Queen :: Charts & Sales History

[slightlymad]

HUR wrote UK Sales
Queen: 400,000
Queen II: 500,000
A Night At The Opera: 1,500,000
A Day At The Races: 700,000
News Of The World: 600,000
The Game: 450,000
Hot Space: 300,000
Live At Wembley '86: 600,000

Hi Hernan, I was lucky enough to visit the recent Queen exhibition 'Stormtroopers In Stiletos' and the only sales info I could find was a quote stating that A Dat At The Races has sold in excess of 750,000 copies here in the UK and there was also a double platinum sales award displayed that was awarded to Roger Taylor from New Zealand for sales of A Night At The Opera. Hope this helps, by the way the Exhibition was fantastic and well worth a visit.

[slightlymad]

UK Top 100 Albums

Queen - 94
Queen 2 - 92
SHA - 82
ANATO - 96
ADATR - no
Deep Cuts - no

Very Very Disappointing

[EdWood]

The others were close by - #102 for "Deep Cuts" and #104 for "A Day At The Races".

Terrible positions but there were 6 albums that all nearly charted in the top 100 UK album chart - I think Universal is seeing these albums as slow sellers - obviously they are just replacing the old 1994 EMI CD's - with the bonus tracks I thought they might do better but they may hang around a bit longer in the charts - lets hope so anyway!!

[loris39]

The others were close by - #102 for "Deep Cuts" and #104 for "A Day At The Races".

Terrible positions but there were 6 albums that all nearly charted in the top 100 UK album chart - I think Universal is seeing these albums as slow sellers - obviously they are just replacing the old 1994 EMI CD's - with the bonus tracks I thought they might do better but they may hang around a bit longer in the charts - lets hope so anyway!!

At the moment, the Deep Cuts represents a real disappointment, but I didn't have great expectations about the studio albums. I hope, as you say, that they can have a good longevity in tha charts, and later we will see how they will behave in the other countries. Anyway, seven albums in the top-200 for the moment is not bad: it means that Queen have sold 16/17000 copies.

[HUR]

HUR wrote UK Sales
Queen: 400,000
Queen II: 500,000
A Night At The Opera: 1,500,000
A Day At The Races: 700,000
News Of The World: 600,000
The Game: 450,000
Hot Space: 300,000
Live At Wembley '86: 600,000

Hi Hernan, I was lucky enough to visit the recent Queen exhibition 'Stormtroopers In Stiletos' and the only sales info I could find was a quote stating that A Dat At The Races has sold in excess of 750,000 copies here in the UK and there was also a double platinum sales award displayed that was awarded to Roger Taylor from New Zealand for sales of A Night At The Opera. Hope this helps, by the way the Exhibition was fantastic and well worth a visit.

Thank you. It means my estimations were probably good, assuming that British number is right.

[borderwolf]

Japan
march, 28
western chart

# 20 Night at the Opera - Queen

# 23 Queen ? - Queen

# 24 Princess horror - Queen

# 25 Sheer Heart Attack - Queen

# 26 Magnificent Race - Queen

[nucleardolphin]

Bloody hell, thats good!

[EdWood]

Nice to see the reissues doing well at least in Japan

Does anyone have the sales figures for these chart positions or know where I can find them?

Thanks

[zeus555]

Here is a large Review of the Queen Re-Issues from
the UK 'Paper - the 'Daily Mail'.

The writer, (Adrian Thrills), goes into a lot
of detail.

LINK:,

http://smurl.name/b73x

There are Comments - from Queen Fans - beneath
the Article.

Zeus555

[loris39]

For three consecutive weeks, Greatest Hits We Will Rock You is in the Top-200 Billboard Albums, and it's #193.

[HUR]

Hello guys,

I would like to share my view on some of these chart positions. I see, and notice, that some of you are very disappointed with what these new versions are currently doing, in terms of charts positions and sales numbers, in the UK.

Remember, this is (I think) the third time these albums are getting a major reissue, with improved sound and all. Their albums were remastered and reissued in: 1986, 1994, and 2011. These are the first ones with extra songs and somehow previously "unreleased" material.

Guess what, no Queen studio album charted in the British Top 100 in 1986, when released in compact disc for the first time ever. Yet, that didn't prevent them from selling very well (against common belief) during the late eighties and even more toward 1991 and 1992 (for posthumous reasons).

Likewise, when the 1994 remasters were released, none of them made a chart impact at all. A Top 200 was already being compiled at the time (at least one of public domain, thanks to Chartplus and Hanboo) and no album made it to the main British chart. But they all still sold well over the years regardless of any initial reaction.

These new "deluxe" editions have managed to make the Top 150, at least. The main reason is basically down to the new content. But they are going to leave the charts soon, probably next week or the following.

And my main point is that it doesn't matter. It is clear, based on the above examples, that peak positions and the sort aren't really a big factor to judge Queen's back catalogue sales (for their studio albums, I mean). I'm personally sure that in the next ten years or so, these studio albums are going to sell more or less the same as what previous reissues sold (those that were released in 1986 and then in 1994) in relation to the size of the market of each year, of course. Impossible to confirm it and only time will tell; but that is how I see it myself. It isn't all about charts accolades, but about how the sales are sustained in the long term (with "long term" I'm not talking about the next few months or even next year, but about a period of at least five or ten years). You know, these will hold up well with certain events, anniversaries, mid price operations, and any kind of "boost" that Queen are going to have in the next decade.

