Queen :: Charts & Sales History

[Classicrock]

What is this "Jewel" release in Japan all about? What are the tracks?
Why availalbe only in Japan?

[HUR]

There, I made my own breakdown for Queen Greatest hits 2, some posts above. Please, if someone has more information (specially for Asian markets, ans other places that I donīt have) or wants to make some corrections, post them here.

[HUR]

Thank you MJ Dangerous. Yes I know that some figures are higher than that. In Canada, Greatest hits 1 spent more than 400 weeks on catalog charts. And for Japan it sold 147.000 copies their three entries on the charts (in 1981, 1986 and 2001), but sales are bigger as you said. If your estimations are right, it gives about 20 M in those 13 countries. How are your estimations for the rest of the world?. There is no many information avaible from other places. Thank you for your answer.

[MJDangerous]

Well, here I leave my breakdown about Greatest hits 1, in selected countries:

UK: 5,1 M (Basilīs numbers)

USA: 8,5 M

GER: 1,7 M

NET: 0,4 M (estimated)

AUS AND NEW ZEL: 1 M

CAN: 0,3 M

BRA: 0,25 M

SPA: 0,2 M

SWISS: 0,25 M

AUS: 0,2 M

KOR: 0,5 M

JAP: 0,147 M


If those numbers are right, that gives a total of 18,5 M in only 13 countries. And it has to add sales from countries in which the album was huge, like Argentina, South Africa and others. And it has to update figures for most countries like Canada, Japan, Austria, and a lot more.

Can I "dream" with a 25 M figure worldwide?. I would like to hear opinions from specialists here What do you think?.

Hur I think that 3 of those sales are 'fake' : Canada, Brazil, Japan. It sold sure MUCH more in those countries.
In Canada it is an incredible catalog seller even more than in USA, it is selling like an album charted in the bottom of the top 100 every week. It was certified 300k in 1994, it sold by now an absolute minimum of 800000 copies, I think that this is more around 1 million.
In Brazil I can't believe that this album have so low sales. Sales in this country are much higher than what people are thinking, this is a market stronger than the Italian or the Spanish market for example.
About Japan, it sold 147k in a few weeks and without import sales, I estimate his sales easily over 500k in this country.

[HUR]

Here, I leave my list of all nunber one albums that I have.

Queen number one albums

- "A night at the opera": UK (4 weeks), Netherlands (9 weeks), Finland, Australia (2 weeks), Japan (on international charts).

- "A day at the races": UK (1 week), Netherlands (5 weeks), Japan (1 weeks).

- "News of the world": Netherlands (5 weeks), France (3 weeks), Japan (on international charts).

- "Jazz": Japan (on international charts)

- "The game": UK (2 weeks), USA (5 weeks), Canada, Argentina, Japan (on international charts).

- "Flash Gordon": Austria (2 weeks).

- Greatest hits 1: UK (4 weeks), Netherlands (4 weeks), Austria (4 weeks), Germany (2 weeks), Spain (1 week), Japan (on international charts).

- "Hot space": Austria (2 weeks)

- "The works": Netherlands (2 weeks)

- "A kind of magic": UK (1 week)

- "The miracle": UK (1 week), Netherlands (3 weeks), Switzerland (2 weeks), Austria (1 week), Germany (8 weeks), Finland.

- "Innuendo": UK (2 weeks), Netherlands (4 weeks), Switzerland (8 weeks), Germany (6 weeks), Italy.

- Greatest hits 2: UK (5 weeks), Netherlands (13 weeks), Switzerlands (11 weeks), Austria (3 weeks), Italy, Finland, Spain (8 weeks), France (4 weeks), Hungary, Canada.

- "Live at wembley": Italy

- "Made in heaven": UK (1 week), Netherlands (4 weeks), Switzerland (9 weeks), Austria (9 weeks), Germany (10 weeks), Finland, Denmark, Spain (2 weeks), Italy, Sweden.

- "In vision" (japanese only release): Japan (on international charts).

Platinium collection: South Africa, Korea, France (on mid price charts).

Queen jewels: Japan (3 weeks), Taiwan (on international charts).

So, they had 18 different numnber one albums (counting japanese international charts)

[HUR]

Greates hits 2

Here my breakdown about this album.

