Queen :: Charts & Sales History

[HUR]

And with the new german certifications, here is "Greatest hits 2" re-estimatd in Europe:

UK: 3,000,000*
Netherlands: 700,000
Italy: 1,300,000
France: 1,500,000**
Switzerland: 325,000
Austria: 250,000
Sweden: 350,000
Finland: 140,000
Germany: 2,250,000
Spain: 800,000***

*UK is difficult because of a lot of contradictive information.
**It was at 1,300,000 by march 1993.
***It had shipped 660,606 CDs only by 2004.

Total (estimated) - 12,700,000

Argentina: 650,000
Brazil: 750,000
Mexico: 500,000

Total Latin America (estimated) - 2,300,000

Australia: 560,000
New Zealand: 165,000
South Africa: 100,000
Honk Kong: 20,000+
Singapore: 20,000
Japan: 100,000

[EdWood]

This week on UK singles charts:

116. (33) C-LEBRITY (Queen + Paul Rodgers) :x
131. (121) DON’T STOP ME NOW (Queen)

In UK album chart:

Apart from both Queens Greatest Hits and Greatest Hits 2 in the top 75....
195. (143) GREATEST HITS I II & III (Queen)

[HUR]

On Canadian Top 100 Album Chart this week:

Queen's Greatest Hits: 85 (73) 107 weeks on chart

On US Top Pop Catalog Chart:

Queen's Greatest Hits: 24 (25) 749 weeks on combined chart

I wonder if the release of The Cosmos Rocks next month in North America will affect their catalogue sales...probably not... :-?

"Greatest hits 1" sold roughly 3,400 copies in USA last week (#179 on the billboard comprehensive chart), and around 6,000 copies in UK. Combining Australia and Canada, it did (I guess) 1,000+ too.

[EdWood]

On Canadian Top 100 Album Chart this week:

Queen's Greatest Hits: 85 (73) 107 weeks on chart

On US Top Pop Catalog Chart:

Queen's Greatest Hits: 24 (25) 749 weeks on combined chart

I wonder if the release of The Cosmos Rocks next month in North America will affect their catalogue sales...probably not... :-?

[zeus555]

According to the latest Guiness Book of Records (published on 19/9/2008) the top selling albums in the UK are,

Queen Greatest Hits 5,580,000
Sgt. Pepper 4,500,000

Wonder why sales for Sgt. Pepper have been downgraded from 4,800,000?

The Guinness Book has clearly made a mistake.
The OCC published the All Time UK Top 100 Albums
Chart in November 2006, & The Beatles Album was
2nd - on 4,811,966 Sales.

In November 2007 they up-dated the Top 12, &
The Beatles Album was given 4,880,000 Sales.
In April this Year, the Top 10 was up-dated
& The Beatles Album was given 4,899,665 Sales.
In August, Alan Jones, ('Music Week'), gave
it 4,896,399 Sales - an inexplicable drop of
3,266 Sales on its April figure.

However, none of those figures show The Beatles
Album on 4,500,000 Sales. The Guinness Book is
clearly using a way out of date Total for it -
one that is almost 400,000 too low!

But - its figure for the Queen Album is correct -
going by The OCC & 'Music Week's, Sales for it since
November 2006. (The Book has clearly used The OCC's
April Total - 5,579,309 - and rounded it up).

'Greatest Hits' (One) - Queen:,

1) November 2006 - 5,407,587 (OCC Total)
2) November 2007 - 5,538,000 (OCC Total)
3) April 30th 2008 - 5,579,309 (OCC Total)
4) Mid August 2008 - 5,651,785 ('Music Week' Total)

It has sold steadily since then, (Mid August), &
is currently up from No.51 to No.31 in the UK
Top 75. So, 5,750,000 to 5,800,000 Sales is about
where it will be by December 31st this Year.

