Yet more than 25 years after the passing of Freddie their valuable catalog remains hot.



Bohemian Rhapsody, Don’t Stop Me Now, Under Pressure, I Want to Break Free, We Will Rock You, We Are The Champions, Another One Bites the Dust, etc. the list of songs by Queen speaks for itself. The Freddie Mercury-led band from London, UK, shook the world with their iconic hits from 1973 to 1991.

More than 25 years after the passing of Freddie their valuable catalog remains hot. As much as we are tempted to believe the band was massive from day 1 until the end, in reality their career wasn’t that easy. They grew album after album until making it big time with their fourth album A Night at the Opera in 1975. It contained their breakthrough smash Bohemian Rhapsody. The follow-up, A Day at the Races was seen as some kind of disappointment at first, News of the World was huge, Jazz average, The Game huge in some places and weak in others, Flash Soundtrack flopped, as did Hot Space. From the 80s, they never recovered their success in the US while it took them a long time before selling an noteworthy album figures in France and Italy… You get the picture. Their career was similar to Bohemian Rhapsody with epic moments and others fairly quiet.

Along with the ups and downs, among the Classic Rock groups Queen also never received the immaculate press that accompanied the likes of the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Their success isn’t rated nearly as high as them either, Queen are instead put alongside the likes of U2, the Eagles and AC/DC. Where do they really rank according to the facts? What are the biggest hits among all their golden tracks? Which albums are the most successful once the sales of compilations they generated are factored in?

As usual, I’ll be using the Commensurate Sales to...ty Concept in order to relevantly gauge their results. This concept will not only bring you sales information for all Queen‘s albums, physical and download singles, as well as audio and video streaming, but it will also determine their true popularity. If you are not yet familiar with the CSPC method, the next page explains it with a short video. I fully recommend watching the video before getting into the sales figures. Of course, if you are a regular visitor feel free to skip the video and get into the figures.

1. 
   
   Queen (1973)
   

   • America
     • US – 800,000
     • Canada – 120,000
     • Argentina – 65,000
     • Brazil – 75,000
     • Mexico – 75,000
   • Asia – 280,000
     • Japan – 175,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 50,000
     • New Zealand – 15,000
   • Europe – 1,380,000
     • UK – 550,000
     • France – 75,000
     • Germany – 180,000
     • Italy – 140,000
     • Spain – 60,000
     • Sweden – 25,000
     • Netherland – 80,000
     • Switzerland – 30,000
     • Austria – 15,000
     • Finland – 10,000
   • World – 2,950,000

   
   Queen II (1974)
   

   • America
     • US – 625,000
     • Canada – 90,000
     • Argentina – 50,000
     • Brazil – 75,000
     • Mexico – 75,000
   • Asia – 345,000
     • Japan – 220,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 50,000
     • New Zealand – 15,000
   • Europe – 1,490,000
     • UK – 600,000
     • France – 75,000
     • Germany – 210,000
     • Italy – 140,000
     • Spain – 60,000
     • Sweden – 25,000
     • Netherland – 100,000
     • Switzerland – 30,000
     • Austria – 15,000
     • Finland – 10,000
   • World – 2,900,000

   
   
   Sheer Heart Attack (1974)
   

   • America
     • US – 1,325,000
     • Canada – 200,000
     • Argentina – 60,000
     • Brazil – 75,000
     • Mexico – 75,000
   • Asia – 485,000
     • Japan – 310,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 120,000
     • New Zealand – 20,000
   • Europe – 1,870,000
     • UK – 800,000
     • France – 100,000
     • Germany – 260,000
     • Italy – 125,000
     • Spain – 90,000
     • Sweden – 25,000
     • Netherland – 125,000
     • Switzerland – 35,000
     • Austria – 20,000
     • Finland – 10,000
   • World – 4,350,000

   
   A Night at the Opera (1975)
   

   • America
     • US – 3,225,000
     • Canada – 500,000
     • Argentina – 210,000
     • Brazil – 160,000
     • Mexico – 175,000
   • Asia – 870,000
     • Japan – 525,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 300,000
     • New Zealand – 80,000
   • Europe – 4,570,000
     • UK – 1,600,000
     • France – 275,000
     • Germany – 700,000
     • Italy – 250,000
     • Spain – 300,000
     • Sweden – 120,000
     • Netherland – 350,000
     • Switzerland – 125,000
     • Austria – 60,000
     • Finland – 40,000
   • World – 10,375,000

   
   
   A Day at the Races (1976)
   

   • America
     • US – 1,200,000
     • Canada – 150,000
     • Argentina – 85,000
     • Brazil – 125,000
     • Mexico – 125,000
   • Asia – 495,000
     • Japan – 310,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 100,000
     • New Zealand – 20,000
   • Europe – 2,340,000
     • UK – 800,000
     • France – 125,000
     • Germany – 415,000
     • Italy – 170,000
     • Spain – 100,000
     • Sweden – 65,000
     • Netherland – 200,000
     • Switzerland – 40,000
     • Austria – 25,000
     • Finland – 15,000
   • World – 4,775,000

   
   News of the World (1977)
   

   • America
     • US – 4,650,000
     • Canada – 525,000
     • Argentina – 110,000
     • Brazil – 125,000
     • Mexico – 125,000
   • Asia – 400,000
     • Japan – 240,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 100,000
     • New Zealand – 20,000
   • Europe – 3,220,000
     • UK – 675,000
     • France – 500,000
     • Germany – 640,000
     • Italy – 190,000
     • Spain – 80,000
     • Sweden – 85,000
     • Netherland – 290,000
     • Switzerland – 75,000
     • Austria – 50,000
     • Finland – 20,000
   • World – 9,450,000

   
   
   Jazz (1978)
   

   • America
     • US – 1,925,000
     • Canada – 275,000
     • Argentina – 85,000
     • Brazil – 100,000
     • Mexico – 100,000
   • Asia – 415,000
     • Japan – 260,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 50,000
     • New Zealand – 15,000
   • Europe – 2,200,000
     • UK – 525,000
     • France – 180,000
     • Germany – 510,000
     • Italy – 135,000
     • Spain – 80,000
     • Sweden – 80,000
     • Netherland – 175,000
     • Switzerland – 60,000
     • Austria – 35,000
     • Finland – 15,000
   • World – 5,325,000

   
   The Game (1980)
   