Europe
UK 2.500.000 (estimated, shop sales only)
Netherlands 500.000 (1997)
Swistzerlands 250.000
Austria 200.000 (1997)
Germany 2.500.000 (estimated)
Finland 132.000 (2003)
Italy 1.000.000 (1992)
Spain 700.000 (estimated)
Chez. Republic 60.000
France 1.500.000
Sweden 200.000 (estimeted)
Denmark 250.000

South America

Brazil 500.000 (1999)
Argentina 500.000(2002)
Mexico 250.000

Classic Queen (only for USA and Canada)

USA 3.200.000
Canada 500.000 (1993)

Well, it has to say that the album was huge in most european countries. It was number one in the following countries: UK (5 weeks), Netherlands (13 weeks), Switzerland (11 weeks), Austria (3 weeks), Italy, Spain (8 weeks), Hungary, France (4 weeks). It was also at number 2 in Germany (12 weeks at that positions), and Sweden, and number 4 in Norway.

About South America, in Brazil, I have to say that sales were bigger than 500.000 copies. It was certified 2 platinum award in 1999, but in Brazil those certifications are given for cdīs sales (as I understand). I think that sales there must be close to million copies. And itīs the same for Argentina, where itīs said to be over one million copies. Dispite that, I still prefere those conservative figures.

For Canada, the album has been more than 400 weeks on back catalog. charts, so sales are higher than 500.000 copies.

I also took two figures from a Queen site: I have 150.000 copies for New Zeland, and 280.000 for Australia. But I havenīt confirmed.

The album was probably huge in another small countries, like Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, Estonia, and others. And I donīt have figures for Asian countries and other places. Therefore, if I could get some more figures, or update some of aboveīs numbers, sales for this album could be at very big number.

Only with the figures that I have, sales are over 15 millions copies.

[HUR]

Well, here I leave my breakdown about Greatest hits 1, in selected countries:

UK: 5,1 M (Basilīs numbers)

USA: 8,5 M

GER: 1,7 M

NET: 0,4 M (estimated)

AUS AND NEW ZEL: 1 M

CAN: 0,3 M

BRA: 0,25 M

SPA: 0,2 M

SWISS: 0,25 M

AUS: 0,2 M

KOR: 0,5 M

JAP: 0,147 M


If those numbers are right, that gives a total of 18,5 M in only 13 countries. And it has to add sales from countries in which the album was huge, like Argentina, South Africa and others. And it has to update figures for most countries like Canada, Japan, Austria, and a lot more.

Can I "dream" with a 25 M figure worldwide?. I would like to hear opinions from specialists here What do you think?.

[HUR]

Here, a link with the article which appeard on "Los 40 principales" in 2004:

http://www.los40.com/articulo/noticias/ ... not_5/Tes/

[HUR]

Hello Nelson, here I leave a link:

http://www.emimusic-spain.com/

And the diamond award was at that moment 1 M, I donīt if itīs low than that nowaday.

It was not a "real" Diamond award, they receive it for all their discogrpahy (3M CDs). it's not like an official AFYVE certification (even if its' true)

Yes, of course, it was for all their albums in cdīs, and they were given by EMI. I donīt know how "official" we can considere them, but I think they are true.

[john2000]

Hello Nelson, here I leave a link:

http://www.emimusic-spain.com/

And the diamond award was at that moment 1 M, I donīt if itīs low than that nowaday.

It was not a "real" Diamond award, they receive it for all their discogrpahy (3M CDs). it's not like an official AFYVE certification (even if its' true)

[HUR]

Hello Nelson, here I leave a link:

http://www.emimusic-spain.com/

And the diamond award was at that moment 1 M, I donīt if itīs low than that nowaday.

[nelson]

For example in the case of Queen, they were given 3 diamonnd awards for their sales in Spain in 2004. So in that moment, EMI gave those numbers.

Hello, Hur, can you give me the link?
And how many units for diamond in Spain?
Thanks.

[HUR]

Hello Nelson. Well, I donīt have any other figure, sorry. My friend gave me those figures because he knew Iīm a Queen fan. I even donīt know if they are true, although they seem to be right.

But anyway, you could visit EMIīs pages from different countries (or others labels) from time to time and search for some artists, and maybe you find something. For example in the case of Queen, they were given 3 diamonnd awards for their sales in Spain in 2004. So in that moment, EMI gave those numbers.

[nelson]

Some years back, a friend gave some numbers about Queenīs sales in Spain and Netherlands. They were taken from EMIīs pages of those countries. However, when I wanted to find that information, I couldnīt. But a few weeks ago I found those same numbers in a Queen site: caal.net.

