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| Queen's Top 20 Best Selling Singles |
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 20th November 2018, 03:09 PM
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 BuzzJack Idol
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Queen's best selling singles on the Official UK Singles Chart
20 November 2018 | By Rob Copsey Thanks to new Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, a new generation are discovering Queen. But which songs are their most popular? When Queen emerged in 1973 with their debut album, they immediately stood out from the pack of British rock bands. Songs with infectious pomp, ear-catching lyrics and operatic harmonies proved there was more to them that your average rock band. Over the course of 14 albums (until Freddie Mercury's death in 1991) Queen delivered a near-impeccable run of hits on the Official Chart: 53 Top 40 singles, six of which went to Number 1. Look at Queen's complete Official Chart history here. New Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody - released in October - not only reminds longtime fans of the band's impact, but also showcases Queen's music to a new generation. The band's 1981 Greatest Hits is the UK's bestselling album of all time, but which of their singles finish top of the pile? Before we reveal Queen's Top 20 bestsellers, some highlights: You're My Best Friend Released: 1976 Official Chart peak: Number 7 This fairly straightforward love song was written by bass guitarist John Deacon for his wife and served as the yang to the yin of previous single Bohemian Rhapsody. The track was composed on an electric piano, when Freddie described as "tinny and horrible", but it nonetheless has "the desired effect". You're My Best Friend places 19th in their Top 20 bestsellers. We Will Rock You Released: 1977, 2000 (with Five) Official Chart peak: Number 1 (Five version) A song so powerful it features twice in their all-time Top 20, three times if you count its original release as the B-side to We Are The Champions. The two songs were designed to be performed together, and usually were, as demonstrated in their iconic 1985 Live Aid performance. In 2000 it was covered by Five, featuring Brian May on guitar and Roger Taylor on drums, and went all the way to Number 1. The original has never charted in its own right but has 262,000 download sales since 2004. Under Pressure Released: 1981 Official Chart peak: Number 1 Queen's lead single from their Hot Space album came about from a random jam session with David Bowie. Although it was a joint project in terms of co-writing and producing, Bowie didn't perform the song until after Mercury's death, at a tribute concert in 1992. The song places third on their Top 20 bestsellers with 828,000 sales. Bohemian Rhapsody Released: 1975 Official Chart peak: Number 1 The only song to have made it to Christmas Number 1 twice. It first topped the Christmas charts in 1975 and pulled it off again 16 years later, after Freddie's death. As a result, it is one of the longest-reigning Number 1 hits of all-time. As well as being Queen's best seller, it's also one of the UK's biggest singles of all time, with 2.6 million pure sales. For comparison, We Are The Champions - their second best-seller - is on 962,000 sales. Queen's Top 20 bestselling singles on the Official UK Chart POS TITLE ARTIST PEAK YEAR 1 BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY QUEEN 1 1975 2.6m 2 WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS QUEEN 2 1977 962k 3 UNDER PRESSURE QUEEN & DAVID BOWIE 1 1981 828k 4 DON'T STOP ME NOW QUEEN 9 1979 5 CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE QUEEN 2 1979 6 RADIO GA GA QUEEN 2 1984 7 I WANT TO BREAK FREE QUEEN 3 1984 8 SOMEBODY TO LOVE QUEEN 2 1976 9 KILLER QUEEN QUEEN 2 1974 10 A KIND OF MAGIC QUEEN 3 1986 11 FIVE LIVE EP GEORGE MICHAEL & QUEEN WITH LISA STANSFIELD 1 1993 12 ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST QUEEN 7 1980 13 HEAVEN FOR EVERYONE QUEEN 2 1995 14 WE WILL ROCK YOU FIVE & QUEEN 1 2000 15 WE WILL ROCK YOU QUEEN N/A 1977 262k 16 ONE VISION QUEEN 7 1985 17 I WANT IT ALL QUEEN 3 1989 18 BICYCLE RACE / FAT BOTTOMED GIRLS QUEEN 11 1978 19 YOU'RE MY BEST FRIEND QUEEN 7 1976 20 IT'S A HARD LIFE QUEEN 6 1984 ©2018 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved. |
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20th November 2018, 05:07 PM
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 BUY Phoenix on Amazon / STREAM Phoenix on Spotify
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This is a really poor effort from the OCC. Using only pure sales for the top 20 and only giving figures for four tracks? What about "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Somebody to Love" etc? Really bizarre considering they gave a full update of Little Mix's singles sales less than a week ago...
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20th November 2018, 05:20 PM
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
Joined: 1 January 2016
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QUOTE(Theo. @ Nov 20 2018, 05:07 PM)  This is a really poor effort from the OCC. Using only pure sales for the top 20 and only giving figures for four tracks? What about "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Somebody to Love" etc? Really bizarre considering they gave a full update of Little Mix's singles sales less than a week ago... Less than 24 hours ago |
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20th November 2018, 05:23 PM
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BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
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QUOTE(Theo. @ Nov 20 2018, 05:07 PM) This is a really poor effort from the OCC. Using only pure sales for the top 20 and only giving figures for four tracks? What about "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Somebody to Love" etc? Really bizarre considering they gave a full update of Little Mix's singles sales less than a week ago... Agreed, a poor show from the OCC. Such a tiny amount of sales data and only pure sales at that - Queen do really well on streaming, with those Top 4 songs all in the millionaire club. As ever with OCC lists that include pre-1994 sales, there's some errors on the list too. 'Flash', for instance, should be in the Top 20. |
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20th November 2018, 09:59 PM
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Shakin Stevens
Joined: 29 December 2007
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I imagine their sales from before 1994 are all over the place so the figures are dodgy!