Patience is needed; Queen have sold very well during the last twenty five years (and when their studio albums sales are combined with those of their compilations and live albums, Queen are probably one of the finest, if not the finest altogether, back catalogue bands). However, they never really dominated the British charts in the meantime. We shouldn't get mad about the first week sales of these albums, especially knowing what they managed to sell in the past (which is a lot, despite what some people think). Sales will silently come in, but many years are needed for that to happen.

The same thing partially applies to the compilations, released by Universal Music this year: "Greatest Hits" and "Greatest Hits II". What is the point in trying to make them sell in big quantities, when, a little bit more than a year ago, "Absolute Greatest" sold practically twice as much as what their compilations normally sell as back catalogue items every year? Remember, their compilations had been achieving cumulative sales of 200,000 to 300,000 copies every year from 2003 to 2008; finally in 2009, they were withdrawn and replaced with "Absolute Greatest": an album that sold so fast within a few months that it reduced their typical level of demand for at least one year and a half.

Based on that, I don't see their compilations selling in any significant amount for the whole of this year (at the very most, they may start to pick up some good sales again toward the last quarter).

Yes, I know it will be sad, to some extent, to see Queen absent from Musicweek's annual ranking this year, in their fortieth anniversary. But that may occur given the above scenarios. That is the price they have to pay for having sold so well in previous years, I guess. With a bit of perspective, I think that releasing "Absolute Greatest" wasn't a good idea; maybe EMI knew that Queen would terminate their contract with them and tried to cash in with their back catalogue for the last time.

If you want to see the bright side, the same thing happened in 2001 (thirty years after they became a band and ten years after Freddie Mercury's passing). Nothing really exciting during that year, and very quiet in terms of sales and charts positions. Everything changed during the following year.

Just an opinion.

[jimmypages59]

The things is Hur, what fans think is good and what EMI and now Universal think is good, are two completely different things.

I imagine EMI/Universal are more than well aware of (as I have been), how the Queen back catalogue works and sells and as such have went about releasing things as they see best for profits.

I agree with you, about the positions etc of these new releases, I just think most on here were expecting too much (or at least, hoping for too much), as you say, the past issues of the albums have never really set the charts alight and as such more candour should have been shown, with these issues.

Also, how many times can you actually re-re-release a product (especially with no, limited or already available material) and expect it to fly of the shelves? There is only so much the hardcore fans and public find purchase worthy.

[loris39]

Various charts.

France (Top-40 Compilation):

Greatest Hits II #13
Greatest Hits I #15

South Korea:

Greatest Hits I #56

Norway:

Greatest Hits I #32

Mexico:

Greatest Hits I #63

[loris39]

I would like to point out a new source regarding the singles digital sales, which I think that is very interesting:

the link is the following:

http://www.digitalsalesdata.com/search.php?artist=Queen

[nucleardolphin]

This is a curious list of download numbers, its so unbalanced Im not entirely convinced of where and how the numbers are collected, try out some other bands and the inbalances are staggering!

[zeus555]

The Sales on the Digital Site are so low
due to them only going back to 1st January
this Year. There is only 3 Months Sales Data
for Queen, & every other Act.

Zeus555

[borderwolf]

Spain

90 new QUEEN
DEEP CUTS 1973-1976

[borderwolf]

Korea
weekly shipments (international)
26 march

# 18 A Night At The Opera

# 22 Sheer Heart Attack

# 23 A Day At The Races

# 25 Deep Cuts 1973-1976

# 31 A Night At The Opera (Deluxe Edition 2...

# 32 Queen II (Deluxe Edition)

# 38 Queen (2CD Deluxe, 2011 Remaster)

# 39 Queen II (2CD Deluxe, 2011 Remaster)

# 57 Queen (Deluxe Edition)

# 58 Sheer Heart Attack (Deluxe Edition / 2...

# 59 A Day At The Races (Deluxe Edition / 2...

# 85 Queen

[loris39]

#146 QUEEN GREATEST HITS-WE WILL ROCK YOU 4,233 24 3,404 992,496

Source:

http://pulsemusic.proboards.com/index.c ... 377&page=2

[loris39]

Roger Taylor has declared that the reissued albums have sold 50,000 copies (only in pre-order) in just two days.

This is the source (in Italian)

http://www.queenheaven.it/2011/roger-ta ... ovaglia/6/

[HUR]

Argentinian charts.

Some rankings for January and February. Biggest stores in the country (Musimundo and Yenny/El Ateneo).

