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 singles combined, unless specified. The figures include all releases upto and including 'Deep Cuts volume 3', but exclude 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

Album Facts & Feats

• 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 April 2012, 'Greatest Hits' was once again recognised as the best selling UK album of all time, with 'Greatest Hits II' also making the top 10 list:
  1. Queen - Greatest Hits (5,863,000 sales)
  2. The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band (5,044,000)
  3. Abba - Gold: Greatest Hits (4,989,000)
  4. Oasis - What's The Story Morning Glory (4,517,000)
  5. Michael Jackson - Thriller (4,248,000)
  6. Dire Straits - Brothers In Arms (4,152,000)
  7. Pink Floyd - The Dark Side Of The Moon (4,114,000)
  8. Adele - 21 (4,020,000)
  9. Michael Jackson - Bad (3,959,000)
  10. Queen - Greatest Hits II (3,887,000)
• The same source also revealed that 'Greatest Hits' has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.
• Queen 'Greatest Hits' is joint seventh in a list of the albums with the highest awarded status, on 11x 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 to receive the most recent award. 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).

Chart Positions
Highest Chart Position

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)

Lowest Chart Position

1. Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know (DNC)
2. Queen At The Beeb (67)
3. Shove It (58)
4. Electric Fire (53)
5. Starfleet Project (35)
6. Strange Frontier (30)
7. Barcelona (1988 release) (25)
8. Queen (24)
9. Another World (23)
10. Happiness (22)

Weeks On Chart
Most Weeks On Chart

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.

Fewest Weeks On Chart

1. Deep Cuts, volume 2 (0)
2. Deep Cuts, volume 3 (0)
3. Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know (0)
4. Queen At The Beeb (1)
5. Deep Cuts, volume 2 (1)
6. Electric Fire (1)
7. Another World (2)
8. Shove It (2)
9. Happiness (2)
10. Live At Brixton Academy (3)

Award Status
The following albums have all been certified at least double Platinum status in the UK:

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.

Longest And Shortest Albums
These lists exclude the 2011 deluxe two disc editions of Queen studio albums.

Longest Double Albums

1. Lover Of Life - Singer Of Songs: The Very Best Of Freddie Mercury Solo (154:07)
2. Return Of The Champions (127:40)
3. Live At Wembley 1986 (110:52)
4. Queen On Fire: Live At The Bowl (102:12)
5. Queen Rock Montreal (98:04)
6. Live Killers (90:23)

Longest Single Albums

1. Absolute Greatest (79:33)
2. Lover Of Life - Singer Of Songs: The Very Best Of Freddie Mercury Solo (79:01)
3. Live At Brixton Academy (76:58)
4. Greatest Hits II (75:47)
5. We Will Rock You (Cast Album) (74:03)
6. Greatest Hits III (73:41)
7. Queen Rocks (70:20)
8. Deep Cuts, Volume 3 (63:26)
9. The Cosmos Rocks (58:47)
10. Greatest Hits (58:18)
11. Live Magic (58:18)
12. Electric Fire (55:22)

Shortest Albums

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)

Most Tracks On Double Albums

1. Lover Of Life - Singer Of Songs: The Very Best Of Freddie Mercury Solo (35)
2. Live At Wembley 1986 (28)
3. Queen Rock Montreal (28)
4. Return Of The Champions (27)
5. Queen On Fire - Live At The Bowl (25)
6. Live Killers (22)

Most Tracks On Single Albums

1. We Will Rock You (Cast Album) (24)
2. Furia (22)
3. Absolute Greatest (20)
4. Lover Of Life - Singer Of Songs: The Very Best Of Freddie Mercury Solo (20)
5. Flash Gordon (18)
6. Queen Rocks (18)
7. Greatest Hits (17)
8. Greatest Hits II (17)
9. Greatest Hits III (17)
10. Live Magic (15)
11. Live At Brixton Academy (15)
12. Deep Cuts, Volume 3 (15)

Fewest Tracks

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)

Percentage Of Tracks Released As UK Singles
These lists exclude albums which did not have any UK single releases, live albums, and compilations.

Highest Percentage Of Tracks Released As UK Singles:

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. Shove It (37%)
8. Barcelona (37%)
9. Hot Space (36%)
10. Mr Bad Guy (36%)

Lowest Percentage Of Tracks Released As UK Singles:

1. Flash Gordon (6%)
2. Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know (8%)
3. Queen II (9%)
4. Queen (10%)
5. The Cosmos Rocks (14%)
6. Sheer Heart Attack (15%)
7. Jazz (15%)
8. A Night At The Opera (17%)
9. Another World (17%)
10. Electric Fire (17%)

Singles Highest Chart Positions
These lists show the most and least successful albums, in terms of their singles average chart position. If a single failed to chart, a highest chart position of 100 is used:

Highest Chart Positions

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)

Lowest Chart Positions

1. Queen (did not chart)
2. Shove It (85)
3. Mad, Bad And Dangerous To Know (85)
4. Strange Frontier (82)
5. Fun In Space (75)
6. Starfleet Project (65)
7. The Cosmos Rocks (67)
8. Live Killers (63)
9. Barcelona (59)
10. Mr Bad Guy (48)
11. Another World (48)

The #1 Albums
The table below illustrates the albums which were at the top of the UK album charts either side of Queen albums. The fourth column indicates the album's stay at the top.

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