Spain (cdīs only until 2004)
Netherlands (cdīs only between 1994 and 2003)

I donīt know if they are confirmed, but look right.

Hello, Hur, do you have the similar figures for other artists?

[HUR]

Some years back, a friend gave some numbers about Queenīs sales in Spain and Netherlands. They were taken from EMIīs pages of those countries. However, when I wanted to find that information, I couldnīt. But a few weeks ago I found those same numbers in a Queen site: caal.net.

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





Netherlands (cdīs only between 1994 and 2003)

Greatest hits 2: 174.580

Greatest hits 1: 155.481

"A night at the opera": 27.458

"A day at the races": 13.037

"A kind of magic": 16.567

"Live magic": 19.445

"Innuendo": 23.221

"Live at wembley": 17.587

"Made in heaven": 243.033

Queen rocks: 28.487

Greatest hits 3: 66.791

Platinium collection: 138.379

Total: 906.479


I donīt know if they are confirmed, but look right.

[Basil]

Looking at the track listings of the various Greatest Hits in the UK.....

Greatest Hits Vol 1 - 17 tracks - all UK and/or US hits.

Greatest Hits Vol 2 - 17 tracks - all UK and/or US hits.

This leaves exactly 17 tracks which were UK/US hits. How neat is that?

So why on earth didn't Greatest Hits Vol 3 comprise these 17 hits??

If it had, Greatest Hits Vol 3 would have comprised

1 - Tie Your Mother Down
2 - Spread Your Wings
3 - It's Late
4 - Love Of My Life
5 - Need Your Loving Tonight
6 - Body Language
7 - Las Palabras De Amor
8 - Calling All Girls
9 - Backchat
10 - Thank God It's Christmas
11 - Scandal
12 - These Are The Days Of Our Lives
13 - Heaven For Everyone
14 - A Winter's Tale
15 - Too Much Love Will Kill You
16 - Let Me Live
17 - You Don't Fool Me

OK, not as strong as Vol 1 and Vol 2, but they were all hits (by Queen on their own and with Freddie singing).

If you didn't want the Christmas song, you could have substituted (just for example):-

No-One But You
Princes of the Universe
Stone Cold Crazy
Keep Yourself Alive

Instead we got the Turkey called Greatest Hits Vol 3 that was actually released. Who the hell compiled this? Compared to Vols 1 & 2 it's sales were abysmal - quelle surprise. An unfortunate blip on the Queen catalogue.

[Basil]

I would say RIAA have combined shipments of the old and new "Greatest hits". On the bestselling list Queen is listed with 31.5 million certified units. If I'm any good at math that would mean the 7m is a combined number.

Neat trick Dane, I think that sorts it out. john2000 also make a point about the sequence of the album's certification that further supports this.

[Basil]

Thanks to NothingFails, HUR and Dane for sorting out the track listings.

To summarise

GH 1981 USA - shadowed the UK version but only 14 tracks instead of 17 and Under Pressure included.

GH 1991 USA - similar to the UK version but includes 2 later tracks - Body Language + I Want to Break Free.

Classic 1992 USA - vaguely similar to UK GH 2, but has 2 earlier tracks - Bohemian Rhapsody + Tie Your Mother Down.

GH We Will Rock You 2004 - same as UK GH, plus 3 extra tracks.

Let the riaa sort that out when certifying them!

[Dane]

The LP version I have of Queen "Greatest hits" has 18 songs on it! "Under pressure" is added as the last song on side 1. The album also has 'under pressure' printed on the cover (printed - not a sticker!)

I found a fan site with detailed discography w/tracklisting here:

http://www.pcpki.com/queen/discography/queenalbums.html

Believe it or not there are 108 entries listed for "Greatest hits"!!!

Apparantly my version is German (the label just say 'made in the EEC') catalog number is EMI 064 7 94111 1

[Dane]

by the end of the year, A Night At The Opera should be able to make Dane's list

It looks like it's time for A Kind Of Magic to be recertified platinum since it's done nearly 600k units in the past 15 years.

It's neat to see how that cd has really become a cult classic for Queen (mostly due to Highlander) considering when the album was originally released, it was their poorest selling album after 1974 and failed to make the top 40, yet now only Opera and News Of The World sell more for the studio albums.

Yes, I got my eyes on "Opeara"

I was also surprised to see "A kind of magic" outselling the likes of "The Game", "Live killers" and "A day at the races".
I was a big hit in Europe, but flopped stateside.
Even "Miracle" (the follow-up) charted higher and longer.
It would seem the Americans have changed their minds as "Magic" has outscanned "Miracle" by 10-1!!!