   • America
     • US – 4,950,000
     • Canada – 750,000
     • Argentina – 200,000
     • Brazil – 195,000
     • Mexico – 200,000
   • Asia – 395,000
     • Japan – 240,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 120,000
     • New Zealand – 15,000
   • Europe – 2,030,000
     • UK – 400,000
     • France – 100,000
     • Germany – 535,000
     • Italy – 215,000
     • Spain – 160,000
     • Sweden – 35,000
     • Netherland – 100,000
     • Switzerland – 40,000
     • Austria – 40,000
     • Finland – 10,000
   • World – 9,100,000

   
   lash Gordon (Soundtrack) (1980)
   

   • America
     • US – 750,000
     • Canada – 120,000
     • Argentina – 65,000
     • Brazil – 90,000
     • Mexico – 75,000
   • Asia – 410,000
     • Japan – 265,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 50,000
     • New Zealand – 5,000
   • Europe – 1,380,000
     • UK – 290,000
     • France – 50,000
     • Germany – 400,000
     • Italy – 170,000
     • Spain – 70,000
     • Sweden – 10,000
     • Netherland – 35,000
     • Switzerland – 30,000
     • Austria – 50,000
     • Finland – 10,000
   • World – 3,050,000

   
   
   Hot Space (1982)
   

   • America
     • US – 550,000
     • Canada – 85,000
     • Argentina – 45,000
     • Brazil – 100,000
     • Mexico – 75,000
   • Asia – 285,000
     • Japan – 170,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 35,000
     • New Zealand – 7,500
   • Europe – 1,590,000
     • UK – 280,000
     • France – 225,000
     • Germany – 280,000
     • Italy – 175,000
     • Spain – 120,000
     • Sweden – 35,000
     • Netherland – 60,000
     • Switzerland – 60,000
     • Austria – 30,000
     • Finland – 10,000
   • World – 2,875,000

   
   
   The Works (1984)
   

   • America
     • US – 725,000
     • Canada – 110,000
     • Argentina – 45,000
     • Brazil – 175,000
     • Mexico – 100,000
   • Asia – 340,000
     • Japan – 190,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 125,000
     • New Zealand – 25,000
   • Europe – 3,040,000
     • UK – 980,000
     • France – 150,000
     • Germany – 580,000
     • Italy – 230,000
     • Spain – 195,000
     • Sweden – 40,000
     • Netherland – 110,000
     • Switzerland – 125,000
     • Austria – 100,000
     • Finland – 20,000
   • World – 4,875,000

   
   
   A Kind of Magic (1986)
   

   • America
     • US – 975,000
     • Canada – 125,000
     • Argentina – 95,000
     • Brazil – 160,000
     • Mexico – 100,000
   • Asia – 335,000
     • Japan – 160,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 80,000
     • New Zealand – 37,500
   • Europe – 3,910,000
     • UK – 1,225,000
     • France – 225,000
     • Germany – 890,000
     • Italy – 240,000
     • Spain – 240,000
     • Sweden – 75,000
     • Netherland – 90,000
     • Switzerland – 150,000
     • Austria – 75,000
     • Finland – 30,000
   • World – 6,025,000

   
   The Miracle (1989)
   

   • America
     • US – 500,000
     • Canada – 90,000
     • Argentina – 35,000
     • Brazil – 90,000
     • Mexico – 100,000
   • Asia – 290,000
     • Japan – 140,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 55,000
     • New Zealand – 30,000
   • Europe – 3,210,000
     • UK – 640,000
     • France – 180,000
     • Germany – 755,000
     • Italy – 385,000
     • Spain – 190,000
     • Sweden – 40,000
     • Netherland – 200,000
     • Switzerland – 100,000
     • Austria – 55,000
     • Finland – 45,000
   • World – 4,525,000

   
   Innuendo (1991)
   

   • America
     • US – 550,000
     • Canada – 100,000
     • Argentina – 65,000
     • Brazil – 100,000
     • Mexico – 180,000
   • Asia – 530,000
     • Japan – 180,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 35,000
     • New Zealand – 16,000
   • Europe – 4,000,000
     • UK – 625,000
     • France – 340,000
     • Germany – 855,000
     • Italy – 680,000
     • Spain – 220,000
     • Sweden – 25,000
     • Netherland – 225,000
     • Switzerland – 130,000
     • Austria – 60,000
     • Finland – 40,000
   • World – 5,725,000

   
   Made in Heaven (1995)
   

   • America
     • US – 300,000
     • Canada – 125,000
     • Argentina – 135,000
     • Brazil – 130,000
     • Mexico – 150,000
   • Asia – 1,275,000
     • Japan – 500,000
     • South Korea – 200,000
   • Oceania
     • Australia – 100,000
     • New Zealand – 55,000
   • Europe – 6,960,000
     • UK – 1,420,000
     • France – 725,000
     • Germany – 1,700,000
     • Italy – 770,000
     • Spain – 310,000
     • Sweden – 40,000
     • Netherland – 250,000
     • Switzerland – 200,000
     • Austria – 160,000
     • Finland – 55,000
   • World – 9,450,000

   
   
   Original Album Sales – Comments
   1973 Queen – 2,950,000
   1974 Queen II – 2,900,000
   1974 Sheer Heart Attack – 4,350,000
   1975 A Night at the Opera – 10,375,000
   1976 A Day at the Races – 4,775,000
   1977 News of the World – 9,450,000
   1978 Jazz – 5,325,000
   1980 The Game – 9,100,000
   1980 Flash Gordon (Soundtrack) – 3,050,000
   1982 Hot Space – 2,875,000
   1984 The Works – 4,875,000
   1986 A Kind of Magic – 6,025,000
   1989 The Miracle – 4,525,000
   1991 Innuendo – 5,725,000
   1995 Made in Heaven – 9,450,000
   
   Queen sold 85,75 million studio albums over 15 releases, a solid average of 5,7 million per effort. The most surprising fact for an act that registered out-of-this-world smashes, as well as hard core bombs, is to see that every album sold at least half of their average while none of them managed two times more.
   
   How can we explain that every album is so close in spite of singles received very differently? I often mention two kind of buyers, the regular ones, among which are fans and the casual ones. Fans try to collect the full discography of their favorite artists. The purchase of casual consumers will depend on how the catalog of an act is exploited. If the artist has no compilation, the album containing their signature song will be purchased, which increases the gap between the most popular and less popular albums as years pass by. If the artist has tons of hits a compilation will be favored when available by the casual buyer. That case results in regular buyers / fans having a much larger input on sales of studio albums, which explains the linearity of Queen which clearly belong to this category of artists.
   
