Queen :: Charts & Sales History

[nucleardolphin]

HUR, your a star! how many dvd's do you have to sell in the UK to achieve platinum status then?

[HUR]

"Live At Wembley" also reentered the Music video chart in the UK

UK Music Video chart this week

2 Queen Live At Wembley Stadium

Here are some of its weekly chart positions (chart history). They are obviously incomplete.

UK

Live At Wembley
20.06.1992: 1
27.06.1992: 1
04.07.1992: 1
...
21.06.2003: 1
28.06.2003: 1
05.07.2003: 1
12.07.2003: 1
19.07.2003: 1
26.07.2003: 1
02.08.2003: 1
09.08.2003: 1
16.08.2003: 1
23.08.2003: 1
30.08.2003: 1
06.09.2003: 2
13.09.2003: 1
20.09.2003: 1
27.09.2003: 1
04.10.2003: 1
11.10.2003: 1
18.10.2003: 2
25.10.2003: 3
01.11.2003: 5
08.11.2003: 5
15.11.2003: 10
22.11.2003: 7
29.12.2003: 13
06.12.2003: 17
13.12.2003: 14
20.12.2003: 14
27.12.2003: 14
...

The VHS version spent 3 weeks at #1 in 1992, after the CD was released in May. However, the video had already been released in late 1990, although it didn't make it to the top.

The music DVD came out in June 2003, and spent 16 weeks at #1.

Overall, it reached the top during 19 weeks. It also charted very well during 2004, 2005, 2006, and even in subsequent years.

Its cumulative chart weeks are obviously amazing, with some high points in some of the years I mentioned: 1990, 1991, 1992, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and so on.

Here are its annual sales from 2003 to 2008 (net shipments figures):

Queen - Live At Wembley 86 (DVD)
2003: 142,943
2004: 69,470
2005: 69,270
2006: 32,788
2007: 16,613
2008: 15,434
Total: 346,518

I imagine that with further sales in recent years, and all of its VHS sales from the nineties, it will have sold 400,000 copies at least. But I wouldn't be surprised if its total sales are over 500,000 or so.

For example, Queen used to sell many music videos in the UK during the nineties. For instance, "Greatest Flix II" sold 300,000 copies by 1994.

[borderwolf]

Portugal
dvd chart, week 37

2 (New) LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM - QUEEN

[arab]

"Innuendo" reentry at #86 and "A kind of magic" at #91 this week in Spain

It was Freddie's anniversary last week I think.

Possible. So there should be more albums by the end of November.

[davidalic]

"Innuendo" reentry at #86 and "A kind of magic" at #91 this week in Spain

It was Freddie's anniversary last week I think.

[arab]

"Innuendo" reentry at #86 this week in Spain

Yay! Re-issue?

[davidalic]

"Innuendo" reentry at #86 and "A kind of magic" at #91 this week in Spain

[loris39]

Dutch chart - Albums:

#76 Innuendo
#90 Platinum Collection
#95 A Kind Of Magic

Dutch chart - DVD:

#21 Live At Wembley

Belgium chart (Flanders) - Albums:

#54 Platinum Collection
#96 A Night At The Opera

Belgium chart (Flanders) - DVD:

#4 Live At Wembley

Belgium chart (Wallonia) - Albums:

#68 Platinum Collection

Belgium chart (Wallonia) - DVD:

#1 Live At Wembley

Irish chart - DVD

#3 Live At Wembley

[HUR]

Thank you, Edwood. I'm glad at least one person liked it.

About Netherlands.

These data are really interesting, in particular Greatest Hits at 500,000 copies in 1993. EMI declared that this album sold 155,000 copies from 1994 to 2003, so, if this information is correct, Greatest Hits is close to 700,000 copies.

Yes, it is very interesting.

In Netherlands, Queen sold plenty of compilations between 1994 and early 2004. Courtesy of EMI Marketing Netherlands:

Greatest Hits: 155,481 copies sold
Greatest Hits II: 174,580
Greatest Hits I & II: 119,774
Queen Rocks: 28,487
Greatest Hits III: 66,791
Platinum Collection: 138,379

Total for those albums: 683,492 copies sold

The total for "Greatest Hits" is likely to be for the 1994 reissue, which came out during the second half of the year.