January
Musimundo
1 Musica + alma + sexo Ricky Martin - Sony Music
2 El perfume de la tempestad Solari Indio - DBN
3 Verano 2011 Verano 2011 - EMI
4 Solo un momento Vicentico- Sony Music
5 Sueña conmigo BOS - EMI
6 Enredados BOS - Walt Disney Company
7 Sale el sol Shakira - Sony Music
8 Vivo en do Dread Mar-i - Lef
9 The beginning Black Eyed Peas - Universal
10 Entren los que quieran Calle 13 - Sony Music
11 Live on ten legs Pearl Jam - Universal
12 One more love David Guetta - EMI
13 Greatest hits I Queen - Universal
14 Pericos & Friends Pericos - Music Brokers Argentinas
15 Reevolucion Abel Pintos - Sony Music
16 One love David Guetta - EMI
17 Amartebien Carlos Baute - Warner
18 The wall Pink Floyd - EMI
19 Iconos Marc Anthony - Sony Music
20 Poquita ropa Ricardo Arjona – Warner

February
Musimundo
1 Musica + Alma + Sexo Ricky Martin - Sony Music
2 Live Black & White Tour Ricky Martin - Sony Music
3 Solo Un Momento Vicentico - Sony Music
4 Sale El Sol Shakira - Sony Music
5 El Perfume De La Tempestad Solari Indio – DBN
6 Verano 2011 Z Verano 2011 - EMI
7 Vivi En Do Dread Mar-i - Lef
8 The Beginning Black Eyed Peas - Universal
9 Enredados Bso - Walt Disney Records
10 Sueña Conmigo Bos - EMI
11 Poquita Ropa Ricardo Arjona - Warner
12 Entren Los Que Quieran Calle 13 - Sony Music
13 One More Love David Guetta - EMI
14 Los Vaqueros El Regreso Wisin & Yandel - Universal
15 Greatest Hits I Queen - Universal
16 Live On Ten Legs Pearl Jam - Universal
17 Sin Mirar Atras Tour David Bisbal - Universal
18 Amartebien Carlos Baute - Universal
19 Greatest Hits II Queen - Universal
20 Reevolucion Abel Pintos - Sony Music

Yenny/El Ateneo
1 Sale El Sol Shakira - Sony Music
2 Never Say Never: The Remixes Justin Bieber - Universal
3 Música + Alma + Sexo Ricky Martin - Sony Music
4 Solo Un Momento Vicentico - Sony Music
5 My Worlds - The Collection (2cd) Justin Bieber - Universal
6 Sueña Conmigo BSO - EMI
7 Cigala & Tango (Cd + Dvd) Diego El Cigala - Universal
8 A Year Without Rain Selena Gómez & The Scene - Universal
9 Glee: The Music Vol.4 BSO - Sony Music
10 Enredados BSO - Walt Disney Records
11 Carnaval - Pasión Del Norte Los Nocheros/ Los Tekis - Sony Music
12 Amartebien Carlos Baute - Warner
13 Entren Los Que Quieran Calle 13 - Sony Music
14 One More Love (2cd) David Guetta - EMI
15 Greatest Hits 1 Queen - Universal
16 Tango - Trilogy (3 Cd) Varios Interpretes - Music Brokers/Pmb
17 Verano 2011 Varios Interpretes - EMI
18 The Great American Songbook 5 Rod Stewart - Sony Music
19 Según Pasan Los Años Ligia Piro - Sony Music
20 A Year Without Rain (Cd + Dvd) Selena Gómez & The Scene – Universal

[borderwolf]

Poland
march 2011: monthly shipments

20 A NIGHT AT THE OPERA - QUEEN

22 SHEER HEART ATTACK - QUEEN

23 QUEEN II - QUEEN

24 A DAY AT THE RACES - QUEEN

25 QUEEN - QUEEN

75 DEEP CUTS 1973/1976 - QUEEN

[trueno]

From brianmay.com:

"Record Store Day dominates physical singles sales"

... RSD exclusives dominated a physical singles market headed this week by Queen's 7" vinyl reissue of Keep Yourself Alive.

Top 10 Physical Singles
Position Title Artist Label
1 Keep Yourself Alive Queen Island RSD Exclusive
2 The Butcher/Supercollider Radiohead XL Recordings RSD Exclusive
3 I Know Him So Well Peter Kay & Susan Boyle Syco Music
4 Don't Sit Down 'Cause I've Moved Your Chair Arctic Monkeys Domino Recordings RSD Exclusive
5 Ceremony/In A Lonely Place New Order/Joy Division Rhino RSD Exclusive
6 The Magnificent Seven Clash Sony Music RSD Exclusive
7 Shoot To Thrill/War Machine AC/DC Sony Music RSD Exclusive
8 Brown Sugar Rolling Stones UMC RSD Exclusive
9 Born This Way Lady Gaga Interscope RSD Exclusive
10 Gold Forever Wanted Geffen RSD Exclusive


Source: Official Charts Company

[loris39]

Italy Charts Top 100 Albums:

#89 Greatest Hits II (5th week in the Top 100 in 2011)

Italy DVD Charts:

#10 Rock Montreal

Italy Digital Single:

#120 Don't Stop Me Now
#150 Bohemian Rhapsody
#182 We Are The Champions

[loris39]

In 2010, the DVD Rock Montreal was certified Platinum in Germany.
Source:

http://www.musikindustrie.de/gold_plati ... #topSearch