   In fact, there are tons of compilations available by Queen, their discography is too large anyway to continue pushing their studio sets. In other words, that already big 85,75 million figure is only part of the picture, big pieces are still missing from the jigsaw. We are going to study them right now!
   
   You may notice the absence of The Cosmos Rocks, a studio album from 2008 by Queen + Paul Rodgers. As it was sold using the trademark of the band, it is included into their total. Considering the absence of Freddie though, we can hardly include it among the remaining albums. This 400,000-units selling annex project is consequently moved into the Orphan category.

1. 
   
   Physical Singles Sales – Part 1
   As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 3 ratio between one album and one physical single.
   
   Queen (1973) – 35,000 equivalent albums
   Liar – 10,000
   Keep Yourself Alive – 100,000
   Keep Yourself Alive (2011) – 5,000
   
   Queen II (1974) – 60,000 equivalent albums
   Seven Seas of Rhye – 200,000
   
   Sheer Heart Attack (1974) – 516,000 equivalent albums
   Killer Queen – 1,500,000
   Now I’m Here – 220,000
   
   The self titled debut album Queen wasn’t a hit. While the band started to build a name from it, the LP failed to enter the album chart in the UK while peaking at #83 in the US. No single entered the charts in either country. Seven Seas of Rhye failed to hit the US charts but broke the main audience in their native UK by hitting #10.
   
   Killer Queen was their first true big hit. Along with being their first US Hot 100 entry, reaching as high as #12, it peaked at #2 in the UK. All over the world, even in Japan, the song sold well to bring its global total to 1,5 million.
   
   Physical Singles Sales – Part 2
   A Night at the Opera (1975) – 2,219,000 equivalent albums
   Bohemian Rhapsody – 3,450,000
   You’re My Best Friend – 1,050,000
   Love of My Life (live) – 260,000
   Bohemian Rhapsody (1991) – 2,620,000
   Bohemian Rhapsody (2009) – 10,000
   Bohemian Rhapsody (2015) – 5,000
   
   A Day at the Races (1976) – 896,000 equivalent albums
   Tie Your Mother Down – 440,000
   Long Away – 50,000
   Somebody to Love – 1,990,000
   Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together) – 10,000
   Somebody to Love (live, 1993) – 400,000
   No-One But You (1997) – 90,000
   Tie Your Mother Down (live, 2005) – 5,000
   
   News of the World (1977) – 1,899,000 equivalent albums
   We Are the Champions / We Will Rock You – 4,600,000
   Spread Your Wings – 250,000
   It’s Late – 150,000
   We Will Rock You (live, 1979) – 10,000
   We Are the Champions (1992) – 500,000
   We Are the Champions (1998) – 150,000
   We Will Rock You (2000) – 570,000
   We Will Rock You (2003) – 100,000
   
   With their name now established, Queen returned quickly in 1975 with A Night at the Opera. The lead single Bohemian Rhapsody was an insane success in the UK, topping the charts for 9 weeks, a very rare achievement during the high years of physical singles sales. Selling more than a million there, the same feat was repeated in the US too although with a much more modest #9 peak.
   
   The hit took its own revenge some 15 years later though, by reaching a higher peak when re-entering at #2 in 1991 after the passing of Freddie, while also adding a further 5 more weeks at the top in the UK. A solid seller on both its versions everywhere plus a few more reissues led the song to an incredible total over 6 million. You’re My Best Friend adds its million too.
   
   The biggest song of A Day at the Races was Somebody to Love which sold 2,4 million units across two releases. It must be noted that Queen was releasing albums at a very fast pace, which limited their promotional campaigns to just two singles only along with a few minor ones here and there.
   
   The promotion of News of the World started with the monster double-A single We Are the Champions / We Will Rock You. Incredibly enough, that single wasn’t a #1. Nor in the US, nor in the UK, nor in Australia, Germany, Canada, Netherlands, etc. Singles sales were massive then though, so solid Top 5 runs in most relevant markets was enough to enjoy a strong 4,6 million sales. Various reissues of those two songs have sold very well too.
   
   With material issued in less than 2 years, Queen sold 16,7 million physical singles.
   
   Physical Singles Sales – Part 3
   Jazz (1978) – 563,000 equivalent albums
   Mustapha – 10,000
   Jealousy – 25,000
   Bicycle Race / Fat Bottomed Girls – 1,210,000
   Don’t Stop Me Now – 630,000
   
   The Game (1980) – 3,015,000 equivalent albums
   Play the Game – 640,000
   Another One Bites the Dust – 4,670,000
   Need Your Loving Tonight – 230,000
   Crazy Little Thing Called Love – 3,910,000
   Save Me – 350,000
   Another One Bites the Dust (1998) – 90,000
   Another One Bites the Dust (2006) – 40,000
   
   Flash Gordon (Soundtrack) (1980) – 450,000 equivalent albums
   Flash’s Theme – 1,420,000
   Flash (2003) – 80,000
   
   Don’t Stop Me Now is one of the leading tracks from Queen nowadays. It grew over time as it was far from being massive upon release. The song peaked at #9 in the UK and bombed at #86 in the US. In the end, Jazz ended as their least successful era physical singles-wise since Sheer Heart Attack.
   
   This was only a temporary downtime though as they returned to massive sales. Another One Bites the Dust was unstoppable in the US shifting 3 million units there while Crazy Little Thing Called Love came close to 2 million. Those two songs sold 8,7 million copies combined. Adding the remaining singles from The Game bring the tally to more than 10 million, a rare achievement.
   
   Physical Singles Sales – Part 4
   Hot Space (1982) – 936,000 equivalent albums
   Back Chat – 120,000
   Body Language – 990,000
   Calling All Girls – 170,000
   Las Palabras de Amor (The Words of Love) – 150,000
   Under Pressure – 1,600,000
   Under Pressure (1999) – 90,000
   
   The Works (1984) – 1,344,000 equivalent albums
   Radio Ga Ga – 2,030,000
   It’s a Hard Life – 500,000
   I Want to Break Free – 1,820,000
   Hammer to Fall – 130,000
   
   A Kind of Magic (1986) – 785,000 equivalent albums
   One Vision – 560,000
   A Kind of Magic – 1,540,000
   One Year of Love – 5,000
   Pain Is So Close to Pleasure – 30,000
   Friends Will Be Friends – 260,000
   Who Wants to Live Forever – 140,000
   Princes of the Universe – 80,000
   
   If albums of the band faced different fortunes, they all had their share of successful singles. Under Pressure from Hot Space, Radio Ga Ga and I Want to Break Free from The Works along the title track from A Kind of Magic, brought the string of consecutive albums with at least one 1-million selling single to 10!
   