If "Greatest Hits" had indeed sold 500,000 by early 1993, I would say that it has definitely sold 700,000 copies by now. We have 155,481 copies during something like ten years (from 1994 to 2004); leaving several years missing: mainly most of 1993 and part of 1994 (when the album was still charting and selling well) and seven years and a half for the period betwen 2004 and September 2011.

It is also interesting to note that Queen's "Greatest Hits II" was certified quintuple platinum in 1997 (500,000 copies sold) but it is likely to have reached that mark several years before; not to mention that it sold 174,580 copies between 1994 and 2004, many of which were definitely achieved after it was awarded with its last platinum certification.

[EdWood]

Also remember that the last 5 remastered Queen studio albums have been released today. Although the bonus tracks could be alot better I'm looking forward to hearing the improved sound.

I'm also wondering if they will do any better in the UK at least than the last 2 batches - will the extra bit of promotion due to it being Freddie's 65th birthday make a difference in their sales.

Also very impressive Austrian sales HUR - good find there as always!

[nucleardolphin]

Great to see Freddie celebrated on google's front page today for his 65th birthday! Queen appear to be more relevant now than at any other time in history, as well as Brian May performing with Lady gaga at the MTV awards, what a great performance that was!

[arab]

Korea
weekly shipments chart
international

1 Greatest Hits I (2011 Remastered)
Queen

2 Greatest Hits II (2011 Remastered)
Queen

(10 and 11 on combined chart)

Great and iconic albums never die

[borderwolf]

Korea
weekly shipments chart
international

1 Greatest Hits I (2011 Remastered)
Queen

2 Greatest Hits II (2011 Remastered)
Queen

(10 and 11 on combined chart)

[HUR]

Queen in Austria

Before posting anything, I need to remind what Irishguy28 once said: "Just because some numbers were revealed in some publication, doesn't necessarily mean they are accurate".

Nevertheless, we can add to those wise words: "But sometimes, they are accurate".

From an Austrian weekly magazine (it is all in German). The interpretation of these paragraphs is courtesy of Benny.

"Austro-Champions. Mit Österreich verbindet sie eine besondere Geschichte der Verfallenheit. Nie wieder erreichte 2,1 Millionen Verkaufte für die 20 Alben und 39 Singles; mindestens Gold für jedes Album; die erste Band, welche die Stadthalle an zwei aufeinanderfolgenden Tagen (12. und 13. Mai 1982) füllte; und schließlich unübertroffene drei der zehn meisterworbenen Alben: "Greatest Hits II" (205.000) ist nach "Brothers In Arms" von den Dire Straits (210.000) die hierzulande zweit bestverkaufte CD aller Zeiten. "Greatest Hits" (175.000) rangiert auf Platz vier, das posthume Vermächtnis "Made in Heaven" (140.000) immerhin noch auf Platz acht. Drummer Taylor: "Offenbar hat man in Österreich doch das beste Musikgespür…" (News: Politik, Geld, Szene, Leute, 1997).

"…Der international belächelte Verkaufsmaßstab dafür: 25.000 Stück. Noch schlimmer erwischte es "Queen". Vom Freddie-Mercury-Abschiedsalbum waren 1995 i noch sensationelle 145.000 Stück verkauft worden. Das Werk gehörte damit Das Werk gehörte damit zum edlen Kreis der zehn meistverlangten CDs aller Zeiten. Der Tekkno- "und Disco- Remix von "Queen"- Hadern…" (News: Politik, Geld, Szene, Leute, 1997).