Zeus555

[HUR]

Total estimated in Spain (using oficcial shipments reported by their record company) Their early albums are difficult to gauge, but I will as much as I can:

Queen: 75,000
Queen 2: 75,000
Sheer heart attack: 100,000
A night at the opera: 350,000
A day at the races: 120,000
News of the world: 50,000
Jazz: 100,000
Live killers: 50,000
The game: 125,000
Flash Gordon: 50,000
Hot space: 125,000
The works: 200,000
A kind of magic: 300,000
Live magic: 200,000
The miracle: 250,000
Innuendo: 200,000
Greatest hits 2: 800,000
Live at wembley ´86: 300,000
Five live: 30,000
Greatest hits 1&2: 250,000
Made in heaven: 350,000
Queen rocks: 90,000
Greatest hits 3: 100,000
Platinum collection: 300,000
Queen on fire: 60,000
Return of the champions: 10,000
Queen rock montreal: 30,000

Total: 5,150,000

[HUR]

Here is "Platinum collection" re-estimated in Europe with new figure provided by Jimmypage59:

UK: 1,760,000
Netherlands: 225,000
Germany: 300,000
Spain: 300,000*
France: 300,000
Italy: 650,000**
Switzerland: 40,000
Austria: 20,000
Sweden: 80,000
Finland: 20,000

*In Spain, it had shipped 197,000 CDs by december 2004.
**In Italy, it did 420,000 copies between early january 2002 to the second week of december 2003.

Total (estimated): 4,400,000

By now, it has sold roughly 650,000 copies in USA and 50,000 in Canada.

[borderwolf]

Argentina
weekly (ending 20 september) shipments chart


#10 Greatest Hits
(QUEEN)

#20 Greatest Hits Vol III
(QUEEN)

[HUR]

Czech Republic,
DVD chart

#14 - Live at wembley ´86

In Australia, "Greatest hits 1" still inside the top 50 at #36 (down from #30 over there).

[HUR]

According to the latest Guiness Book of Records (published on 19/9/2008) the top selling albums in the UK are,

Queen Greatest Hits 5,580,000
Sgt. Pepper 4,500,000

Wonder why sales for Sgt. Pepper have been downgraded from 4,800,000?

Because they hate the Beatles, as I told you. Remember that Queen spent more weeks in the official charts (and in the top 200 too), and they claimed they are stronger than the fab four...

Still my estimation for their "Greatest hits 1" alone (not counting any box set added to its total) is roughly 5,500,000 (shipments, of course).

[brian05]

According to the latest Guiness Book of Records (published on 19/9/2008) the top selling albums in the UK are,

Queen Greatest Hits 5,580,000
Sgt. Pepper 4,500,000

Wonder why sales for Sgt. Pepper have been downgraded from 4,800,000?

[HUR]

Most top ten album in Japan (international acts)

Most top ten in Japan

1 Beatles 17
2 Madonna 17
3 Paul McCartney 13
3 Queen 13
5 Rolling Stones 13
5 Carpenters 12

Queen number one´s (international Oricon chart)

Sheer heart attack #1
A night at the opera #1
A day at the races #1 (national chart, 1 week)
News of the world #1
Jazz #1 (2 weeks)
The game #1 (4 weeks)
Greatest hits 1 #1 (1 week)
Queen in vision #1 (3 weeks)
Queen jewels #1 (11 weeks) (national chart, 3 weeks)
Queen jewels 2 #1 (1 week)

“Live killers”, “Hot space”, and “The works” were #2. "Return of the champions” was #3. “Flash Gordon” and “Innuendo” were #4.

[marcsgirl85]

thanks for the info guys

[HUR]

Thank you, Edwood, glad that at least you read my numbers. Yes, I agree that 30 million would a nice rouded up figure, maybe over 29 million. But the album is up there.

As for Germany, those are complete shipments, I guess, as Queen were always under contract with EMI and "Greatest hits 1" was first certified gold in 1982 after it reached #1 during two weeks over there. Still, I will go by what EMI says, even if it is well below my expectations (I can´t believe how the first "Greatest hits 1" shipped more than "Greatest hits 2" in the last 15 years), as at least it is from their record company.