   They managed this in spite of their decreasing success in the US. Body Language sold 5 times less than Another One Bites the Dust in this country, but it still is easily the highest selling song from those albums there.
   
   With the change in the music industry brought by Michael Jackson, albums were now exploited with more singles than one decade earlier. As a result, The Works had #2, #3, #6 and #13 singles in the UK in 7 months. While their popularity went down in the US it increased in continental Europe. Great sales in countries like Germany and France enable a combined 10 million sales from singles of those albums.
   
   Physical Singles Sales – Part 5
   The Miracle (1989) – 405,000 equivalent albums
   The Miracle – 90,000
   I Want It All – 760,000
   The Invisible Man – 250,000
   Breakthru – 200,000
   Scandal – 50,000
   
   Innuendo (1991) – 405,000 equivalent albums
   Innuendo – 530,000
   I’m Going Slightly Mad – 90,000
   Headlong – 210,000
   The Show Must Go On – 630,000
   
   Made in Heaven (1995) – 519,000 equivalent albums
   Let Me Live – 120,000
   I Was Born to Love You – 150,000
   Heaven for Everyone – 730,000
   Too Much Love Will Kill You – 140,000
   You Don’t Fool Me – 360,000
   A Winter’s Tale – 230,000
   
   Orphan – 51,000 equivalent albums
   Thank God It’s Christmas – 150,000
   C-lebrity – 10,000
   Say It’s Not True – 10,000
   
   The not-that-big sales of hits like I Want it All, Innuendo and The Show Must Go On can be explained by two main reasons. The first is the lack of sales from the US. Indeed, in this market songs from those 3 albums combine for sales of less than half a million units. The second reason is the increasing fan base of the band. In countries like the UK and Germany, fans of Queenwere now clearly preferring studio albums to 2-track singles releases.
   
   Despite this, the figures are great still. They are solid enough to top 1 million singles sold for each and every era from Sheer Heart Attack to Made In Heaven, 13 albums in a row spread over more than 20 years. This outstanding consistency brings their career total to 47,1 million physical singles sold.

1. 
   
   Digital Singles Sales – Part 1
   As a reminder, the weighting is done with a 10 to 1,5 ratio between albums and digital singles.
   
   Queen (1973) – 68,000 equivalent albums
   Keep Yourself Alive – 150,000
   Liar – 100,000
   Remaining tracks – 200,000
   
   Queen II (1974) – 75,000 equivalent albums
   Seven Seas of Rhye – 200,000
   Remaining tracks – 300,000
   
   Sheer Heart Attack (1974) – 345,000 equivalent albums
   Killer Queen – 1,650,000
   Now I’m Here – 300,000
   Remaining tracks – 350,000
   
   Interestingly, from the early part of their career the songs which remain popular to this day are the same ones as those who did well during the physical era some 40 years earlier. Killer Queen thus easily leads this group of songs with a pleasing 1,65 million downloads and ringtones sold. For comparison purposes, only one song from Madonna‘s back catalog sold more downloads than Killer Queen, the 1989 smash Like A Prayer at 2,1 million.
   
   
   Digital Singles Sales – Part 2
   A Night at the Opera (1975) – 1,553,000 equivalent albums
   You’re My Best Friend – 1,550,000
   Love of My Life – 500,000
   Bohemian Rhapsody – 7,950,000
   Remaining tracks – 350,000
   
   A Day at the Races (1976) – 435,000 equivalent albums
   Tie Your Mother Down – 200,000
   Somebody to Love – 2,350,000
   Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy – 200,000
   Remaining tracks – 150,000
   
   News of the World (1977) – 1,725,000 equivalent albums
   We Will Rock You – 7,150,000
   We Are the Champions – 4,100,000
   Remaining tracks – 250,000
   
   If songs like You’re My Best Friend at 1,55 million or Somebody to Love at 2,35 million sold so well, we can wonder how many units the band’s truly biggest hits sold. We get the answer here. Bohemian Rhapsody is on its way to breaking 8 million copies. We Will Rock You is over 7 million. We Are the Champions breaks the 4 million barrier, already an elite level for catalog songs. Both A Night at the Opera and News of the World accumulate more than 10 million downloads from their respective songs.
   
   
   
   Digital Singles Sales – Part 3
   Jazz (1978) – 930,000 equivalent albums
   Fat Bottomed Girls – 2,000,000
   Bicycle Race – 600,000
   Don’t Stop Me Now – 3,450,000
   Remaining tracks – 150,000
   
   The Game (1980) – 953,000 equivalent albums
   Play the Game – 200,000
   Another One Bites the Dust – 4,250,000
   Crazy Little Thing Called Love – 1,500,000
   Save Me – 300,000
   Remaining tracks – 100,000
   
   Flash Gordon (Soundtrack) (1980) – 60,000 equivalent albums
   Flash’s Theme – 400,000
   
   Fat Bottomed Girls, Another One Bites the Dust and Don’t Stop Me Now continue that impressive run of super sellers in digital formats. Don’t Stop Me Now is especially impressive at 3,45 million. Barely known in the US at first, the song is getting bigger and bigger, even selling more than Bohemian Rhapsody on a weekly basis in the UK!
   
   
   
   Digital Singles Sales – Part 4
   Hot Space (1982) – 615,000 equivalent albums
   Under Pressure – 3,900,000
   Remaining tracks – 200,000
   
   The Works (1984) – 473,000 equivalent albums
   Radio Ga Ga – 850,000
   It’s a Hard Life – 200,000
   I Want to Break Free – 1,600,000
   Hammer to Fall – 300,000
   Remaining tracks – 200,000
   
   A Kind of Magic (1986) – 420,000 equivalent albums
   One Vision – 450,000
   A Kind of Magic – 750,000
   Friends Will Be Friends – 200,000
   Who Wants to Live Forever – 900,000
   Princes of the Universe – 200,000
   Remaining tracks – 100,000
   
   Does it ever stop? When we think that we have seen it all, there are more and more terrific sellers. Under Pressure is up to a superb 3,9 million, I Want to Break Free is at 1,6 million, while songs like Radio Ga Ga, A Kind of Magic and Who Wants to Live Forever are individually approaching 1 million.
   