"Als erste Gruppe füllte man an zwei Tagen die Wiener Stadthalle (12. und 13. Mai 1982), die 12.399 ebendort verkauften Tickets (1984) gelten heute ebenso als unübertroffen wie die hierzulande verkauften 2,1 Millionen Queen-Alben. Zudem rangieren mit "Greatest Hits II" (210.000 Stück), "Greatest Hits" (180.000) und "Made in Heaven" (150.000) gleich drei Queen-Epen unter den Top- ten-CDs Österreichs. Einsam statt gemeinsam. Ehe die Queen-Reunion stattfindet…" (News: Politik, Geld, Szene, Leute, 1998).

"…Die Beatles verlassen bloß für ein 30-Minuten-Konzert die Grube. Die zumindest in Osterreich weitaus erfolgreichere Truppe Queen - nie wieder erreichte 2,1 Millionen verkaufte CDs, drei Alben in den Top 10 der heimischen All-Time-Charts - geht das Comeback im großen…" (News: Politik, Geld, Szene, Leute, 1999).

According to this, we have the following. Here is the translation of the relevant information:

-Queen sold 2,100,000 million albums and singles in Austria, by 1997.

-They are best selling act ever in that country.

-Greatest Hits: 180,000 copies sold

-Greatest Hits II: 210,000

-Made In Heaven: 150,000

-All of their albums were at least gold.

-Queen sold 12,399 tickets for their 1984 show in Vienna (highest amount achieved in that venue).

I think the individual numbers that were reported are definitely correct.

"Greatest Hits II" went triple platinum in early 1994 (150,000 copies sold) and eventually quadruple platinum in 1997 (200,000 copies). Based on that, a total of 210,000 by 1998 would make sense.

"Greatest Hits" achieved its triple platinum in 1994 (150,000 copies sold) and then quadruple platinum in 2000 (200,000 copies). On that basis, I think 180,000 sales by 1998 are fine.

About "Made In Heaven", it went double platinum (more than 100,000 copies sold) a month after its release; I would say that with its further shipments towards the end of 1995 and then in 1996, the total of 150,000 is correct. By comparison, it sold 1,500,000 copies in Germany and that market is like ten times as big as Austria or so (Queen were equally popular in both, I would say).

All very impressive.

[slightlymad]

Just found 3 Canadian Gold Sales Awards on ebay for the following Queen Lp's all selling in excess of 50,000 copies

A Kind Of Magic
Live Killers
The Game

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/QUEEN-LIVE...item19c3bc5259

[slightlymad]

Not sure if this information has been posted already, just watched a very entertaining programme on VH1 running through Queen's official Top20 selling UK singles. I have seen similar shows like this but this one listed official sales figures aswell!!. Below is the countdown

1 2,300,000 Bohemian Rhapsody
2 850,000 We Are The Champions
3 710,000 Under Pressure Queen & David Bowie
4 590,000 Crazy Little Thing Called Love
5 520,000 Radio Ga Ga
6 450,000 Don't Stop Me Now
7 450,000 I Want To Break Free
8 430,000 Five Live EP
9 420,000 Killer Queen
10 395,000 A Kind Of Magic
11 390,000 Somebody To Love
12 385,000 Barcelona*
13 355,000 Living On My Own*
14 290,000 We Will Rock You Queen+Five
15 285,000 The Great Pretender*
16 260,000 Heaven For Everyone
17 235,000 Another One Bites The Dust
18 200,000 One Vision
19 195,000 It's A Hard Life
20 190,000 Fat Bottomed Girls / Bicycle Race

* Freddie Mercury Solo Hits

Very interesting List, how accurate do you think this is, does anybody have information that confirms the totals?

[loris39]

These data are really interesting, in particular Greatest Hits at 500,000 copies in 1993. EMI declared that this album sold 155,000 copies from 1994 to 2003, so, if this information is correct, Greatest Hits is close to 700,000 copies.

[HUR]

Queen in Netherlands:

Look at these rankings and the numbers attached to each album.

