| Queen’s Greatest Hits becomes first album in Official Charts history to reach 7 million UK chart ‘sales’ Brian May and Roger Taylor “humbled and honoured” as they make the milestone www.officialcharts.com/p/36841 British rock legends Queen make UK chart history as they become the first act ever to reach 7 million UK chart ‘sales’ of an album, the Official Charts Company can confirm. Queen break Official Chart records as they surpass the 7 million milestone with their 1981 Greatest Hits album. The Official best-selling album of all time in the UK, the record includes such classic tracks as We Will Rock You, Don’t Stop Me Now and the group’s top-selling behemoth Bohemian Rhapsody. Greatest Hits reaches this record-breaking achievement through a combination of physical sales, downloads and streams. Back in 2014, Queen’s Greatest Hits became the first album to ever surpass 6 million sales in the UK and, as pure sales (physical and digital download copies) of the collection continue to increase, the group’s back catalogue proves enduringly popular in the modern streaming age. Greatest Hits has accumulated an incredible 1.26 billion total UK streams to date, with the album’s most-streamed track being Bohemian Rhapsody, which boasts 240 million UK streams and counting. The record also recently celebrated its 1000th week on the Official Albums Chart, with Queen becoming the first British act ever to achieve this landmark milestone. Speaking to OfficialCharts.com, Queen guitarist Brian May says: “We’re here to bring you the joyous news that Queen’s Greatest Hits album has sold 7 million copies, which nobody has ever done before. No album has done this before in history. Thank you, we appreciate it.” Queen’s Roger Taylor adds: “The British public and their infinitely-great taste have made this the biggest-selling album in history. Thank you very much; we’re humbled and honoured. We salute you!” Martin Talbot, Chief Executive, Official Charts Company, comments: “It really is a fantastic achievement by Queen to become the first act to notch up 7 million sales of one album, with their legendary Greatest Hits. When it was released for the first time in 1981, career-spanning packages such as Greatest Hits were relatively rare, the preserve of only the very biggest acts. Queen’s Greatest Hits can claim to be in more than one-in-four UK households’ record collections today, and there is no doubt that its massive success has done as much as any other release to turn hits packages into the omnipresent album concept that they are today.” |
| Video credit: Emma Donoghue. This comes as Queen + Adam Lambert announce Rhapsody Over London; a concert film available to stream live and on-demand later this month. The exclusive concert spectacular, filmed live at London’s O2 Arena during the group’s sold-out European tour, will premiere live via Kiswe’s global streaming platform on July 24. The stream will also include a Q&A with Brian, Roger and Adam, speaking backstage from the penultimate show of their European tour. Rhapsody Over London will give fans worldwide the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Queen’s dazzling 28-song show, which honours the late Freddie Mercury’s enduring ethos that “too far is never far enough.” Find out more information here. Notes to Editors Chart information quoted from this release must be credited to the Official Charts Company.You are receiving this email because you are registered on the Official Charts Company press mailing list. You can view our privacy policy here, or to unsubscribe simply respond to the sender of this email with your request. About Official Charts Company The Official Charts Company are the providers of the UK’s only official music and video charts, as seen at OfficialCharts.com, on BBC Radio 1, MTV, Music Week, The Sun, Daily Star and many more. Compiling its charts purely from sales and streaming information gathered across all key distribution (or entertainment) channels including all major high street retail chains, independent stores, supermarkets, mail order internet retailers and digital music and streaming service providers. This market research sample equates to 99% of the total UK singles market; 98% of the total UK albums market and 90% of the total UK DVD market. The Official Charts Company is a joint venture between record labels’ body the BPI and ERA, the Entertainment Retailers Association. The Official Charts Company are responsible for the commissioning, marketing, distribution and management of the UK’s industry standard music charts and industry sales data. About OfficialCharts.com OfficialCharts.com is the new destination site of the UK’s Official Charts, delivering exclusive breaking chart news, video interviews with the week’s Official Number 1 artist, hot new releases and competitions to 2.5 million of the UK’s biggest chart fans monthly. You can access the full Official Singles and Official Albums Chart Top 100, published Fridays at 5.45pm, plus official genre and format charts for Rock, RnB, Dance, Streaming, Vinyl and many more. You can also search our historical chart archive from the Access The Archive box on the home page, here you can search the Official Charts Company archive by date, artist, song or album title or keyword. View the Official Charts The Official Charts Company publishes the full Official Singles Chart and Official Albums Charts Top 100 online at http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/ and http://www.officialcharts.com/charts/albums-chart/. You can also search our historical chart archive from the Access The Archive box on the home page, here you can search the Official Charts Company archive by date, artist, song or album title or keyword. Hear the Official Charts The Official Chart with Scott Mills, Fridays 4 – 5.45pm, BBC Radio 1; BBC Radio 1 can be found on 97-99FM; on DAB Radio; online at bbc.co.uk/radio1; and on Freeview, Sky, Virgin and Freesat. The Official Chart: First Look with Katie Thistleton & Vick Hope, Sundays 6-7pm, airs on BBC Radio 1 and gives a first glance of the Top 20 ahead of Friday’s Official Singles Chart Top 100. The chart is based on preliminary sales and early streaming reports, giving music fans a weekly sneak preview of the Official Singles Chart. The First Look reveals how songs are performing in the first two days of the chart week (Friday-Saturday), outlining the hottest new tracks of the week so far, as well as the new entries and highest climbers. |