   
   
   Digital Singles Sales – Part 5
   The Miracle (1989) – 173,000 equivalent albums
   The Miracle – 100,000
   I Want It All – 600,000
   The Invisible Man – 150,000
   Breakthru – 200,000
   Remaining tracks – 100,000
   
   Innuendo (1991) – 390,000 equivalent albums
   Innuendo – 275,000
   I’m Going Slightly Mad – 150,000
   Headlong – 125,000
   These Are the Days of Our Lives – 600,000
   The Show Must Go On – 1,350,000
   Remaining tracks – 100,000
   
   Made in Heaven (1995) – 315,000 equivalent albums
   I Was Born to Love You – 1,400,000
   Heaven for Everyone – 100,000
   Too Much Love Will Kill You – 250,000
   You Don’t Fool Me – 100,000
   A Winter’s Tale – 50,000
   Remaining tracks – 200,000
   
   Orphan – 225,000 equivalent albums
   Thank God It’s Christmas – 200,000
   Let Me In Your Heart Again – 150,000
   Remaining tracks – 1,150,000
   
   Two more million sellers with The Show Must Go On and I Was Born to Love You for the band.
   
   Among artists who haven’t released material during the digital era, you are hard pressed to find others up to an incredible 58 million downloads and ringtones sold to date. They rank second only to Michael Jackson who did 67,5 million on his own with his pre-2000 songs.

Streaming Sales
Streaming is made up of two families – audio and video. Our CSPC methodology now includes both to better reflect the real popularity of each track. The main source of data for each avenue is respectively Spotify and YouTube. As detailed in the Fixing Log article, Spotify represents 132 million of the 212 million users of streaming platforms, while YouTube is pretty much the only video platform generating some revenue for the industry. Below is the equivalence set on the aforementioned article:

Audio Stream – 1500 plays equal 1 album unit
Video Stream – 11,750 views equal 1 album unit

Equivalent Albums Sales = 212/132 * Spotify streams / 1500 + YouTube views / 11750

Streaming Part 1


The reputation of Queen being a singles band appears to be clearly wrong with their streaming numbers. The album Queen, arguably their least remembered, still has plenty of album tracks with 2 million streams on Spotify. The lack of big hits limits the overall equivalent album sales from streams at 38,000. At 46,000, Queen II does slightly better with similar patterns.

Sheer Heart Attack repeats those same patterns too, but with one key difference, Killer Queen. With more than 50 million streams on both Spotify and YouTube it boosts the equivalent album sales impressively for the album, with a total of 199,000.


If performance from their lowest albums were already great, massive figures from their top records were to be expected. A Night at the Opera still impresses. Bohemian Rhapsody has an unreal 331 million streams on Spotify, making it quite simply the most streamed song from the 70s on the platform. Its YouTube views are huge too at 776 million. The great streams of both You’re My Best Friend and Love of My Life are completely eclipsed by its domination. The album has 544,000 equivalent album sales.

At 152,000 units A Day at the Races is strong too. It’s main force is Somebody to Love with more than 300 million streams combined. The album appeal of Queen is clear with nearly all album tracks at 1 million Spotify streams or more.



You can hardly start a track list as strong as the one of News of the World. Both We Will Rock You and We Are the Champions are streaming beasts with equivalent album sales on 327,000 units combined.

The main surprise comes from Jazz. It has 3 solid hits, but more than anything it has Don’t Stop Me Now over 225 million on both Spotify and YouTube. It is one of the two songs from the 70s which tops this threshold on both platforms, the other one is obviously their own Bohemian Rhapsody. Has someone ever doubted Queen‘s organic popularity?

Both albums, News of the World and Jazz, are around 350,000 equivalent album sales from streams. This tops albums like Saturday Night Fever and Grease!



The value of Queen‘s catalog is definitely outstanding. At nearly 200 million, Another One Bites the Dust is among the 15 most streamed tracks from the 80s. As a whole, the album The Game continues the streak of albums topping 300,000 equivalent album sales from streams, making it their fourth in total. No other artist has that many pre-2000 albums topping this mark. However, the Flash Gordon soundtrack is nowhere near these standards though.



Here is more evidence that Queen weren’t about momentum only. After the flop of Flash Gordon, they released the duet with David Bowie, Under Pressure. At 192 million, the band adds one more smash that is by far bigger than the signature song of tons of A-League artists.

I Want to Break Free is on 111 million and 312 million on Spotify and YouTube respectively. Radio Gaga is big while both It’s a Hard Life and Hammer to Fall top 10 million.

Hot Space and The Works are almost tied with over 235,000 equivalent album sales each.



Even with albums which have no song with incredible streaming figures, the band still finish up with great results. A Kind of Magic has 4, and nearly 5 songs, over 10 million streams on Spotify, all of which reach that line on YouTube as well. The album has nearly 120,000 equivalent album sales from streams. The Miracle is slightly lower at 75,000, a figure which would be a great result for most artists but appears weak due to the extremely high standards of Queen.



One more smash hit for the road. The Show Must Go On is appropriately titled, is up to 58 million streams on Spotify. It is the main driver of Innuendo which has 134,000 equivalent album sales. Made in Heaven hasn’t held as strong as it did upon release with 61,000 equivalent album sales from streams.



Unlike most other acts, Queen never really relied on orphan songs. The huge majority of their singles were directly extracted from their albums and their compilations were promoted with reissues of former songs rather than the release of new ones. That’s why the only song with more than 10 million streams from this list is their Christmas tune, Thank God It’s Christmas. The other notable songs are those of Freddie as a solo act. They are still added here because they are mostly accessed from the page of Queen.

Full Length related record Sales
It sounds fairly logical to add together weighted sales of one era – studio album, physical singles, downloads, streams – to get the full picture of an album’s popularity. For older releases though, they also generate sales of various live, music videos and compilation albums.

All those packaging-only records do not create value, they exploit the value originating from the parent studio album of each of its tracks instead. Inevitably, when such compilations are issued, this downgrades catalog sales of the original LP. Thus, to perfectly gauge the worth of these releases, we need to re-assign sales proportionally to its contribution of all the compilations which feature its songs. The following table explains this method.

