8 million)
  2. Michael Jackson (18.5 million)
  3. Queen (18.3 million)
  4. Abba (14.3 million)
  5. Led Zeppelin (8.5 million)
  6. The Beatles (7.4 million)
  7. Elvis Presley (6.1 million)
• Using the same criteria, Queen are the seventh best-selling act worldwide:
  1. The Beatles (246 million)
  2. Elvis Presley (191.6 million)
  3. Michael Jackson (150.8 million)
  4. Abba (54.5 million)
  5. Madonna (156.5 million)
  6. Led Zeppelin (129.9 million)
  7. Queen (87.3 million)
• Finally, an interesting phenomenon to note is that Queen have released three Greatest Hits albums, and for each one, the next single subsequently released which does not appear on the album has been a no 1 hit - these being 'Under Pressure' (Greatest Hits), 'Bohemian Rhapsody/These Are The Days Of Our Lives' or 'The Five Live EP' (Greatest Hits II), and 'We Will Rock You' (with Five) (Greatest Hits III).

1. A Night At The Opera (1)
2. A Day At The Races (1)
3. The Game (1)
4. Greatest Hits I (1)
5. A Kind Of Magic (1)
6. The Miracle (1)
7. Innuendo (1)
8. Greatest Hits II (1)
9. Made In Heaven (1)
10. Sheer Heart Attack (2)
11. Jazz (2)
12. The Works (2)
13. Live At Wembley 1986 (2)

1. Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know (DNC)
2. Solo Singles 1 (Roger Taylor) (DNC)
3. Solo Singles 2 (Roger Taylor) (DNC)
4. Singles 1 (The Cross) (DNC)
5. Singles 2 (The Cross) (DNC)
6. Deep Cuts 2 (175)
7. Deep Cuts 3 (155)
8. Deep Cuts 1 (92)
9. Fun On Earth (69)
10. Queen At The Beeb (67)

1. Greatest Hits I (490)
2. Greatest Hits II (112)
3. The Works (93)
4. A Kind Of Magic (63)
5. A Night At The Opera (50)
6. Live Magic (43)
7. Sheer Heart Attack (42)
8. Absolute Greatest (39)
9. Innuendo (37)
10. The Miracle (32)

In addition to the albove, 'The Platinum Collection', which boxes together the three 'Greatest Hits' albums, has spent 116 weeks on chart.

1. Deep Cuts, volume 2 (0)
2. Deep Cuts, volume 3 (0)
3. Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know (0)
4. Solo Singles 1 (Roger Taylor) (0)
5. Solo Singles 2 (Roger Taylor) (0)
6. Singles 1 (The Cross) (0)
7. Singles 2 (The Cross) (0)
8. Queen At The Beeb (1)
9. Deep Cuts, volume 1 (1)
10. Electric Fire (1)
11. Fun On Earth (1)
12. Messenger Of The Gods (1)
13. Golden Days (1)

1. Greatest Hits I (11 times officially, 19 times unofficially)
2. Greatest Hits II (8 times officially, 12 times unofficially)
3. Made In Heaven (5 times)
4. Absolute Greatest (2 times)
5. A Kind Of Magic (2 times)
6. The Freddie Mercury Album (2 times)

In addition to the albove, 'The Platinum Collection', which boxes together the three 'Greatest Hits' albums, has achieved at least 3 times Platinum.

1. Lover Of Life - Singer Of Songs: The Very Best Of Freddie Mercury Solo (154:07)
2. Live At The Rainbow '74 (144:41)
3. Forever (135:34)
4. Return Of The Champions (127:40)
5. Live At Wembley 1986 (110:52)
6. Queen On Fire - Live At The Bowl (102:12)
7. On Air (1:01:06)
8. Queen Rock Montreal (98:04)
9. Messenger Of The Gods (97:37)
10. Live Killers (90:23)

