Queen :: Charts & Sales History

[nelson]

But you cited the figure for "Greatest hits 2", thatīs the reason why I talked about it. And why do you call it "unkown"?. It was a massive seller all over Europe. In Spain, it was #1 during 2 weeks and was high on the charts during the Christmas month back in 1995. I have already posted the mails, Nelson, take a look at my previous posts. We are making up these figures.

I talked about email "address" not about the email "message", in order to check the source.

[MJDangerous]

Hur, I don't know which figures you checked, but obviously not mines. I have Led Zeppelin at just 2m, which is much less than Queen. If you tell about average album sales then well, I do not see the problem of an average Zep album selling as much as an average Queen album.

You should realise that Queen studio albums sold poorly in catalog in comparison to such giants. Even Houses of the holy of Led Zep 3 were certified Gold for sales of the remasters only. In the last 15 years, they both sold 100k+ in Spain. They were huge in Spain, topping charts as early as in 1969.

An album like Delicate Sound Of Thunder may be a very bad catalog seller in comparison to Dark Side, but it sold for sure like 5 times more than an average Queen album in catalog, and as much as an album like ANATO.

[HUR]

'Greatest Hits 1' hasn't sold 182k only, since figures seem to start in 85/86. The re-release of it was certified Gold in 92 and I'm pretty much sure this figure concerns that release. And again, almost 200k on catalog alone in Spain IS huge ! Except a few expections, the top sellers sell like 500k in Spain. To sell 200k in Spain is like 600k or so in France, just to show how big that is.
Yes I think that the ones you quoted (at least Pink Floyd, Jackson, Dire Straits and Madonna) were bigger than Queen album sales-wise. If you look at Dire Straits, they cumulated 34 weeks at #1 in Spain. Pink Floyd 44 weeks.
Still, Madonna or U2 aren't much higher than 3 million. They are at the same level of Queen, which just shows how huge 3.2 million is already.

But you talk about weeks at #1, which is a good idea. But also, why donīt you see the charts compile by Davidalic based on points, where Queen are totally ahead of Madonna, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson?. That also may serve as a gauge. Only old acts with loads of albums that started their career back in 60īs are ahead of Queen over there. Also remember that Floyd achieved the bulk of their points between the 70īs and early 80īs where the market wasnīt that huge, whereas Queen achieved theirs mainly during the period between 1984 and 1995 with a much more "health" market.

I donīt know what is so difficult to accept, personally. For example, you list "Of the wall" at 300,000 (!), while it didnīt chart in Spain as far as Iīm concerned, even you have "Delicate sound of thunder", which barely made the top ten, at something like 200,000. Yet your estimation for their "Greatest hits 1" is just 200,000 or so.

According to you, Led Zeppelin sold nearly the same as Queen too, I checked your figures.

If Queen are overestimated, then I think that you are overestimating other acts too.

Also, nobody claimed that all their studio albums sold 300k, did I?. I only think that "A night at the opera", "A kind of magic" and "Made in heaven" are at that mark, but no other.

[MJDangerous]

Hur,

I do not dispute figures "for Queen" but figures that look irrealistic, which isn't the same. For example, I dispute the figure of 400k sold by Thriller in Chile, simply because this figure isn't realistic. Trying to answer to all your questions (I do not quote the message to not flood the thread) :

Spain - If you look at figures, they are all ahead of certifications. Many awards were achieved several months after the release but still figures are easily ahead of them, that's why I find it hard to believe that a third or even half of sales still missing.

Queen HAVE sold in huge numbers. For example, those sales in Spain are already massive. They are so many albums that topped charts several weeks and were certified barely Platinum months later, sales in the 300k range for all their studio albums would be insane. If you compare chart performances/certifications of other artists in Spain, those figures of Queen are already pretty high.