27.06.1992
1 3 BACK TO FRONT - lionel richie
2 1 GREATEST HITS 1992 vol. 2 - various +
3 2 COUNTDOWN ROCK BALLADS - various
4 4 GREATEST HITS 2 - queen +3
5 6 METALLICA
6 15 CALOR - julio iglesias
7 5 HOUSE PARTY 3 - various +
8 9 THE MADMAN'S RETURN - snap
9 7 THE BEST OF - cock robin
10 8 HET BESTE UIT DE TOP 100 ALLERTIJDEN - various +1

18.01.1992
1 1 GREATEST HITS II - queen +1
2 2 HET BESTE UIT DE TOP 40 '91 - various +2?
3 3 GREATEST HITS I - queen +1
4 6 SHEPHERD MOONS - enya +
5 7 NEVERMIND - nirvana
6 4 ACHTUNG BABY - u2 +1
7 5 DANGEROUS - michael jackson +1
8 9 TURN UP THE BASS 1991 MEGAMIX - various
9 11 VERY BEST - bee gees +
10 10 ALLERBESTE NEDERLANDSTALIGE HITS - diverse artiesten +

22 23 INNUENDO - queen +1

60 66 A NIGHT AT THE OPERA - queen +2

06.03.1993
1 1 THE BODYGUARD - soundtrack +1
2 2 GOLD - boney m
3 7 WANDERING SPIRIT - mick jagger
4 8 THE NAKED TRUTH - golden earring (NL) +
5 3 BACK TO FRONT - lionel richie +3
6 6 SHE'S GOT SOUL - jocelyn brown
7 5 UNPLUGGED - eric clapton +1
8 4 SWEET HELLO'S & .. (greatest hits) - rene froger (NL) +1
9 9 OFF THE GROUND - paul mccartney
10 11 GOLD - abba +1

75 81 GREATEST HITS 1 - queen +5

These are some old Dutch charts from 1992 and 1993, from Stitching (generally regarded as the official chart compiler for that country). They were posted in a Google group, with sales details. At the time, several Queen albums were still charting inside the Top 100.

The number attached to the albums above represent the sales marks achieved back then. That is how +1 means 100,000 copies sold, +2 means 200,000, +3 means 300,000 copies sold, and so on.

Therefore, we have the following sales totals:

Queen A Night At The Opera: +2 (200,000 copies sold)
Queen Greatest Hits: +5 (500,000)
Queen Innuendo: +1 (100,000)
Queen Greatest Hits II: +3 (300,000)

Queen's "Greatest Hits II" was listed with +3 in June 1992, when it was still charting inside the Top 10 (where it would stay for several weeks, even with plenty of Various Artists compilations). It will have been with 300,000 copies sold; the album was certified quintuple platinum in 1997 (500,000 copies sold).

Queen's "Greatest Hits" was interestingly listed with +5 in early 1993 (it reached +3 in early 1992 and eventually +4 in the second half of that year). It would have to have sold 500,000 by early 1993.

Queen's "A Night At The Opera" was with +2, for sales of 200,000 copies sold by early 1992.

In the same way, "Innuendo" was shown with +1, thus making 100,000 units sold. It was certified platinum in 1991.

I have some Dutch charts details too, if anyone is interested.

[borderwolf]

Chile
unofficial
feriadeldisco
dvd chart

# 1 Queen - VIDEO COLLECTION

[borderwolf]

South Korea

A lot of albums on International weekly shipments chart:
http://www.gaonchart.co.kr/main/section ... rmGbn=week

[loris39]

Various charts...

South Korea:

#65 Greatest Hits

Norway:

#39 Greatest Hits

Spain:

#69 Platinum Collection

Switzerland:

#61 Platinum Collection

Italy:

#92 Platinum Collection

Belgium (Wallonia):

#90 Platinum Collection

France (Albums Chart):

#193 Platinum Collection

France (Singles Chart):

#85 Bohemian Rhapsody

[loris39]

Japanese Chats (Oricon):

#168 Queen - News Of The World (Limited Edition) - 700 (2,089)
#194 Queen - Jazz (Limited Edition) - 615 (1,926)
#209 Queen - The Game - 566 (1,783)
#213 Queen - Greatest Hits I II & III - 536 (1,572)
#224 Queen - Greatest Hits - 517 (15,688)

Counting also Greatest Hits II and the remaining albums, with the exception of the two Deep Cuts, Flash and Hot Space, Queen have sold in Japan 43,485 copies at the moment. Those are the sales of their albums inside the Top 300.