[EdWood]

Well, thanks to update in Germany, here is how Queen "Greatest hits 1" should look like in Europe then, a new estimation again:

UK: 5,500,000
Netherlands: 700,000
Switzerland: 300,000
Germany: 1,800,000
Italy: 400,000
France: 600,000
Spain: 450,000 (including 1282,700 CDs from january 1985 to december 2004)
Austria: 250,000 (it reached #25 this year, charting during 7 weeks inside the top 75)
Finland: 70,000 (including 55,000 CDs sold since 1984)
Sweden: 150,000

Total for these 10 countries: 1,220,000

Adding the rest, by using the factor of 1,2 (like MJDangerous), we now get 12,300,000 roughly in Europe.

I´m still surprised of how low it sold since 1993 in Germany, that means at most 300,000 shipped in the last 15 years. You would have expected to be much higher, no?.

USA: 9,800,000
Canada: 1,500,000
New Zealand: 190,000+
Australia: 1,200,000
Japan: 600,000
Korea: 600,000
South Africa: 100,000+
Singapore: 20,000+
Honk Kong: 10,000+
Argentina: 700,000
Brazil: 250,000+
Mexico: 250,000+

Total worldwide: maybe around 30,000,000

This looks possible considering the album had officially reached the 25 million mark by september 2002, and then kept selling around 5 million since then (including over 3,000,000 in USA and Canada alone).

Please guys, any consensus?. I posted them several times, and I see very little reply, any opinion?. Maybe MJD?. Someone?.

I agree that this album has now sold 30 million copies worldwide as a bare minimum. It is still in album charts all over the world - Australia, Canada, US Top Pop Catalog Charts - it never seems to leave this chart!, and now it is back in the UK top 40 album chart.

The awards given in Germany may not be a total true reflection on its sales/shipments in those countries. A large number of albums have been uncertified. For example, does the figure for Greatest Hits in Germany come from one record company? In Australia, as Queen changed record companies in 1984, we don't know what Greatest Hits sold from 1981-1984...

[borderwolf]

Portugal
dvd, week 39

14 (RE) 75wks
11xPlatinum
LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM - QUEEN

[borderwolf]

Argentina
biweekly sales DVD chart
first part of september

4 Live in Japan
(QUEEN) GLD

17 The Freddie Mercury Story
(QUEEN) BGM IND. DEL DISCO S.A.

[HUR]

Well, thanks to update in Germany, here is how Queen "Greatest hits 1" should look like in Europe then, a new estimation again:

UK: 5,500,000
Netherlands: 700,000
Switzerland: 300,000
Germany: 1,800,000
Italy: 400,000
France: 600,000
Spain: 450,000 (including 1282,700 CDs from january 1985 to december 2004)
Austria: 250,000 (it reached #25 this year, charting during 7 weeks inside the top 75)
Finland: 70,000 (including 55,000 CDs sold since 1984)
Sweden: 150,000

Total for these 10 countries: 1,220,000

Adding the rest, by using the factor of 1,2 (like MJDangerous), we now get 12,300,000 roughly in Europe.

I´m still surprised of how low it sold since 1993 in Germany, that means at most 300,000 shipped in the last 15 years. You would have expected to be much higher, no?.

USA: 9,800,000
Canada: 1,500,000
New Zealand: 190,000+
Australia: 1,200,000
Japan: 600,000
Korea: 600,000
South Africa: 100,000+
Singapore: 20,000+
Honk Kong: 10,000+
Argentina: 700,000
Brazil: 250,000+
Mexico: 250,000+

Total worldwide: maybe around 30,000,000

This looks possible considering the album had officially reached the 25 million mark by september 2002, and then kept selling around 5 million since then (including over 3,000,000 in USA and Canada alone).

