Posted February 10, 201411 yr Queen's Greatest Hits passes 6 million UK sales 10/02/2014 By Lauren Kreisler http://c0903002.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/9296-queen_greatest_hits_420x250.jpg Queen's Greatest Hits has become the first album to sell over 6 million copies in the UK... Ever! Plus: The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Albums Of All-Time revealed! Legendary British band Queen have made chart history by becoming the first act ever to reach 6 million UK sales of an album, the Official Charts Company can confirm. Queen have broken chart records after surpassing the 6 million sales milestone with their 1981 Greatest Hits album. Britain’s best-selling album of all time, a staggering one in four British households now own a copy of the iconic act’s original bestof collection featuring such classic tracks as We Will Rock You, Another One Bites The Dust and their top-selling hit, Bohemian Rhapsody. “Great news, AMAZING news from the Official Charts Company!“ guitarist Brian May told OfficialCharts.com. “Queen’s Greatest Hits which was released in 1981 has passed the 6 million mark in sales, which is incredible. I just want to say thanks to everyone who has supported us through the years, we hope to continue to serve you.” Queen drummer Roger Taylor adds: "Wonderful. Who would have thought it! And all due to the Great British public. Thank you. A great honour!" “Becoming the first album to pass 6 million sales is a quite incredible achievement by Queen and their iconic Greatest Hits album,” comments Martin Talbot, Chief Executive of the Official Charts Company. “Ever since it was first released in 1981, this package of classic pop and rock tracks has been an indispensable item in every music fan’s record collection – perhaps THE definitive greatest hits album!” A true, enduring classic, the British public continue to buy Queen’s Greatest Hits in their droves; some 33 years after its original release, the album regularly sells several thousand copies per week, particularly around the Christmas gifting period, a trusted stocking filler for British music fans. Sales of the album digitally are also now racking up, having been downloaded 124,000 times in the UK to date, though Queen’s Greatest Hits is evidently still very much an essential collectors’ favourite that music lovers demand to own a coveted physical copy of. Queen’s Greatest Hits leads the way, some 900,000 copies ahead of ABBA Gold as the UK’s best-selling album of all time. ABBA last year overtook The Beatles‘ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to take second place in the list. And if 6 million sales isn’t enough for them, Queen’s follow-up, Greatest Hits II, which was release in October 1991 – a month before lead singer Freddie Mercury’s untimely death - also rides high at Number 10 in the all-time Official Albums Chart, having notched up a further 3.9 million UK sales to date. The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Albums Of All Time are as follows: The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Albums Of All Time 1 GREATEST HITS QUEEN 1981 2 GOLD - GREATEST HITS ABBA 1992 3 SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND BEATLES 1967 4 21 ADELE 2011 5 WHAT'S THE STORY MORNING GLORY OASIS 1995 6 THRILLER MICHAEL JACKSON 1982 7 THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON PINK FLOYD 1973 8 BROTHERS IN ARMS DIRE STRAITS 1985 9 BAD MICHAEL JACKSON 1987 10 GREATEST HITS II QUEEN 1991 11 THE IMMACULATE COLLECTION MADONNA 1990 12 RUMOURS FLEETWOOD MAC 1977 13 BACK TO BLACK AMY WINEHOUSE 2006 14 STARS SIMPLY RED 1991 15 COME ON OVER SHANIA TWAIN 1997 16 BACK TO BEDLAM JAMES BLUNT 2004 17 URBAN HYMNS VERVE 1997 18 LEGEND BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS 1984 19 BAT OUT OF HELL MEAT LOAF 1977 20 BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER SIMON & GARFUNKEL 1970 21 SPIRIT LEONA LEWIS 2007 22 DIRTY DANCING ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK 1987 23 NO ANGEL DIDO 2000 24 1 BEATLES 2000 25 CRAZY LOVE MICHAEL BUBLE 2009 26 WHITE LADDER DAVID GRAY 1998 27 TALK ON CORNERS CORRS 1997 28 SPICE SPICE GIRLS 1996 29 THE FAME LADY GAGA 2008 30 LIFE FOR RENT DIDO 2003 31 A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD COLDPLAY 2002 32 BEAUTIFUL WORLD TAKE THAT 2006 33 ONLY BY THE NIGHT KINGS OF LEON 2008 34 HOPES AND FEARS KEANE 2004 35 THE JOSHUA TREE U2 1987 36 SCISSOR SISTERS SCISSOR SISTERS 2004 37 BUT SERIOUSLY PHIL COLLINS 1989 38 X&Y COLDPLAY 2005 39 THE WAR OF THE WORLDS JEFF WAYNE 1978 40 JAGGED LITTLE PILL ALANIS MORISSETTE 1995 © 2014 Official Charts Company. All rights reserved.
February 11, 201411 yr Really great achievement! Wonder how long it'll take for Adele to get to 5mil? Also, great to see Leona at #21. Hopefully she'll be in the top 20 in a few years time. Edited February 11, 201411 yr by Envoirment
February 11, 201411 yr So Abba Gold is now on 5.1 million which is great, i dont think it will ever make up the 900,000 to pass Queen, I like both acts, dont love either but dont know which one i like more as they both have occasional songs that i love. I have 23 of those top 40 albums and 4 of the top 5 albums in my collection, The Beatles is the only one from the top 5 i dont own.
