Queen's 'Greatest Hits' on course to reach Number 1 for the first time in 40 years

It's already the best-selling album of all time in the UK

Queen - 'Greatest Hits'
Author: Scott ColothanPublished 6th Jul 2021

Queen’s ‘Greatest Hits’ album is currently on course to reach Number 1 on the UK album chart for the first time in 40 years.

To celebrate the album’s 40th anniversary, Queen reissued ‘Greatest Hits’ last Friday (2nd July) on a variety of formats including a collector’s edition CD signed by Brian May and Roger Taylor with an exclusive slipcase cover, and four highly-limited band member colour cassettes.

According to the Official Charts Company, ‘Greatest Hits’ is at Number 1 at the midweek stage and it’s leading Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘Sour’ by 4,000 chart sales. 86% of the sales so far are from physical formats.

If it stays at Number 1 on Friday, it will be the first time Queen’s ‘Greatest Hits’ has topped the chart since its four-week stint in November and December 1981.

Originally released on 26th October 1981, ‘Greatest Hits’ is already the best-selling album of all time in the UK, and in 2019 it became the first record ever to sell more than 6 million copies. To date, it has spent 952 weeks in the Official Albums Chart.

In recent years, the album has enjoyed a sales boost thanks to the rip-roaring success of the Queen movie Bohemian Rhapsody.

Seminal songs that feature on ‘Greatest Hits’ include ‘Killer Queen’, ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Another One Bites The Dust’, ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’, ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions.’

Brian May speaks to Absolute Radio's Leona Graham:

Brian May caught up with Absolute Radio's Leona Graham this week to discuss Queen's 'Greatest Hits', Freddie Mercury and much more. Watch their chat below:

Brian May’s debut solo album ‘Back To The Light’ from 1992 is being re-released on Friday 6th August.

The album boasts the singles ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ and ‘Driven By You’, and fans will also be able to enjoy a number of bonus tracks on the reissue’s second disc called ‘Out of the Light’.

The real names of famous musicians, including Freddie Mercury:

Mark Berry (Bez)


John Martin Maher (Johnny Marr)


Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (Lana Del Rey)


William Bruce Rose (Axl Rose)


Gerard Crosbie (Gerry Cinnamon)


Edward Louis Severson III (Eddie Vedder)


Farrokh Bulsara (Freddie Mercury)


Michael Peter Balzary (Flea)


Perry Bernstein (Perry Farrell)


Robert Deal (Mick Mars)


Frank Ferrano (Nikki Sixx)


Frank Edwin Wright III (Tré Cool)


Courtney Michelle Harrison (Courtney Love)


Georg Albert Ruthenberg (Pat Smear)


Chaim Klein Witz (Gene Simmons)


James Newell Osterberg, JR. (Iggy Pop)


Vincent Damon Furnier (Alice Cooper)


Saul Hudson (Slash)


Michael Ryan Pritchard (Mike Dirnt)


Ronald James Padavona (Ronnie James Dio)


Bree Joanna Alice Robinson (Brody Dalle)


Chad Robert Turton (Chad Kroeger)


Deborah Anne Dyer (Skin)


Nicholas Jones (Nicky Wire)


Amy Lynn Hartzler (Amy Lee)


William Perks (Bill Wyman)


Jeffrey Isbell (Izzy Stradlin)


Stanley Eisen (Paul Stanley)


Henry Garfield (Henry Rollins)


Richard Harrison (Rick Parfitt)


Vincent Neil Wharton (Vince Neil)


Stevland Hardaway Morris (Stevie Wonder)


Michael McKagan (Duff McKagan)


Ian Kilmister (Lemmy)


John Baldwin (John Paul Jones)


Joan Larkin (Joan Jett)


Keith Palmer (Maxim Reality)


Eric Patrick Clapp (Eric Clapton)


Susan Janet Ballion (Siouxsie Sioux)


David Robert Hayward Stenton Jones (David Bowie)


Richard Wayne Penniman (Little Richard)


John Simon Ritchie (Sid Vicious)


Paul Daniel Frehley (Ace Frehley)


Louis Firbank (Lou Reed)


John Graham Mellor (Joe Strummer)


Mark Feld (Marc Bolan)


David Howell Evans (The Edge)


Marvin Lee Aday (Meatloaf)


Steven Victor Tallarico (Steven Tyler)


John Michael Osbourne (Ozzy Osbourne)


John Francis Bongiovi (Jon Bon Jovi)


John Anthony Gillis (Jack White)


Paul David Hewson (Bono)


Reginald Kenneth Dwight (Elton John)


Gordon Sumner (Sting)


Robert Allen Zimmerman (Bob Dylan)


Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O'Connor (Lorde)


Gary Mounfield (Mani)


Alan John Wren (Reni)


Quentin Leo Cook (Fatboy Slim)


Jake Edwin Charles Kennedy (Jake Bugg)


Roger Keith Barrett (Syd Barrett)


George Ezra Barnett Smitherson (George Ezra)


William John Paul Gallagher (Liam Gallagher)


Rory Charles Graham (Rag'n'bone Man)


Stephanie Lynn Nicks (Stevie Nicks)


William Michael Albert Broad (Billy Idol)


Steven Patrick Morrissey (Morrissey)


Leslie Sebastian Charles (Billy Ocean)


Paul Arthurs (Bonehead)


Graham McPherson (Suggs)


Stuart Leslie Goddard (Adam Ant)


Andrew John Hozier-Byrne (Hozier)


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