Remaining Long Format – Greatest Hits series


How to understand this table? If you check for example the Greatest Hits compilation line, those figures mean it sold 22,125,000 units worldwide. The second statistics column means all versions of all the songs included on this package add for 1,723,000 equivalent album sales from streams of all types.

The second part on the right of the table shows how many equivalent streams are coming from each original album, plus the share it represents on the overall package. Thus, streaming figures tell us songs from the Jazz album are responsible for 20% of the Greatest Hits track list attractiveness. This means it generated 4,425,000 of its 22,125,000 album sales and so forth for the other records.

During the streaming category we noticed how insanely valuable Queen‘s songs from various eras were. The cumulative amount of worth is far too massive to sell on 1 CD only. Dividing that discography in distinctive parts makes perfect sense. That’s why EMI continued to release multi-CD best of albums for Queen, as one unique disc with their top 15 songs would be wasting a lot of strength.

This strength enables two best of albums to sell 40 million units combined with different songs. The most absurd fact is that those compilations aren’t available in the US (although Greatest Hits was during the 80s only) so there are many more millions of sales coming on the next page. Not only that, boxes of the first two or with all three Greatest Hits albums sold millions also.

Sales distribution-wise, we can see that Queen doesn’t rely on one or two big hits only. Their discography is full of highly valuable tracks. A Night at the Opera, News of the World, Jazz, The Game, Hot Space, The Works and Innuendo have all had a deep impact on their sales of compilations. Each of them is responsible for at least 4,5 million units sold.



For many years the catalog of Queen was managed by two distinct labels. Elektra and then Hollywood Records in North America and EMI everywhere else. This situation, plus the different evolution of their career popularity-wise, concluded on fully specific best of albums released in the US and in Canada. Their Greatest Hits is often assimilated with the 1981 album of the same name while Classic Queen is mostly merged with Greatest Hits II. This is a very wrong simplification. As it can be seen with the sales distribution across the albums, the US releases aren’t era-specific. In fact, Bohemian Rhapsody isn’t on Greatest Hits but instead on Classic Queen while I Want to Break Free is a part of the former.

Sales-wise those albums are all monsters considering they are sold only in the US and Canada. If we add sales of all three together plus the original compilations seen on the previous page, we are up to 55 million units sold and that’s not all.



The last piece of this Greatest Hits series is made up of the three 2/3 CD boxes merging different volumes that have been released. The 1994 set joining both I and II‘s global sets already sold a solid 3,7 million but the Platinum Collection, which includes all 3 best of albums from 1981, 1991 and 1999, did even better at nearly 7 million. It must be said that sales of boxes that hardly sell together distinct records have 100% of their sales assigned into the original packages, here Greatest Hits I, IIand III all receive the 6,9 million sales of the Platinum Collection.

As for sales distribution we logically face the same usual suspects that contain the band’s biggest hits. We start to understand that pure album sales are already the visible part of the iceberg as albums like A Night at the Opera or News of the World generated numerous sales of distinct products apart from their own sales.


Those 3 compilations are somewhat specific. Queen Rocks focuses on pure rock songs and as such ignores several of their biggest hits. In the same way Forever includes mostly secondary material from the band.

The release of Absolute Greatest is kind of criminal for the music industry. It is the first, and only, comprehensive best of released on one CD only. It was mostly a one-off as it appears, logically, deleted in all the key markets by now.

As this album contains all the big hits its sales distribution fits with the patterns of Greatest Hits I and II merged. Every album from 1975 to 1984 except A Day at the Races has a strong imprint on it.


Along the road some additional best of material emerged here and there. Here are four such packages that came out in North America. They’re minor sellers that mostly follow the already identified patterns with songs from A Night at the Opera, News of the World and The Game providing the most valuable assistance.



Some Japan-only compilations, although Jewels was ultimately released in other Asian countries. This happened because the best of became absolutely massive in Japan, shifting 1,5 million units there, the very best selling foreign album from 2004 to date.


Two decent sellers from 1997 released in France only. Their title make it look like they are similar to Greatest Hits I and II but that’s once again wrong as their track lists are closer to the US sets Classic Queen / Greatest Hits. Both are very well balanced with tracks worth more than 1 million sales in streams from both of them. Worth noting also is they were quickly deleted.



With those Brazilian releases we can see strong mistakes from music labels, just like with Jewels. As you can see, just like with Jewels, the strength of tracks as highlighted by combined streams is strongly different between volume one and two. It is a clear case of a best of beating expectations and the label rushing a volume 2 to surf on that momentum. It’s the opposite of The Best 1 and The Best 2 which were scheduled and released together which resulted in a much better balanced combo.



A trio of Deep Cuts albums which focus on the least known songs of the band as well as a Remaining Compilations folder which simulates their entire discography strength to re-assigned sales of every non-identified compilation that was issued at some point in different nations. It includes among others four South Korea sets which came out in the late 80s / early 90s.


Queen were well-known to be a great live act with the charismatic Freddie leading the show. This reputation is translated in their record sales too with as many as 3 live sets which sold more than 3 million a piece, an impressive figure, even more so for a band that never sold more than 10,5 million copies with a studio album.

Live sets follow mostly the same patterns as remaining compilations in terms of sales distribution. The main difference is that weaker albums get even weaker as their songs weren’t sung anymore. For example, as Somebody to Love was rarely part of their tours its parent album A Day at the Races is almost absent from those packages.

In the meantime, albums like A Night at the Opera and News of the World continue to be rewarded with stunning amounts of sales that they generated thanks to their biggest hits.


With the market already flooded with Queen compilations and live albums, their recent releases haven’t sold as much. They are mostly dedicated to fans which collect all the most well-known performances of the



During the 80s, apart from Michael Jackson, almost nobody was selling much videos – well, it’s worth noting Duran Duran did well at some point also. The ongoing popularity of Queen kept those releases alive long enough to see them morph into huge sellers though. Some were also successfully released twice, first at the date mentioned on VHS format and various years later on DVD.

The vast majority of Queen‘s music videos were released as the partner of a compilation or a live album, so there is no need to comment on sales distribution among the original albums as they are really in line as products we previously displayed.




The influx of major selling music videos continues. Live at Wembley ’86 is especially impressive at 2,8 million units sold.



More and more super sellers. If you consider that having a million seller music video is, success-wise, on par with selling 10 million albums you realize how impressive this list is.

