Greatest Hits (Queen)
Encyclopedia
Greatest Hits is a compilation album
by the British rock
group Queen
. When released in November 1981, the record consisted of Queen's best-selling singles since their first chart appearance in 1974 with "Seven Seas of Rhye
", until their most recent album at the time, The Game
. There was no universal track listing or cover art for the album, and each territory's tracks were dependent on what singles had been released there and which were successful. In some countries "Under Pressure
" was included, which had been released as a single earlier in the year.
Queen's Greatest Hits was an instant success, peaking at number one on the UK Album Chart for four weeks. It has spent 476 weeks in the UK Charts, and is the best-selling album of all time in the UK. It is certified eight times platinum
in the United States, and is Queen's most commercially successful album ever having sold more than 25 million copies, rendering it one of the best-selling albums worldwide. Combined with Greatest Hits II, it became the definitive Queen compilation.
The U.S. ended up with its original edit of Queen's first single release, "Keep Yourself Alive", which had been re-released in the U.S. in 1975 (original release was 1973) after the success of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Also, because of the delay in release dates between the UK (out first) and the U.S. (almost a month later), the U.S. was able to add "Under Pressure" (Queen's duet with David Bowie) to its Hits collection, as it was released during that interim.
In Argentina and Brazil, the LP edition included the same list of UK Greatest Hits minus "Seven Seas of Rhye", and including "Love of My Life" (Live Killers version). CD version is the same as the British.
In 1991, Queen sought to issue a second Greatest Hits collection worldwide, this time with a standard track listing. However, the band had just changed record labels in the US, from Capitol to Hollywood Records
, who were keen on a massive promotion of the band's back catalog. The problem was that Elektra still held the US rights to that first 1981 collection (despite being Hollywood's US licencée). Hollywood Records decided to not release Greatest Hits II to the U.S. market, but instead created their own collection, Classic Queen
(1992), peaking at no.4. This compilation was made up of tracks such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Under Pressure" (which had already appeared on the Elektra 1981 Hits collection) as well as newer tracks ("A Kind of Magic" and "Radio Ga Ga"). Some tracks were not even singles in the U.S. ("One Year of Love") or anywhere ("Stone Cold Crazy"). Though well received, this collection would eventually pose the problem of overlapping track lists in the future.
Hollywood Records, later that year, re-released a companion collection Greatest Hits with similar artwork (on a red background, where Classic Queen was on royal blue). Commonly referred to as the Red Greatest Hits, it features most of the '70s tracks absent from Classic Queen (including "Another One Bites the Dust" [1980], "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions" and "Killer Queen").
In 2004, to promote the Las Vegas production of the musical We Will Rock You, Hollywood Records released Greatest Hits: We Will Rock You Edition which was the UK Greatest Hits with three bonus tracks.
On this album Mercury has ten songs, Brian May has five and John Deacon has two. Roger Taylor had not released any singles with the group at that time.
In addition to the variations above, the official biography Queen: As It Began by Jacky Gunn and Jim Jenkins states the following variations on the original UK tracklisting:
Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela had Love Of My Life (live) instead of Seven Seas Of Rhye.
Belgium and Spain had Spread Your Wings as an extra track.
Australia had Tie Your Mother Down and Keep Yourself Alive but not Don't Stop Me Now, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy or Seven Seas Of Rhye.
Bulgaria had Death On Two Legs and Sweet Lady as extra tracks.
Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel and Netherlands had Under Pressure as an extra track.
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
by the British rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
group Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
. When released in November 1981, the record consisted of Queen's best-selling singles since their first chart appearance in 1974 with "Seven Seas of Rhye
Seven Seas of Rhye
"Seven Seas of Rhye" is a song by British rock group Queen. Written by Queen lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, it is the final track on both the group's debut album Queen and its follow-up Queen II . However, only a less-developed instrumental version was featured on the former...
", until their most recent album at the time, The Game
The Game (Queen album)
The Game is the eighth studio album by British rock band Queen released on 30 June 1980. It was the only Queen album to reach #1 in the US and became Queen's best selling studio album in the US with four million copies sold to date, tying News of the Worlds US sales tally. The album received very...
. There was no universal track listing or cover art for the album, and each territory's tracks were dependent on what singles had been released there and which were successful. In some countries "Under Pressure
Under Pressure
"Under Pressure" is a 1981 song recorded by Queen and David Bowie. It marked Bowie's first released collaboration with another recording artist as a performer, and is featured on Queen's 1982 album Hot Space. The song reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also number 31 on VH1's 100 Greatest...
" was included, which had been released as a single earlier in the year.
Queen's Greatest Hits was an instant success, peaking at number one on the UK Album Chart for four weeks. It has spent 476 weeks in the UK Charts, and is the best-selling album of all time in the UK. It is certified eight times platinum
RIAA certification
In the United States, the Recording Industry Association of America awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold through retail and other ancillary markets. Other countries have similar awards...
in the United States, and is Queen's most commercially successful album ever having sold more than 25 million copies, rendering it one of the best-selling albums worldwide. Combined with Greatest Hits II, it became the definitive Queen compilation.