Please guys, any consensus?. I posted them several times, and I see very little reply, any opinion?. Maybe MJD?. Someone?.

[HUR]

MJ and HUR, is there anything in particular you would like to see for Queen?

Yes, I would really like to see sales for these DVDs to complete my figures:

-The Freddie Mercury tribure concert
-Made in heaven - The films
-A night at the opera

And, if possible, an update for their first "Greatest hits 1", including sales until this year (if no until december 2007). Thank you, mate.

[jimmypages59]

MJ and HUR, is there anything in particular you would like to see for Queen?

[MJDangerous]

Queen - Platinum Collection
2000 --- 51,882
2001 --- 41,340
2002 --- 844,115
2003 --- 250,709
2004 --- 153,170
2005 --- 157,929
2006 --- 66,968
2007 --- 77,804
2008 --- 103,456
Total --- 1,747,373

Wow, good to see your figures back

If you have something else about Queen or someone else, you know where you should post it

[HUR]

Hur wrote

It means the Platinum collection sold 99,500 copies so far this year in UK (estimated by Dave on haven). Shipments for that album are close to 1,800,000 copies overall.

Good guess

Queen - Platinum Collection
2000 --- 51,882
2001 --- 41,340
2002 --- 844,115
2003 --- 250,709
2004 --- 153,170
2005 --- 157,929
2006 --- 66,968
2007 --- 77,804
2008 --- 103,456
Total --- 1,747,373

Shipments go up to end of June 2008, so only missing 2.5 months of shipments. I would imagine its not quite at 1.8m yet, but very near.

Thank you, mate. I´m glad you posted this update. So yes, maybe roughly 1,760,000 by now. It wasn´t available through clubs, apparently, that´s the reason why I thoght it was slightly higher. Thank you, again.

[jimmypages59]

Hur wrote

It means the Platinum collection sold 99,500 copies so far this year in UK (estimated by Dave on haven). Shipments for that album are close to 1,800,000 copies overall.

Good guess

Queen - Platinum Collection
2000 --- 51,882
2001 --- 41,340
2002 --- 844,115
2003 --- 250,709
2004 --- 153,170
2005 --- 157,929
2006 --- 66,968
2007 --- 77,804
2008 --- 103,456
Total --- 1,747,373

Shipments go up to end of June 2008, so only missing 2.5 months of shipments. I would imagine its not quite at 1.8m yet, but very near.

[HUR]

From Pulse (digital sales):

30 183 181 182 QUEEN BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY 7,022 -6 7,456 1,393,104

Some totals:

Bohemian Rhapsody: 1,393,104
We Will Rock You: 1,168,000
We Are The Champons: 673,046
Under Pressure: 502,437

Another One Bites The Dust certfied gold in 2005 for sales of 100,000.

Total for just 5 songs (not updated most fo them): 3,836,587

In Japan, I Was Born To Love You 500,000.

Very little about UK, but "Don´t Stop Me Now" sold about 120,000 copies so far, and "Bohemian Rhapsody" around 100,000. Total digital sales probably around 400,000 up to now.

[HUR]

From Brianmay.com:

"These award were been given in respect of over 4 million sales combined of Greatest Hits I (1,800,000 units = 7 x Gold) & Greatest Hits II (2,200,000 units = 9 x Gold) in GERMANY only. Both albums are featured on the award."

Glad they give us an updated number. But those sales are a disappointment to me.

Firstly, "Greatest hits 2" at 9 gold should be 2,250,000 in reality (maybe a typo on the site), but I thought this one had sold easily 2,500,000 (enough for a further platinum). Even onn german television, back in 2003, a figure of 2,7 M was claimed and I believed it. The album had massive runnings after its certification, even peaking at #19 in 1997 and spending loads of weeks.

"Greatest hits 1" only shipped 300,000 since 1993, even strong too, charting many weeks in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 2006.

Also "Greatest hits 1" shipped even more than "Greatest hits 2", when it is obviously below as a catalog seller...