'Greatest Hits 1' hasn't sold 182k only, since figures seem to start in 85/86. The re-release of it was certified Gold in 92 and I'm pretty much sure this figure concerns that release. And again, almost 200k on catalog alone in Spain IS huge ! Except a few expections, the top sellers sell like 500k in Spain. To sell 200k in Spain is like 600k or so in France, just to show how big that is.
Yes I think that the ones you quoted (at least Pink Floyd, Jackson, Dire Straits and Madonna) were bigger than Queen album sales-wise. If you look at Dire Straits, they cumulated 34 weeks at #1 in Spain. Pink Floyd 44 weeks.
Still, Madonna or U2 aren't much higher than 3 million. They are at the same level of Queen, which just shows how huge 3.2 million is already.

In Netherland you are probably right, after looking at figures it looks like they are about CDs only.

About Japan, Like A Virgin sold more than 1m actualy. Its Oricon sales alone are up to 900k. Off The Wall was already huge in 79, selling probably over to 300k even before the release of Thriller. Led Zep IV reached the top 100 (local acts included) in 71, 78, 88 and 2003, it is massive there.
Some of my Queen figures are indeed in the low side yet. BTW, there is a typo about ANATO, I have it at 350k (instead of 250k) on my Queen word document.

My estimates about Asia/South America were always very conservative 2 years ago. Since I updated most acts completely but not Queen by now, estimates of some areas are in fact more conservative than others (which is why I'm re-working on them btw!).

[HUR]

But this is a confirmed figure by their record company, and the album was certified 5 times platinum back in 1992 for sales of 500,000. It reached #1 during 8 weeks by the way...

Do you seriously believe that Michael Jackson sold far more than Queen?. It makes no sense. Or Pink Floyd, U2, Madonna, or Dire Straits.

I actually talked about Made in Heaven.
But do you have the email?
I can't imagine they would reply to fans.
I tried zillion emails and no reply.

But you cited the figure for "Greatest hits 2", thatīs the reason why I talked about it. And why do you call it "unkown"?. It was a massive seller all over Europe. In Spain, it was #1 during 2 weeks and was high on the charts during the Christmas month back in 1995. I have already posted the mails, Nelson, take a look at my previous posts. We arenīt making up these figures.

[nelson]

Here is the mail, received by Braca: "Sorry, but there's no reliable data of LP & Cassette Sales in our
Current system.
I can only give you CD & DVD Sales.
Sales of CDs are phenomenal - 3,2 m Cds and counting - That makes that
3 out of 10 spaniards have a Queen CD (not mentioning Lps)."

I don't believe they don't have figures for LP & CS.
SInce they have to pay the taxes to government and the accountants have to audit them.

[nelson]

But this is a confirmed figure by their record company, and the album was certified 5 times platinum back in 1992 for sales of 500,000. It reached #1 during 8 weeks by the way...

Do you seriously believe that Michael Jackson sold far more than Queen?. It makes no sense. Or Pink Floyd, U2, Madonna, or Dire Straits.

I actually talked about Made in Heaven.
But do you have the email?
I can't imagine they would reply to fans.
I tried zillion emails and no reply.

[HUR]

By the way, there is a small typo on "Greatest hits 2" (made by me), but the actual figure is 660,606.

It seems too high.
You have to have a sense.
ANd you have to compare the album with album, like certifications and chart run.
selling 400k for an unknown album is just absurd.
Bad sold 300k-400k, and has a better chart run.

But this is a confirmed figure by their record company, and the album was certified 5 times platinum back in 1992 for sales of 500,000. It reached #1 during 8 weeks by the way...

And I donīt know which "unknown" albums you are talking about.

Do you seriously believe that Michael Jackson sold far more than Queen?. It makes no sense. Or Pink Floyd, U2, Madonna, or Dire Straits.

[nelson]

By the way, there is a small typo on "Greatest hits 2" (made by me), but the actual figure is 660,606.

It seems too high.
You have to have a sense.
ANd you have to compare the album with album, like certifications and chart run.
selling 400k for an unknown album is just absurd.
Bad sold 300k-400k, and has a better chart run.

[HUR]

Here we have a couple of new codes from Brazil:

Queen - Collection (Brazil Exclusive)
AK3500
AO1500
AU1000

Queen - A Kind Of Magic
AG9000

Queen - Made In Heaven
AG7000

Queen - Innuendo
AE8000


Thanks to Lostprophet for finding them. They are all about shipments.