History
There was no universal track listing or cover art for the Greatest Hits album, and each territory's tracks were dependent on what singles were released there and what tracks charted. In some cases, despite the band's popularity, not enough songs were issued as singles to fill a compilation album, and a few album tracks were used as filler. Some examples of these were "Sweet Lady" and "Love of My Life", neither was released as a single in any country, but appear on some regions' 1981 Hits release. In the UK and the U.S., where solid numbers could be collected, the standard was raised again by only including top 20 hits.The U.S. ended up with its original edit of Queen's first single release, "Keep Yourself Alive", which had been re-released in the U.S. in 1975 (original release was 1973) after the success of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Also, because of the delay in release dates between the UK (out first) and the U.S. (almost a month later), the U.S. was able to add "Under Pressure" (Queen's duet with David Bowie) to its Hits collection, as it was released during that interim.
In Argentina and Brazil, the LP edition included the same list of UK Greatest Hits minus "Seven Seas of Rhye", and including "Love of My Life" (Live Killers version). CD version is the same as the British.
In 1991, Queen sought to issue a second Greatest Hits collection worldwide, this time with a standard track listing. However, the band had just changed record labels in the US, from Capitol to Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
, who were keen on a massive promotion of the band's back catalog. The problem was that Elektra still held the US rights to that first 1981 collection (despite being Hollywood's US licencée). Hollywood Records decided to not release Greatest Hits II to the U.S. market, but instead created their own collection, Classic Queen
Classic Queen
-Charts:...
(1992), peaking at no.4. This compilation was made up of tracks such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Under Pressure" (which had already appeared on the Elektra 1981 Hits collection) as well as newer tracks ("A Kind of Magic" and "Radio Ga Ga"). Some tracks were not even singles in the U.S. ("One Year of Love") or anywhere ("Stone Cold Crazy"). Though well received, this collection would eventually pose the problem of overlapping track lists in the future.
Hollywood Records, later that year, re-released a companion collection Greatest Hits with similar artwork (on a red background, where Classic Queen was on royal blue). Commonly referred to as the Red Greatest Hits, it features most of the '70s tracks absent from Classic Queen (including "Another One Bites the Dust" [1980], "We Will Rock You", "We Are the Champions" and "Killer Queen").
In 2004, to promote the Las Vegas production of the musical We Will Rock You, Hollywood Records released Greatest Hits: We Will Rock You Edition which was the UK Greatest Hits with three bonus tracks.
Track listing
This section includes the track listings for the original Greatest Hits and closely related albums only. For other compilations, including the second and third Greatest Hits albums, see the relevant articles.On this album Mercury has ten songs, Brian May has five and John Deacon has two. Roger Taylor had not released any singles with the group at that time.
In addition to the variations above, the official biography Queen: As It Began by Jacky Gunn and Jim Jenkins states the following variations on the original UK tracklisting:
Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela had Love Of My Life (live) instead of Seven Seas Of Rhye.
Belgium and Spain had Spread Your Wings as an extra track.
Australia had Tie Your Mother Down and Keep Yourself Alive but not Don't Stop Me Now, Save Me, Now I'm Here, Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy or Seven Seas Of Rhye.
Bulgaria had Death On Two Legs and Sweet Lady as extra tracks.
Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel and Netherlands had Under Pressure as an extra track.
Charts
| Chart (1981) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Top 75 Albums | 1 |
| German Albums Chart | 1 |
| Netherlands Top 100 Albums | 1 |
| New Zealand Top 40 Albums | 1 |
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
1 |
| Chart (1982) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Norwegian Top 40 Albums | 21 |
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Top 50 Albums | 8 |
| Canadian Top Albums | 4 |
| French Compilations | 5 |
| Hungarian Top 40 Albums | 12 |
| Swedish Top 60 Albums | 21 |
| Swiss Top 100 Albums | 5 |
| US Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
11 |
| Chart (2004) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Catalog Albums Top Pop Catalog Albums Top Pop Catalog Albums is a fifty-position weekly albums chart produced by Billboard magazine which ranks the best selling catalog titles, regardless of genre. Billboard defines a catalog title as one that is more than eighteen months old and that has fallen below position 100 on the Billboard 200... |
2 |
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Hard Rock Albums | 5 |
| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Spanish Top 100 Albums | 63 |
| Chart (2011) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Wallonia) 100 Albums | 78 |
| French Top 200 Albums | 56 |
| Mexican Top 100 Albums | 53 |
Certifications
Release history
| Date | Region | Label | Format | Catalog number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 November 1981 | United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
EMI EMI The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major... /Parlophone Parlophone Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which... |
LP LP record The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry... |
EMTV 30 |
| 3 November 1981 | United States United States The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district... |
Elektra Records Elektra Records Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009.... |
LP | 5E-564 |
| 15 September 1992 | United States | Hollywood Records Hollywood Records Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote... |
CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... |
61265 |
| 17 August 2004 | United States | Hollywood Records | CD | 2061-62465-2 |
| 3 January 2011 | United Kingdom | Island Records Island Records Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group... |
CD | 2758364 |
See also
- List of best-selling albums worldwide
- List of best-selling albums in the United Kingdom
- List of best-selling albums in Australia
- List of best-selling albums in Germany