1. Live At The Rainbow '74 (79:41)
2. Absolute Greatest (79:33)
3. Lover Of Life - Singer Of Songs: The Very Best Of Freddie Mercury Solo (79:01)
4. Solo Singles 1 (Roger Taylor) (77:15)
5. Live At The Brixton Academy (76:58)
6. Greatest Hits II (75:47)
7. Forever (75:44)
8. We Will Rock You (Cast Album) (74:03)
9. Greatest Hits III (73:41)
10. A Night At The Odeon (73:21)

1. Starfleet Project (28:01)
2. Flash Gordon (35:11)
3. The Game (35:39)
4. The Works (37:36)
5. Queen At The Beeb (37:38)
6. Queen (38:36)
7. Sheer Heart Attack (38:58)
8. News Of The World (39:20)
9. Barcelona (39:58)
10. Fun In Space (40:12)

1. Live At The Rainbow '74 (41)
2. Forever (36)
3. Lover Of Life - Singer Of Songs: The Very Best Of Freddie Mercury Solo (35)
4. Live At Wembley 1986 (28)
5. Queen Rock Montreal (28)
6. Return Of The Champions (27)
7. Queen On Fire - Live At The Bowl (25)
8. Messenger Of The Gods (25)
9. On Air (24)
10. Live Killers (22)

1. Live At The Rainbow '74 (24)
2. We Will Rock You (Cast Album) (24)
3. Furia (22)
4. Absolute Greatest (20)
5. Forever (20)
6. Lover Of Life - Singer Of Songs: The Very Best Of Freddie Mercury Solo (20)
7. Flash Gordon (18)
8. Queen Rocks (18)
9. Greatest Hits (17)
10. Greatest Hits II (17)
11. Greatest Hits III (17)
12. Solo Singles 1 (Roger Taylor) (17)
13. Solo Singles 2 (Roger Taylor) (17)

1. Starfleet Project (3)
2. Shove It (8)
3. Barcelona (8)
4. Queen At The Beeb (8)
5. The Works (9)
6. A Kind Of Magic (9)
7. Queen (10)
8. A Day At The Races (10)
9. The Game (10)
10. Fun In Space (10)
11. Strange Frontier (10)
12. The Miracle (10)
13. Blue Rock (10)

1. The Miracle (50%)
2. The Works (44%)
3. A Kind Of Magic (44%)
4. Made In Heaven (42%)
5. Back To The Light (42%)
6. The Game (40%)
7. Golden Days (38%)
8. Shove It (37%)
9. Barcelona (37%)
10. Hot Space (36%)

1. Fun On Earth (0%)
2. Solo Singles 1 (Roger Taylor) (0%)
3. Solo Singles 2 (Roger Taylor) (0%)
4. Singles 1 (The Cross) (0%)
5. Singles 2 (The Cross) (0%)
6. Flash Gordon (6%)
7. Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know (8%)
8. Queen II (9%)
9. Queen (10%)
10. The Cosmos Rocks (14%)
11. Sheer Heart Attack (15%)
12. Jazz (15%)
13. A Night At The Opera (17%)
14. Another World (17%)
15. Electric Fire (17%)

1. A Night At The Opera (4)
2. Sheer Heart Attack (6)
3. Greatest Hits I (8)
4. The Game (9)
5. The Works (9)
6. Greatest Hits III (9)
7. Queen II (10)
8. Jazz (10)
9. Flash Gordon (10)
10. Greatest Hits II (10)
11. Made In Heaven (10)

1. Fun On Earth (no singles released)
2. Solo Singles 1 (Roger Taylor) (no singles released)
3. Solo Singles 2 (Roger Taylor) (no singles released)
4. Singles 1 (The Cross) (no singles released)
5. Singles 2 (The Cross) (no singles released)
6. Queen (did not chart)
7. Forever (did not chart)
8. Shove It (85)
9. Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know (85)
10. Strange Frontier (82)
11. Fun In Space (75)
12. The Cosmos Rocks (67)
13. Starfleet Project (65)
14. Live Killers (63)
15. Barcelona (59)

Return to top | Legal Stuff | No Menu? | Bookmarkable link | File last modified: 31 December 2023