[Lawyeris]

I wonder, where Basil is gone???

[HUR]

Thank you, Jimmy, great numbers.


The Freddie Mercury tribute concert - 45,473
Greatest video hits 1 - 190,413*
Made in heaven - The films - 11,360
Live at wembley ī86 - 322,167*
Greatest video hits 2 - 148,935*
Queen on fire - 160,199*
Return of the champions - 83,597*
A night at the opera - 6,915
Queen rock Montreal - 52,000 (retail sales Musicweek)

Total - 1,021,059


Lover of life, singer of songs: 33,774*

Figures with an "*" are as of november 2007.

---------------------------------------

MJDangerous, are you sure those figure are for all formats?. People at their record company made it very clear (in several mails) that they donīt have access to any cassettes or vinyls sales.

By the way, there is a small typo on "Greatest hits 2" (made by me), but the actual figure is 660,606.

Here is the mail, received by Braca: "Sorry, but there's no reliable data of LP & Cassette Sales in our
Current system.
I can only give you CD & DVD Sales.
Sales of CDs are phenomenal - 3,2 m Cds and counting - That makes that
3 out of 10 spaniards have a Queen CD (not mentioning Lps)."

Maybe "A kind of magic" sold like 75-90k only in 1986, while the rest (on the CD format) was achieved via catalog as the time went by. While "Made in heaven" was mainly sold on the CD format, even with casettes still being a good share of the market back in 1995 or 1996. I estimated it at roughly 350,000 (which makes sense based on its certification that was given to the band in early 1996 when the album was still shiping and selling copies), because the bulk of its sales were probably achived via the CD format while cassettes or vinyls were good but not that strong for that one. "Innuendo", on the other hand, would look a bit on the low side if those figure were comprehensive, as the album made it to #1 in "Superventas" charts and spending 20+ weeks.

Because, how much do you think that they sold then?. Just 3,2 million over there as claimed by EMI?. That would be far less than Madonna, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, U2, Dire Starits, do you really think those were far bigger than Queen?. Or look at "Greatest hits 1", which had a strong initial performance at #1 with 25 weeks inside the charts and 25 years of back catalog, yet do you believe it only sold 182,700 copies up to december 2004?. Isnīt that a bit low?. Just with its initial chart, it easily sold 150,000+ over Spain, in my opinion.

As for Netherlands, they are obviously CDs only as "Greatest hits 3" was shown at at 66,791 as of february 2004, while it had already been certfied platinum in 2000 (for sales of 80,000 or 100,000, I donīt know how much out both numbers).

----------------------------------------

MJD, just a question (not to start stupid discussions and such, you know the respect I have for you), but why do you always dispute the sales figures (many of which are from their record company, and are as accurate as the ones provided by Jimmypage59) for Queen?. For some reason, it looks like it is impossible to you that Queen sold in huge numbers. I just wonder why. Iīm not only talking about Spain, but in general, you are always very pessimistic with Queen, in some cases.

The same for Japan, I look at your estimations for the band over there and, compared to the ones you came up with for other artists, your Queen estimations look very minimalistic. For example, in Japan, I see albums like "The dark side of the moon" at 800k, "The wall" at 500k (!), "Off the wall" at 700k (!), "Led Zeppelin 4" at 700k, "Like a virgin" at 1,000k (!) and much more...then other classic albums by Queen like "A night at the opera" at merely 250k, "News of the world" at 150k or "A kind of magic" at 50k (!) only, it is a bit like anyone can sell well over Japan and even in huge numbers, except Queen. Probably "Sheer heart attack", "A day at the races" and "Live killers" are underestimated too. It isnīt like Queen sell nothing on catalog, is it?.

I also think that the kind of estimations you assumed or "guessed" for the markets outside the lead ones are also on the "pessimistic" (if you allow me the word) side, specially compared to other acts for which you do some more "generous" estimates. Donīt forget it, I know your work so I have taken a look at a lot of the acts listed on chartsinfrance. Iīm not saying you are wrong, of course, but maybe you think that Queen werenīt big sellers?. It is just a question, I donīt want to convince you of anything, rather just have some conversations with you.