I would say RIAA have combined shipments of the old and new "Greatest hits". On the bestselling list Queen is listed with 31.5 million certified units. If I'm any good at math that would mean the 7m is a combined number.

[HUR]

Well, I leave some tracklisting:

UK Greatest hits 1 (cd)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Mercury)
Another One Bites The Dust (Deacon)
Killer Queen (Mercury)
Fat Bottomed Girls (May) - single version
Bicycle Race (Mercury)
You're My Best Friend (Deacon)
Don't Stop Me Now (Mercury)
Save Me (May)
Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Mercury)
Somebody to Love (Mercury)
Now I'm Here (May)
Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy (Mercury)
Play The Game (Mercury)
Flash (May) - single version
The Seven Seas Of Rhye (Mercury)
We Will Rock You (May)
We Are The Champions (Mercury)


USA- Greatest hits 1
Another One Bites The Dust
Bohemian Rhapsody
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Killer Queen
Fat Bottomed Girls
Bicycle Race
Under Pressure
We Will Rock You
We Are The Champions
Flash
Somebody To Love
You're My Best Friend
Keep Yourself Alive
Play The Game


USA- Greatest hits (1992)
We Will Rock You
We Are The Champions
Another One Bites The Dust
Killer Queen
Somebody To Love
Fat Bottomed Girls
Bicycle Race
You're My Best Friend
Crazy Little Thing Called Love
Now I'm Here
Play The Game
The Seven Seas Of Rhye
Body Language
Save Me
Don't Stop Me Now
Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy
I Want To Break Free


UK- Box set Greatest hits 1 and Greatest hits 2 (1994)
Greatest his 1

Greatest hits 2


USA- Gold collection (1995)
Greatest hits 1

Greatest hits 2


USA- Greatest hits- We will rock you (2004)

Same tracklistist of UK realise

I'm In Love With My Car (UK Single Version)
Under Pressure (Live at Milton Keynes, 1982)
Tie Your Mother Down (Live At Milton Keynes, 1982)

UK- Greatest hits 2 (1991)
"A Kind of Magic" (Roger Taylor)
"Under Pressure" (John Deacon, Brian May, Freddie Mercury, Taylor, David Bowie)
"Radio Ga Ga" (Taylor)
"I Want It All" (Queen) - single version
"I Want To Break Free" (Deacon) - single version
"Innuendo" (Queen)
"It's a Hard Life" (Mercury)
"Breakthru" (Queen)
"Who Wants To Live Forever" (May)
"Headlong" (Queen)
"The Miracle" (Queen)
"I'm Going Slightly Mad" (Queen)
"The Invisible Man" (Queen)
"Hammer to Fall" (May) - single version
"Friends Will Be Friends" (Deacon, Mercury)
"The Show Must Go On" (Queen)
"One Vision" (Queen) - single version


USA- Classic queen (1992)
A Kind of Magic (Roger Taylor)
Bohemian Rhapsody (Freddie Mercury)
Under Pressure (Queen, David Bowie)
Hammer to Fall (Brian May)
Stone Cold Crazy (John Deacon, Brian May, Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor)
One Year of Love (John Deacon)
Radio Ga Ga (Roger Taylor)
I'm Going Slightly Mad (Queen)
I Want It All (Queen)
Tie Your Mother Down (Brian May)
The Miracle (Queen)
These Are the Days of Our Lives (Queen)
One Vision (Queen)
Keep Yourself Alive (Brian May)
Headlong (Queen)
Who Wants To Live Forever (Brian May)
The Show Must Go On (Queen)

UK and USA- Greatest hits 3 (1999)

The Show Must Go On (Live w/ Elton John) (4:35)
Under Pressure (w/ David Bowie) (4:08)
Barcelona (Freddie Mercury w/ Montserrat Caballé) (4:25)
Too Much Love Will Kill You (4:18)
Somebody to Love (Live w/ George Michael (5:07)
You Don't Fool Me (5:22)
Heaven for Everyone (4:37)
Las Palabras de Amor (4:29)
Driven by You (4:09)
Living on My Own (3:37)
Let Me Live (4:45)
The Great Pretender (3:26)
Princes of the Universe (3:31)
Another One Bites the Dust (Remix w/ Wyclef Jean) (4:20)
No-One But You (4:11)
These Are the Days of Our Lives (4:22)
Thank God It's Christmas (4:19)