The last string of music videos that push Queen‘s total sales in that format above 13 million units.




We already visited boxes of the Greatest Hits albums. The various labels of Queen also released several times career-spanning collections with all their albums packaged together. While they never sold more than 15,000 to 25,000 units each, a valuable total of 1,5 million sales is achieved.


A last set of packages of every kind, from EPs to remaining music videos to The Cosmos Rock album.



Here is the most underestimated indicator of an album’s success – the amount of compilation sales of all kinds it generated. Due to the dependency of sales of the original studio albums on these releases, they are a key piece of the jigsaw.

The success of Queen across various platforms strikes in the face readers of this table. The album Hot Space is the most insane example, the album hasn’t sold 3 million units in its original form but still is responsible for a gigantic 16,8 million sales of compilations of every kind.

Most artists have one, at most two, albums receiving the huge majority of sales of their compilations. The catalog of Queen is extensive and full of gems though. The conclusion is as many as 6 albums which boosted from 10 to 20 million sales of compilations. Their entire catalog appears to be incredibly strong.

Their totals per avenue are also absurd – nearly 30 million units from boxes, 66 million compilations, 2,3 million EPs, 14 million live albums, and 14 million music videos. Numbers speak by themselves.

Greatest Hits (1981)

• America
  • US – 2,350,000
  • Canada – 350,000
  • Argentina – 575,000
  • Brazil – 550,000
  • Mexico – 600,000
• Asia – 3,275,000
  • Japan – 1,275,000
  • South Korea – 800,000
• Oceania
  • Australia – 1,105,000
  • New Zealand – 225,000
• Europe – 12,160,000
  • UK – 5,275,000
  • France – 620,000
  • Germany – 2,000,000
  • Italy – 550,000
  • Spain – 455,000
  • Sweden – 160,000
  • Netherlands – 725,000
  • Switzerland – 300,000
  • Austria – 220,000
  • Finland – 60,000
• World – 22,125,000

Greatest Hits II (1991)

• America
  • US – Not released
  • Canada – Not released
  • Argentina – 660,000
  • Brazil – 675,000
  • Mexico – 755,000
• Asia – 1,415,000
  • Japan – 350,000
• Oceania
  • Australia – 615,000
  • New Zealand – 170,000
• Europe – 13,570,000
  • UK – 3,150,000
  • France – 1,525,000
  • Germany – 2,500,000
  • Italy – 1,475,000
  • Spain – 720,000
  • Sweden – 280,000
  • Netherlands – 675,000
  • Switzerland – 330,000
  • Austria – 240,000
  • Finland – 150,000
• World – 18,625,000

The Platinum Collection (2000)

• America
  • US – 1,200,000
  • Canada – N/A
  • Argentina – N/A
  • Brazil – 10,000
  • Mexico – N/A
• Asia – 360,000
  • Japan – 100,000
  • South Korea – 110,000
• Oceania
  • Australia – 130,000
  • New Zealand – 40,000
• Europe – 4,890,000
  • UK – 1,940,000
  • France – 455,000
  • Germany – 500,000
  • Italy – 575,000
  • Spain – 270,000
  • Sweden – 75,000
  • Netherlands – 200,000
  • Switzerland – 65,000
  • Austria – 30,000
  • Finland – 25,000
• World – 6,900,000

BONUS: Total Album (all types) Sales per Country

• America
  • US – 44,440,000
  • Canada – 6,785,000
  • Argentina – 2,925,000
  • Brazil – 3,745,000
  • Mexico – 3,465,000
• Asia – 16,735,000
  • Japan – 8,550,000
• Oceania
  • Australia – 3,605,000
  • New Zealand – 1,005,000
• Europe – 91,245,000
  • UK – 26,695,000
  • France – 7,870,000
  • Germany – 16,780,000
  • Italy – 8,630,000
  • Spain – 4,845,000
  • Sweden – 1,485,000
  • Netherland – 4,690,000
  • Switzerland – 2,245,000
  • Austria – 1,545,000
  • Finland – 650,000
• World – 179,295,000

Queen CAREER CSPC RESULTS
So, after checking all the figures, how many overall equivalent album sales has each album by Queen achieved? Well, at this point we hardly need to add up all of the figures defined in this article!

In the following table, all categories display figures that way, e.g. in equivalent album sales. For example, singles from A Night at the Opera released in digital format sold the equivalent of 1,553,000 albums – 10,350,000 downloads with a 10 to 1,5 weighting.



As a reminder:

• Studio Album: sales of the original album
• Other Releases: sales of compilations generated thanks to the album
• Physical Singles: sales of physical singles from the album (ratio 3/10)
• Download Singles: sales of digital singles from the album (ratio 1,5/10)
• Streaming: equivalent album sales of all the album tracks (ratio 1/1500 for Audio stream and 1/11750 for Video stream)

With a table containing 16 lines and 5 columns of sales figures, that’s 80 numbers! Nearly all of them are impressive. We rarely see such consistency both over the years and in different formats. Queen are nowhere the leaders, but they are the dark horse everywhere. In the end, once combining everything, their results are incredible.

We start with 3 relatively average albums, Queen, Queen 2 and Flash Gordon. Even those relatively weak LPs are around 4 million, a highly respectable tally. Then come Sheer Heart Attack, The Miracle and Made In Heaven all in the 8,5 million to 11 million range. They are truly good figures for anyone. However they are still sub-par material for the British band.

With A Kind of Magic, A Day at the Races and Innuendo, all in the 13-14 million area, we get into high waters. Those are albums big enough to be the career highs of many widely famous stars.

Jazz is 18,6 million. The strong current appeal of Don’t Stop Me Now grants it a lot of equivalent album sales from streams, so it is only a matter of time before it crosses the 20 million plateau.

Already over that level are as many as 5 albums. Hot Space is the most shocking result out of all albums we studied so far. This 2,9 million selling LP, widely regarded as the flop of their career, fueled more than 21,4 million album sales in total. A real insanity.

We raise the bar even more to meet News of the World and The Game, both at 29 million. Those are superb numbers, even more for 9-million selling albums. Their pure album sales prevent them from being mentioned among the very top sellers ever, a category on which they definitely belong as we evidenced.

Unsurprisingly, the leader is A Night of the Opera. Home of Bohemian Rhapsody, it couldn’t have been otherwise. This album is the biggest set that have been released in 1975 with more than 35 million equivalent album sales.