Remember, all of these are "constructive comments", this is said by someone who consideres you the best chart expert of this forum, you know how much I love you.

[MJDangerous]

Thanks a lot jimmypages59 ! So weird to see how low DVD sales are in UK (music DVDs). :-?

BTW, I'm starting to check back my Queen figures. The first point I want to make out is that I'm going to use several figures said to be about CDs only as comprehensive. In Spain for example :

Spain (cdīs only until 2004)

Greatest hits 2: 606.606
Gretaets hits 1: 182.700
"A kind of magic": 207.695
"Live magic": 109.418
"The miracle": 164.969
"Innuendo": 137.861
"Live at wembley": 202.278
"Made in heaven": 281.785
Queen rocks: 74.203
Greatest hits 3: 85.633
Platinium collection: 197.571

Total: 2.250.819

Those figures count definitely all formats, not only CDs. By 1995, Cassette sales were always very high in Spain, over a third of the market (17.9m on a market of 51.8m), Made In Heaven 281k figure is for sure comprehensive, no way it sold 420k or so (adding 1/3), considering it was certified at 200k already in 96.
That's even more obvious for 80's albums like AKOM. When it was released, CD sales were basicaly at 0 in Spain, most album sold were on vinyl/cassette. It just can not be at 207k on CDs alone.

I'm going to check more carefully figures from Netherland to see if they count only CD format or if they are comprehensive.

[jimmypages59]

Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert
2003 --- 30,113
2004 --- 5,592
2005 --- 3,956
2006 --- 2,864
2007 --- 1,989
2008 --- 959
Total --- 45,473



Queen - Made In Heaven (The Films)
2003 --- 8,317
2004 --- 1,967
2005 --- 23
2006 --- 656
2007 --- 822
2008 --- -425
Total --- 11,360



Queen - A Night At The Opera (Classic Albums Series)
2006 --- 7,035
2007 --- -187
2008 --- 67
Total --- 6,915

The Freddie Mercury Concert was released in 2002, I think the 2003 figures represents all copies shipped in 2002 and 2003, but I can't confirm this.

Made in Heaven, seems to have been heavily overshipped in 2003 & 2004 hence the very low figure in 2005, this again seems to be the case in 2007 & 2008, where more have actually been returned than shipped.

A Night at the opera, follows a similar pattern to Made in Heaven, it seems to have been heavily overshipped in 2006 and really not selling looking at the negative figure for 2007 and very low figure for 2008.

[HUR]

Estonia
week 39

Albums
3 QUEEN+PAUL RODGERS,COSMOS ROCKS 2008
14 QUEEN,PLATINUM COLLECTION 3CD
21 QUEEN,GREATEST HITS II 1991
27 QUEEN+PAUL RODGERS,COSMOS ROCKS SP.ED.CD+DVD
39 QUEEN,GREATEST HITS I 1981
82 QUEEN,GREATEST HITS III 1999


Dvd
1 QUEEN,LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM 2DVD 2003
3 QUEEN,GREATEST VIDEO HITS 1 2DVD
4 QUEEN,GREATEST VIDEO HITS VOL.2 2003
7 QUEEN,QUEEN ON FIRE-LIVE AT THE BOWL 2DVD 2004
12 QUEEN,FREDDIE MERCURY TRIBUTE SP.10TH ANN.ED. 2008
20 QUEEN+PAUL RODGERS,RETURN OF THE CHAMPIONS 2005

Good, another number one on the DVD chart. "Queen on fire" was also at th top of the chart in 2006, more than one year after it was released. In that same year, Freddie Mercuryīs "Lover of life, singer of songs" also topped tha charts. I donīt care that those charts arenīt official, really.