UK and USA- Platinium collection (2000)
Greatest hits 1

Greatest hits 2

Gretaest hits 3

USA- Stones cold classic (2006)
01. Stone Cold Crazy
02. Tie Your Mother Down
03. Fat Bottomed Girls
04. Another One Bites the Dust
05. Crazy Little Thing Called Love
06. We Will Rock You
07. We Are the Champions
08. Radio Ga Ga
09. Bohemian Rhapsody
10. The Show Must Go On
11. These Are the Days of Our Lives
12. I Want It All
13. All Right Now performed by Queen + Paul Rodgers
14. Feel Like Makin' Love performed by Queen + Paul Rodgers

UK and USA- Queen rocks (1997)


We Will Rock You
Tie Your Mother Down (single version)
I Want It All (hybrid album/single version)
Seven Seas Of Rhye
I Can't Live With You (1997 Rocks retake)
Hammer To Fall (album version)
Stone Cold Crazy
Now I'm Here
Fat Bottomed Girls (album version)
Keep Yourself Alive
Tear It Up
One Vision (album version)
Sheer Heart Attack
I'm In Love With My Car (hybrid album/single version)
Put Out The Fire
Headlong
It's Late
No-One But You

[NothingFails]

I need some help from Queen Fans here.

How correct is the following?

1981 Greatest Hits released in the USA had a different track listing to the UK release.

1991 Greatest Hits released in the USA had a different track listing again. Was it the same as the 1981 UK version?

2004 We Will Rock You-Greatest Hits had one track different to the 1991 USA version.

1994 Greatest Hits 1&11 double set released in the USA had the same track listings as the UK versions of these albums released in 1981 and 1991.

2000 USA Platinum Collection is the same as the UK version.

The UK Greatest Hits II was never released in the US.

The UK Greatest Hits III was never released in the US.

The UK Rocks(1997) was never released in the US, but the track listing is similar to the new US release Stone Cold Classics.

The US 1992 GH is a bit different than the 1981 one. "Classic Queen" was released in early 1992, focusing mostly on 1984-1991 tracks on the UK GHV2 cd, but containing a few older tracks, however, sales exploded thanks to both the Concert For Life special and the usage of "Bohemian Rhapsody" in Wayne's World. Later that year, Hollywood Records released "Greatest Hits", which contained the big 70's and early 80's hits (it went up to 1984's I Want To Break Free) that weren't on Classic Queen, however, the "big guns" from Classic Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody, Under Pressure, Tie Your Mother Down...) were not on Greatest Hits. But as a whole, even with the glaring omission of Bohemian Rhapsody, Greatest Hits became the bigger selling and longer lasting collection of the two considering it contained the bulk of the songs Americans associate with the band.

Now.... the GH1 and GH2 from the UK were released in the US in the mid/late 90's in a 2-disc "Gold Collection" package, and then again in 2001/2002 with GH3 as a "Platinum Collection", but GH1 was eventually rereleased on it's own in 2004 as the "We Will Rock You Edition"

It's kind of a messy situation, but hopefully that clears it up.

[NothingFails]

by the end of the year, A Night At The Opera should be able to make Dane's list

It looks like it's time for A Kind Of Magic to be recertified platinum since it's done nearly 600k units in the past 15 years.

It's neat to see how that cd has really become a cult classic for Queen (mostly due to Highlander) considering when the album was originally released, it was their poorest selling album after 1974 and failed to make the top 40, yet now only Opera and News Of The World sell more for the studio albums.

[john2000]

Re: Queen Sales Thread

However it is unclear if the riaa combined sales of the 1981 and 1991 Greatest Hits albums for certification.

I would say yes. On the other hand, the spread between RIAA shipment and Soundscan sales would be too high. What's more the 91 edition wasn't certified a 2nd time gold or platinum but directly 7X Platinum.

It's also clear that this album is undercertified !

[HUR]

Well, looking at sales figures of Queen since 1984, I have my guess about sales fron their albums in that time:

"The works": 1 M

"A kind of magic": 1 M

"Live magic": 0,6 M

"The miracle": 0,6 M

"Innuendo": 0,5-0,6 M

Greatest hits 2: 2,4-2,8 M

Live at wembley: 0,4-0,5 M

"Made in heaven": 1,3 M

"Queen rocks": 0,3 M

Greatest hits 3: 0,6 M

Platinium colection: 1,36 M

Queen on fire: 0,1 M

The return of the champions: 0,06 M