Swiss Chart:

#43 Platinum Collection

Spanish Chart:

#90 Platinum Collection

[EdWood]

I'm tryin to estimate the sales of the Queen reissues this week.

The only sales figures I have in the UK album chart that could help us find out sales are as follows - number of copies is the first figure, figure in brackets is chart position.

3791 Katy Perry (53)

1474 Britney Spears [FF] (121)

And Queen had the following:

102 (55) GREATEST HITS - QUEEN (ISLAND)
105 (--) NEWS OF THE WORLD - QUEEN (ISLAND)
118 (--) GREATEST HITS 1 2 & 3 - QUEEN (ISLAND)
128 (--) JAZZ - QUEEN (ISLAND)
138 (--) THE GAME - QUEEN (ISLAND)
154 (--) HOT SPACE - QUEEN (ISLAND)
156 (81) GREATEST HITS II - QUEEN (ISLAND)
165 (--) FLASH GORDON - QUEEN (ISLAND)
175 (--) DEEP CUTS - VOL 2 - 1977-1982 - QUEEN (ISLAND)

3 albums of Queen's charted higher than that Britney album so definately sold more than 1,474 copies. Lets say Greatest Hits sold 2,000 copies, NPTW sold 1,800 and Platinum Collection sold 1,600.

Jazz was just 7 positions below Britney so probably sold 1,300 copies. The others?
The Game 1,200
Hot Space 1,150
GH2 1,100
Flash Gordon 1,050
Deep Cuts 1,000

These are all guestimates based on what other sales figures we know of - I can't see them being that far out.

Altogether Queen 'may' have sold 12,200 copies of just the 2nd batch of 5 Studio album reissues, plus Deep Cuts 2 and the already reissued Greatest Hits 1 and 2. Then maybe add a few thousand for the rest of the catalogue - maybe fans picked up some of the 1st batch of reissues this time?

So sales aren't fantastic but not 'too' bad when you think they are just replacing their catalogue with a new label's take on their material...

[HUR]

Thank you, Loris. Very good observations.

"Made In Heaven" was certified Gold (500,000 copies), but, according to Soundscan, it sold 275,000 copies in USA. I know Soundscan doesn't track all sales in USA, but Queen's catalogue has never been available through music clubs in that country so I can't see any significant sales coming from other avenues other than the regular retailers. All I can conclude, based on that, is that "Made In Heaven" was overshipped and its real shipments are smaller (300,000 sales would look fine). But maybe I'm wrong, I don't know.

I think you are probably right about "Sheer Heart Attack". Its chart positions were very good at the time and it went Gold in 1975 (there were no platinum awards at the time). If it didn't sell one million, it is probably close.

But as with other albums, I just decided to go by what their certifications show and nothing more. That is how I came up with nearly 38 million, which is a rather "safe" total; adding the extra tens of thousands I talked about to every certified album would be enough to enable Queen to reach nearly 40 million.

"News Of The World" reached 3,000,000 in July 1978 and sold 855,000 copies according to Soundscan (from 1991 to 2009). It all depends on its sales during the intervening years.

"Hot Space" is a doubtful case. The figure reported at the time may have covered Canada too or other Warner markets. But even if it didn't, I think it was a dissapointment in sales, so I wouldn't be surprised if some copies were returned in late 1982 or early 1983. That is why I didn't add any extra sales to those 800,000 claimed back then. But yes, it can be on 950,000 to 1,000,000. It doesn't change much on the whole anyway.

"Greatest Hits" has sold a million since the last award (certified 8 times platinum in April 2006, 8,000,000). Plus, "Greatest Hits We Will Rock You" sold 1,000,000. Both compilations may have sold a combined 10,000,000.

[nucleardolphin]

I agree! I think Sheer Heart Attack must be around 1 million copies! thanks HUR, but Im sure some of those records are out a little.