Queen :: Charts & Sales History

[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.

[borderwolf]

Portugal
dvd, week 39

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

[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...

[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.

[marcsgirl85]

thanks for the info guys

[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.

[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]

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).

[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).

[borderwolf]

Argentina
weekly (ending 20 september) shipments chart


#10 Greatest Hits
(QUEEN)

#20 Greatest Hits Vol III
(QUEEN)

[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.

[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

[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

[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... :-?

[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]

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]

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

[jimmypages59]

Hur,

With regards to the A Night at the OPera DVD, is it this one that you mean http://www.musicdirect.com/product/79948

or the DVD audio one?

[HUR]

Thanks for asking, Jimmy, my request wasn´t that clear. Yes, that was the one I was refering to in my previous post, the Eagle Vision´s classic album series (released in 2006, if I remember correctly).

[brian05]

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.


Zeus555

My apologies - the source was in fact The Top Ten of Everything 2009. (I was reading both books at the same time in the shop).

The top selling UK albums.
1] Queen Hits I 5,580,000
2] Sgt. Pepper 4,500,000
3] Morning Glory 4,365,000
4] Abba Gold 4,100,000
5] Brothers in arms 4,030,000
6] Dark side of the moon 3,925,000
7] Queen Hits II 3,710,000
8] Thriller 3,615,000
9] Bad 3,570,000
10] Immmaculate collection 3,560,000

Source: OCC

Apart from Sgt Pepper these figures are close to the updated April 2008 sales, rounded up or down.

They further state that world sales for Queen Hits I are 43,000,000.

[HUR]

They further state that world sales for Queen Hits I are 43,000,000

Wow I love that figure. Queen rule.

[HUR]

Netherlands,
Mid-price chart

#28 - Live at wembley ´86 (up from #32)

It had charted 33 weeks inside the back catalog charts over Netherlands. In that country, the album peaked #9 in 1992 spending 23 weeks, although it wasn´t that great a performance, it estimated it sold enough for a gold only in that year and 1993, which would be 50,000. Then it did 17,857 copies in the CD format only from 1994 to february 2004 (average of roughly 1,7k by year), so that makes it around 20,000 counting all formats. If we add a further copies since 2004 (as already stated it did very fine on the back catalog chart), I think it has sold easily around 75,000 overall in that country.


And it has sold consistantly well in recent yeras, nit just in that country but in other parts in Europe:

Italy: #13 (38)
Spain: #14 (18)
Belgium (mid-price): #10 (18)
France (mid price): #5

Estimated in Europe:

UK: 700,000*
France: 550,000
Italy: 500,000**
Spain: 300,000***
Germany: 300,000
Netherlands: 75,000
Switzerland: 35,000
Austria: 35,000
Finland: 15,000
Sweden: 25,000

Total (estimated): 3,000,000

*In UK, it sold 479,551 from july 1992 to december 2006, including 46,535 just for the second half of 1992. This leaves 433,016 from 2003 to december 2006 (provided by Jimmypage59, based on shipments). The reason why it did "only" 46,535 in UK in 1992 is that its initial shipments weren´t counted as the album had been released in may 1992, and charted at #2 ending up at #54 in year-end of 1992, denoting sales of 200-220k alone (retail). So say around 250,000 copies shipped just in 1992.

To sum up: 250,000 (1992) + 433,016 (from 1993 to december 2006), would be 683,016. Adding catalog sales for both 2007 and 2008 (there is still demand for the album as it charted 4 weeks in the top 200 last year, including a week at #68), I estimated at 700,000 shipped up to now.

**In italy, it was #1 during 5 weeks in 1992 and sold 300,000 copies. Counting 2005 and 2006, the album had two incursions inside the top 40 in both years (including a peak at #13 in 2006) and 38 weeks in the top 100 which shows its stong catalog sales.

***In Spain it sold 202,000 CDs up to 2004. This denotes sales of around 270,000 overall, counting all formats like cassettes and vinyls (which were still a significant share of the markets back in the 90´s). The album charted amazingly well between 2005 and 2006, peaking at #14 with 18 weeks in. Therefore my estimation of 300k.

[borderwolf]

Italy
FIMI dvd chart, week 39

#04 LIVE AT WEMBLEY STADIUM
QUEEN

#12 GREATEST VIDEO HITS I
QUEEN

#13 GREATEST VIDEO HITS II
QUEEN

#19 QUEEN ON FIRE - LIVE AT THE BOWL
QUEEN

[zeus555]

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

[EdWood]

Greatest Hits 1 has sold at least 30 million copies worldwide - it is continously in the lower reaches of charts all over the world -its still in the top 40 UK album charts this week as well! 43 million worldwide is of course inaccurate..

Greatest Hits 2 (with sales from Classic Queen in North America) has probably sold 22m+. This has actually gone up the UK charts this week to number 65 from 67. These 2 albums have sold more then 50 million albums between them... I wonder if they will still be charting when Queen + Paul Rodgers tour the UK in mid October?