Don't Stop Me Now is likely to be the biggest one of this generation as I still hear that on a night out, although BR is prob huge too. Would be iconic if it could somehow get to Xmas no1 next month!! So many hits consistently plastered through tree decades! |
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21st November 2018, 02:47 AM
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BuzzJack Regular
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14 WE WILL ROCK YOU FIVE & QUEEN 1 2000
15 WE WILL ROCK YOU QUEEN N/A 1977 This is a travesty. I also have no idea how the Queen version of We Will Rock You has never charted. I know it wasn't a single, but even so, it's iconic. This post has been edited by TomJ1991: 21st November 2018, 02:49 AM |
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21st November 2018, 10:50 AM
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
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I'd also love to see Freddie's solo singles like Living On My Own and where they would place in this top 20.
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21st November 2018, 10:55 AM
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BUY Phoenix on Amazon / STREAM Phoenix on Spotify
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QUOTE(liamk97 @ Nov 20 2018, 05:23 PM) Agreed, a poor show from the OCC. Such a tiny amount of sales data and only pure sales at that - Queen do really well on streaming, with those Top 4 songs all in the millionaire club. As ever with OCC lists that include pre-1994 sales, there's some errors on the list too. 'Flash', for instance, should be in the Top 20. They're the #1 artist in the world currently on Spotify. Could someone with Twitter please respond to one of the OCC's many tweets about this best seller list for more information? 
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21st November 2018, 11:10 AM
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
Joined: 14 May 2016
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QUOTE(TomJ1991 @ Nov 21 2018, 02:47 AM) 14 WE WILL ROCK YOU FIVE & QUEEN 1 2000 15 WE WILL ROCK YOU QUEEN N/A 1977 This is a travesty. I also have no idea how the Queen version of We Will Rock You has never charted. I know it wasn't a single, but even so, it's iconic. I just had to laugh when I saw this, was in shock. |
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21st November 2018, 12:41 PM
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 22,001 User: 53
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QUOTE(TomJ1991 @ Nov 21 2018, 02:47 AM) This is a travesty. I also have no idea how the Queen version of We Will Rock You has never charted. I know it wasn't a single, but even so, it's iconic. It was a UK double-A-sided single with We Are The Champions in Autumn 1977 but WEATC got most airplay and was thought of as the main track. This post has been edited by Crazy Chris: 21st November 2018, 12:52 PM |
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21st November 2018, 03:21 PM
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BuzzJack Enthusiast
Joined: 31 December 2007
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The OCC have now confirmed that this list is pure sales. They have now included Queen's top 20 most streamed songs in the UK.
The release of the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic has also given a healthy boost to Queen's music on streaming services. Rhapsody remains their most popular, with 50.4 million streams, followed by Don't Stop Me Now on 46.1 million plays. |
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21st November 2018, 03:33 PM
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BuzzJack Platinum Member
Joined: 16 November 2009
Posts: 7,600 User: 9,988
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The OCC need to just do combined sales for everything now, not even bother giving pure sales anymore It's pointless.
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21st November 2018, 03:50 PM
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BUY Phoenix on Amazon / STREAM Phoenix on Spotify
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QUOTE(ben08 @ Nov 21 2018, 03:21 PM) The OCC have now confirmed that this list is pure sales. They have now included Queen's top 20 most streamed songs in the UK. The release of the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic has also given a healthy boost to Queen's music on streaming services. Rhapsody remains their most popular, with 50.4 million streams, followed by Don't Stop Me Now on 46.1 million plays. That's more like it! That puts "Bohemian Rhapsody" on 3,104,000 - over 300,000 ahead of the last total they gave and back above "Uptown Funk" and "Thinking Out Loud" on the all-time best sellers list. A shame they didn't give a combined figure for "Don't Stop Me Now" (or any others) as well though. |
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21st November 2018, 05:35 PM
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BuzzJack Legend
Joined: 7 March 2006
Posts: 22,001 User: 53
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QUOTE(sammy01 @ Nov 21 2018, 03:33 PM) The OCC need to just do combined sales for everything now, not even bother giving pure sales anymore It's pointless. TBH I like seeing pure sales. They're real physical record sales not this streaming, downloading and Youtubing rubbish. See my age in my profile! |
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21st November 2018, 10:38 PM
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BuzzJack Idol
Joined: 8 December 2010
Posts: 50,972 User: 12,472
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QUOTE(Theo. @ Nov 21 2018, 03:50 PM) That's more like it! That puts "Bohemian Rhapsody" on 3,104,000 - over 300,000 ahead of the last total they gave and back above "Uptown Funk" and "Thinking Out Loud" on the all-time best sellers list. A shame they didn't give a combined figure for "Don't Stop Me Now" (or any others) as well though. Great to have an updated combined total for 'Bohemian Rhapsody'! Knew that 'Uptown Funk' and 'Thinking Out Loud' hadn't overtaken but we just didn't have the figures to prove it. 'Don't Stop Me Now' should be on 1.2m at least. |
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