[EdWood]

Estonia
week 39

Albums
3 QUEEN+PAUL RODGERS,COSMOS ROCKS 2008
14 QUEEN,PLATINUM COLLECTION 3CD
21 QUEEN,GREATEST HITS II 1991
27 QUEEN+PAUL RODGERS,COSMOS ROCKS SP.ED.CD+DVD
39 QUEEN,GREATEST HITS I 1981
82 QUEEN,GREATEST HITS III 1999


Dvd
1 QUEEN,LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM 2DVD 2003
3 QUEEN,GREATEST VIDEO HITS 1 2DVD
4 QUEEN,GREATEST VIDEO HITS VOL.2 2003
7 QUEEN,QUEEN ON FIRE-LIVE AT THE BOWL 2DVD 2004
12 QUEEN,FREDDIE MERCURY TRIBUTE SP.10TH ANN.ED. 2008
20 QUEEN+PAUL RODGERS,RETURN OF THE CHAMPIONS 2005

I take it Queen are quite popular in Estonia then?

[borderwolf]

Estonia
week 39

Albums
3 QUEEN+PAUL RODGERS,COSMOS ROCKS 2008
14 QUEEN,PLATINUM COLLECTION 3CD
21 QUEEN,GREATEST HITS II 1991
27 QUEEN+PAUL RODGERS,COSMOS ROCKS SP.ED.CD+DVD
39 QUEEN,GREATEST HITS I 1981
82 QUEEN,GREATEST HITS III 1999


Dvd
1 QUEEN,LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM 2DVD 2003
3 QUEEN,GREATEST VIDEO HITS 1 2DVD
4 QUEEN,GREATEST VIDEO HITS VOL.2 2003
7 QUEEN,QUEEN ON FIRE-LIVE AT THE BOWL 2DVD 2004
12 QUEEN,FREDDIE MERCURY TRIBUTE SP.10TH ANN.ED. 2008
20 QUEEN+PAUL RODGERS,RETURN OF THE CHAMPIONS 2005

[HUR]

Belgium,
Mid-price chart

#13 - Greatest hits 1 (5 weeks in)

Its highest position is (as shown on the chart this week) #10 in that chart.

[HUR]

If Queen Hits I is now selling for around Ģ5 compared with the initial price of Ģ11.99 (or whatever) should sales not be halved to refelect this?

It is being sold at such a reduced price?. What are you waiting to pick up a copy?. Are you crazy?.

[HUR]

Australia, this week:

38 Queen - Greatest Hits: 1 158 units sold

Selling well since several weeks...

[brian05]

Russell Ash - the 'Top Ten Of Everything',
compiler - was sent the April 2008 Top 10 UK Albums
List - with their Sales. (The OCC sent them to him).
He has rounded some of them up, & some of them down.

Thanks for your explanation.

Now to be somewhat controversial!!

Is it right to include sales of albums which originally sold at full price with those selling at greatly reduced prices?

If Queen Hits I is now selling for around Ģ5 compared with the initial price of Ģ11.99 (or whatever) should sales not be halved to refelect this?

I have seen Sgt Pepper on sale for anything between Ģ10 and Ģ16. Imagine the big jump in sales if it was on sale for just Ģ5.

I can't think of any other major artist that does not have their CDs reduced in price. You won't see Beatles studio CDs in the bargain bin.

With differential pricing we are not comparing like with like. Sales or income produced - which is more statistically correct?

EMI must have some policy that Beatles studio CDs will not be sold under a certain value (even after 45 years). Only their Hits CDs have been discounted.

[HUR]

Brian05, Russell Ash - the 'Top Ten Of Everything',
compiler - was sent the April 2008 Top 10 UK Albums
List - with their Sales. (The OCC sent them to him).
He has rounded some of them up, & some of them down.
It was for his Book - especially for it, that The
OCC up-dated the Top 10 Albums Totals in April.
However, for some reason, he has removed 400,000
Sales from The Beatles Album, at No.2! In April
he was definitely sent a figure of 4,899,665 for
it. He should have rounded that up - to 4,900,000.
Instead he's lowered it to 4,500,000 - a stupid
thing to do!!