In total, Queen sold 238,6 million equivalent album sales. We started wondering where the band would land, suggesting they would be in the same ballpark as a group like U2 which are on 194,5 million. The question was about Queen topping or not Led Zeppelin at 200,5 million, they did it. It was hard to seriously consider them crushing Pink Floyd who stand at 229,4 million, they did it too. The Rolling Stones were out of reach at 237,1 million. They have been topped too. In fact, as amazing as it seems, they fell a mere 2,4 million short of pushing down no other than Madonna. Considering their never ending appeal, even if the Queen of Pop continues to release albums, Queen are poised to dislodge her in the near future. Wow!

The following pages list their most successful songs as well as their records and achievements. Do not forget to check our amazing cross-artists lists posted inside the CSPC: Data Collector which includes the full listing of all CSPC results compiled so far to better gauge their position in the history of the music industry.

BIGGEST TRACKS – Queen
The list of most successful songs is compiled in album equivalent sales generated by each of them. It includes the song’s own physical singles sales with a 0,3 weighting, its download and streaming sales, and with appropriate weighting too, plus its share among sales of all albums on which it is featured.

1 1975 – Bohemian Rhapsody [A Night at the Opera] – 29,660,000
2 1981 – Under Pressure [Hot Space] – 20,740,000
3 1980 – Another One Bites the Dust [The Game] – 20,500,000
4 1977 – We Will Rock You [News of the World] – 17,590,000
5 1978 – Don’t Stop Me Now [Jazz] – 13,710,000
6 1984 – I Want to Break Free [The Works] – 12,470,000
7 1976 – Somebody to Love [A Day at the Races] – 12,170,000
8 1977 – We Are the Champions [News of the World] – 10,320,000
9 1991 – The Show Must Go On [Innuendo] – 8,380,000
10 1980 – Crazy Little Thing Called Love [The Game] – 6,270,000
11 1974 – Killer Queen [Sheer Heart Attack] – 5,700,000
12 1989 – I Want It All [The Miracle] – 5,470,000
13 1984 – Radio Ga Ga [The Works] – 4,870,000
14 1986 – A Kind of Magic [A Kind of Magic] – 4,130,000
14 1986 – Who Wants to Live Forever [A Kind of Magic] – 4,130,000
16 1975 – You’re My Best Friend [A Night at the Opera] – 3,620,000
17 1995 – Too Much Love Will Kill You [Made in Heaven] – 3,480,000
18 1978 – Fat Bottomed Girls [Jazz] – 3,270,000
19 1980 – Flash’s Theme [Flash Gordon (Soundtrack)] – 3,050,000
20 1986 – One Vision [A Kind of Magic] – 2,150,000
21 1995 – I Was Born to Love You [Made in Heaven] – 1,990,000
22 1974 – Seven Seas of Rhye [Queen II] – 1,790,000
23 1991 – Innuendo [Innuendo] – 1,660,000
24 1995 – Heaven for Everyone [Made in Heaven] – 1,630,000
25 1986 – Friends Will Be Friends [A Kind of Magic] – 1,520,000
26 1974 – Now I’m Here [Sheer Heart Attack] – 1,460,000
27 1978 – Bicycle Race [Jazz] – 1,370,000
28 1984 – Hammer to Fall [The Works] – 1,360,000
28 1991 – These Are the Days of Our Lives [Innuendo] – 1,360,000
30 1973 – Keep Yourself Alive [Queen] – 1,300,000

they dont know what they r missing.....their loss

[Edited 11/20/18 14:59pm]

I´m not a Queen fan but.....what an interesting and meticulously detailed thread. Wow !

I watched the documentary The Great Pretender the other day because I really liked it the first time I watched it and I still like it.

I agree with you that Queen are not as celebrated as they should be. It took the critics and the media much longer to pay them the same respect that they pay those other legends that you mentioned, and I think that´s a bit unfair.

I wasn´t old enough to really notice them during their heyday but I am surprised to see that Flash Gordon flopped. As a kid I used to the that album in record stores and thought it was kind of a hit but your numbers prove otherwise.

What I do remember is that Hot Space was really a big flop back then, at least from what I remember reading in music magazines back then.

Sales don't really mean a lot or we'd all still be listening to Bucks Fizz and Boney M. Queen Greatest Hits 1 (and even 2 to an extent) is kind of up there with ABBA Gold in its ubiquity, not exactly a forgotten legacy. I think their albums have a similar (albeit with different tastes) kind of fanbase as ABBA's as well.

[Edited 11/19/18 3:11am]

Do you think them being labeled as "Glam Rock" hindered their reputation?

bboy87 said:

Do you think them being labeled as "Glam Rock" hindered their reputation?

Doesn't hinder Bowie or Bolan...

jaawwnn said:

bboy87 said:

Do you think them being labeled as "Glam Rock" hindered their reputation?

Doesn't hinder Bowie or Bolan...

That's true. I remember reading people didn't take them seriously which is weird because they're music is GREAT

how many bands can have 7 consecutive great albums?

I respect that Queen infiltrated the scuzzy hair metal scene and the current metal scene despite Freddie's beautiful/glamorous presentation. I also wonder/posit that Prince's acceptance as a guitar deity in that hard rock crowd owes a bit to Freddie's flamboyance. The difference between Freddie's and Bowie's glam rock rep imo is that Freddie actually embodied his glamness while DB retreated from it eventually, it was a phase or reinvention for Bowie. I doubt Freddie would have opted for trenchcoats and designer suits if he had survived the early 80s, I like to think he would have gone more flamboyant and publically unabashedly gayer with the times.

.

My favorite Queen tune is "In The Lap of The Gods (Revisited)" devastatingly beautiful.

QUEEN to me is the first artist that GOT IT about going where you are selling most or at all. Roger Taylor said this middle 80's of how Queen had not been in america in a bit and this was when their popularity was slipping, THE WORKS record was huge in markets like South America and Queen could do those type of shows to 100-200thousand better than anyone. So they knew that playing LIVE was also their best way of getting to more people, I think many artists get this now, especially artists from the 80's era, take BON JOVI for alot of their career especially 90's time when it slipped here for them they took on the world market, that was Jon took over as business manager, very smart move.

And their popularity seems to keep on building with the mega-success of the Bohemian Rhaposdy movie. Today the news is that Bohemian Rhapsody is the biggest streaminf song of all time from the 20th century,

https://ew.com/music/2018...h-century/