February 11, 201411 yr The Queen Album has not sold 6 Million, (UK), as a stand-a-lone Album. It has really sold 5,374,000. The other 626,000 Sales came from a 1994 Double CD, & the 2000 Triple CD, 'The Platinum Collection'. Here is what Alan Jones said in September 2009:, (His first 6 words refer to 'Sgt Pepper', by The Beatles). "As vast as that tally is, there is one album which has sold more copies – Queen’s Greatest Hits. It is an album which was first released in 1981, cherry-picking their most successful singles, from their introductory 1974 smash Seven Seas Of Rhye to 1980’s Flash. Released on October 26 1981, it debuted at number two behind Shakin’ Stevens’ Shaky album, and started a four-week run at number one the following week. It sold enough copies in the final few weeks of 1981 to finish second to Adam & The Ants’ Kings Of The Wild Frontier in the annual rankings, and has continued to sell at an impressive rate ever since. In 1994, it was issued in a slipcase with Greatest Hits II and in 2000 with Greatest Hits II and Greatest Hits III. As these packages contain the original albums, the decision was made, right or wrong, to share out the sales pro rata. As Greatest Hits I, II and III together have sold 1,680,000, individual tallies for all three have been allocated an extra 560,000 sales. By the same token, Greatest Hits I and II’s combined sales of 132,000 have been split, with an extra 66,000 being added to each. Taking all this into consideration, Greatest Hits has sold a massive 5,780,000 copies. Greatest Hits II, eighth on the list, has sold 3,840,000 copies".
February 11, 201411 yr If '21' gets as much of a boost as '19' got when the latter was released when her new album is released, she could reach 5 million sales quite quickly!
February 11, 201411 yr Author If '21' gets as much of a boost as '19' got when the latter was released when her new album is released, she could reach 5 million sales quite quickly! I have wondered how much of a boost 21 will get when her 3rd album is released but it's worth remembering 19 had 'only' sold around 800-900k at the time whereas 21 has sold well over 4.5 million so its boost won't be as big.
February 11, 201411 yr Well done Queen. I have CD versions of all 40. Interestingly. Queen's GH didn't debut at No.1. Edited February 11, 201411 yr by Common Sense
February 11, 201411 yr Well today's publicity has resulted in more sales. No.12 now on Amazon's chart and 25 on the I-Tunes album chart.
February 12, 201411 yr I believe Adele will definitely reach 5 million at some point as its still charting at the moment on most weeks and holding a top 150 position. Once she returns with her 3rd album 21 will get at least some sort of boost.
February 12, 201411 yr Queen's studio albums are nearly all patchy, with the singles and a few other tracks standing out. IMO and that of many music experts, they never made a classic album, not even A Night At The Opera, so all the casual fan really needs is Greatest Hits 1 and II. Edited February 12, 201411 yr by Common Sense
February 12, 201411 yr Great achievement, greatest band of all time imho along with AC/DC Confused by that chart though, AC/DC's Back In Black is like the 3rd best selling album in history worldwide but not even made the Top 40 in UK? doesn't seem right
February 12, 201411 yr Great achievement, greatest band of all time imho along with AC/DC Confused by that chart though, AC/DC's Back In Black is like the 3rd best selling album in history worldwide but not even made the Top 40 in UK? doesn't seem right None of their albums were huge UK sellers. The best-seller in the US, Eagles GH 1971-1975, on 29 million there and just ahead of Thriller, wasn't a big seller here either.
February 13, 201411 yr From things that I've read at both the Daily Telegraph & Daily Mail Sites, several people seem to think that the UK Sales for 'Sgt Pepper' are vastly under-estimated. They work that out by the fact that it was released in 1967, & The BPI did not start giving out UK Sales Awards until 1973. So they have decided that its OCC estimated Sales of 5,100,000 do not include any 1967 to 1972 Sales. Therefore, they give it an extra 2 Million to 3 Million Sales for that period. And they say that makes it the UK's Biggest Selling Album, with over 7 Million to 8 Million Sales. In fact, when The OCC compiled the UK's Top 100 Best Selling Albums, (published in 2006), they estimated the UK Sales of Sgt Pepper, from 1967 onwards. They have carried on adding to their 2006 estimate ever since. So its 5.1 Million UK Sales already include its estimated 1967 to 1972 Sales. By giving it over 7 to 8 Million UK Sales, a lot of people are adding in its estimated 1967 to 1972 Sales twice..... Here is what someone at The OCC Site has said about 'Sgt Pepper', in a comment. (He calls himself Dan Gerous). Like many, he does not realise that the 'missing' Sgt Pepper Sales have already been estimated in its 5.1 Million UK Total..... "I believe that accurate sales figures were not stored before 1976. If this is the case then Sgt. Pepper is most probably the biggest selling album of all time (In fact it still is anyway - both ABBA Gold and Queen Greatest Hits are both compilation albums! - The Beatles 'Sgt. Pepper's...' is the highest selling Studio Album.) No data before 1976 is, I am assuming, explanation for the lack of massive albums from the early 70's when the LP became the dominant format (Singles in the 60's and before had the lead due to them being cheaper - It took weeks to save up for an album back in the 60's!)."
February 13, 201411 yr Great news although I agree with the comment above about their studio albums being patchy. Definitely a good candidate for a greatest hits buy.
February 14, 201411 yr Queen's studio albums are nearly all patchy, with the singles and a few other tracks standing out. IMO and that of many music experts, they never made a classic album, not even A Night At The Opera, so all the casual fan really needs is Greatest Hits 1 and II. Have to respectfully disagree with you there. Made In Heaven, Queen, A Night At The Opera, Sheer Heart Attack, The Miracle, The Works and The Game are all outstanding in my opinion. The so called 'music experts' never gave Queen any good reviews. Just look at quotes from current successful artists and you'll see how highly rated Queen's albums were.
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