Queen's 'Greatest Hits' (One) has not sold 43
Million copies. The biggest estimate I've seen
for it is 27.5 Million. The 'Top Ten Of Everything'
makes many mistakes. It takes a lot of its Data
from sources that are inaccurate. In the past, it
has sometimes said that Honshu, (largest of the
Islands that make Japan), is the 7th Biggest Island
in the World, & that Great Britain is the 8th. At
other times it says that Great Britain is 7th &
Honshu is 8th! How the 2 Islands can shrink & expand,
- within a few Years - I do not know!.

Globally, I've seen estimates for 'Greatest Hits
II', by Queen, of 16 Million to 22 Million. The 43
Million claim for 'Greatest Hits' (One), looks
suspiciously like the 16 Million figure for 'GHII'
being added to the 27.5 Million figure for the 1st
Queen 'Hits' Album, to me.

Zeus555

Maybe they added the "Greatest hits 1&2" and "Platinum collection" to the "Greatest hits 1" to get as much as 43,000,000 worldwide, which is still on the high side, of course, but not so much. It is just a claim...

Still "Greatest hits 1" had sold 25 million by september 2002, and by now roughly 30,000,000 worldwide.

There is no way "Greatest hits 2" sold "only" 16 million if you count "Classic queen" as part of its sales as it is always done for it. That album had some amazing runnings. And even adding certificatons only you get nearly as much as 15 million, so 16 million overall would look very low.

Europe: 12,700,000 (estimated by me in the previous page)
USA: 3,274,000 (retail sales alone, it should be more with some sales not sampled by Soundscan)
Canada: 1,200,000 (estimated by MJD)
Australia: 560,000
New Zealand: 165,000
Argentina: 650,000
Brazil: 750,000
Mexico: 500,000
South Africa: 100,000+
Japan: 100,000
Singapore: 20,000+
Honk Kong: 20,000+

Look how strong it was every single market, notably in Latin America. In Argentina, in the top 10 in early 1992, there were 3 Queen records charting simultaneously including that one, just to show theor strong selling power...

[HUR]

Here is "Made in heaven" re-estimated in Europe:

UK: 1,400,000*
Netherlands: 300,000**
Swizerland: 200,000
Germany: 1,700,000
Spain: 350,000***
Italy: 700,000
Austria: 150,000
Sweden: 50,000
Finland: 55,000
France: 700,000

Total (estimated): 6,700,000

*UK, confirmed by Jimmypage59
**In Netherlands, it sold 243,033 until february 2004, which would denote sales of around 250,000 CDs only. Say around 300,000 overall, counting all formats (maybe a bit less).
***In Spain, it sold 281,785 CDs only as of december 2004, and roughly 290,000 copies by now. With cassettes and vinyls, it should be at about 350,000 copies up to now.


Other countries:

USA: 600,000
Canada: 100,000
Australia: 100,000 (certified platinum back in 1995)
New Zealand: 55,000
Korea: 100,000+
Honk Kong: 20,000+
Singapore: 20,000+
Argentina: 120,000
Mexico: 100,000+
South Africa: 100,000+
Japan: 600,000 (322,000 CDs in just 10 weeks while it charted and two further re-entries)

Could this album have sold 10 million worldwide as claimed in several sources?. Maybe not, but it is very close.

[HUR]

Lol, I'm not waiting much. I'm rebuilding my website, updating absolutely everything. That's not a small task!! But I'm almost ending, I need to get the correct cert levels in Belgium over years, and migrate from the old site to the new the French charts infos and all will be ended, I already rebuild all the rest. Then I will work on Queen, to put it on the new site as well, with all my estimates

Oh I see, sorry for insisting too much, but I really want to see the kind of numbers you come up with. And see if some of them fit with my own calculation. You are the expert here...If you have any doubt regarding dates of release or things like, you know eher you can ask for that information, of course.

[MJDangerous]

Lol, I'm not waiting much. I'm rebuilding my website, updating absolutely everything. That's not a small task!! But I'm almost ending, I need to get the correct cert levels in Belgium over years, and migrate from the old site to the new the French charts infos and all will be ended, I already rebuild all the rest. Then I will work on Queen, to put it on the new site as well, with all my estimates