Greatest Hits (Queen album)


Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the British rock band Queen, released worldwide on 26 October 1981. The album consisted of Queen's biggest hits since their first chart appearance in 1974 with "Seven Seas of Rhye", up to their 1980 hit "Flash". 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 1991, the US version of the album Classic Queen was released following the band's rekindled popularity in the nation.
Greatest Hits was a commercial success worldwide with sales of over 25 million copies, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. It reached number one on the UK Albums Chart, spending four weeks at the top and sold consistently well throughout the 1980s, becoming the fourth-biggest selling album of the decade. The single "Under Pressure", which was released the same week as Greatest Hits, also topped the UK Singles Chart.
As of October 2019, Greatest Hits has spent 868 weeks on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified 20× platinum with sales of over 6 million copies, making it the best-selling album of all time in the UK. Among the longest charting albums in the US, as of April 2020, it has spent 380 weeks on the Billboard 200. It has been certified 8× platinum in the US, 15× platinum in Australia, 10× platinum in New Zealand, and 3× platinum in Canada. Following the release of the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody in 2018, it re-entered the charts of countries worldwide.

Release

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 of which was released as a single in any country, but appear on some regions' 1981 Hits release. In the UK and the US, where solid numbers could be collected, the album included only top 20 hits.
The US ended up with its original edit of Queen's first single release, "Keep Yourself Alive", which had been re-released in the US in 1975 after the success of "Bohemian Rhapsody". The US version also added "Under Pressure", Queen's collaboration with David Bowie, which was released the same week as Greatest Hits and subsequently topped the UK Singles Chart and reached the top ten in many charts around the world. However, the song was not included on the European versions of Greatest Hits – according to Queen's business manager Jim Beach, this was because the longer manufacturing time required to press records in Europe meant that several hundred thousand copies of the album had already been pressed up before the song had been recorded.
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". The CD version is the same as the British.
The cover photo that appeared on the UK and US release was taken by Lord Snowdon at his home studio using only natural light. For the 1981 release the photo was skewed but later presented as it was originally taken for the 2011 re-release.
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 catalogue. The problem was that Elektra still held the US rights to that first 1981 collection. Hollywood Records decided to not release Greatest Hits II to the US market, but instead created their own collection, Classic Queen, peaking at number four. This compilation was made up of tracks such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Under Pressure" as well as newer tracks. Some tracks were not even singles in the US or anywhere. 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. Commonly referred to as the Red Greatest Hits, it features most of the '70s tracks absent from Classic 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.

''Greatest Flix'' and ''Greatest Pix''

The release of Greatest Hits was accompanied simultaneously by Greatest Flix, a 60-minute compilation released on VHS video and LaserDisc of all the videos Queen had made up until that point in chronological order, and Greatest Pix, a 96-page paperback book edited by Jacques Lowe which featured photos of the band taken by Neal Preston. Although Greatest Flix only listed 17 videos on its sleeve, it contained two videos for "We Will Rock You". The video for "Killer Queen" had been shot especially for Greatest Flix, as no video had been made for the song on its original release in 1974.
Greatest Flix
  1. "Killer Queen"
  2. "Bohemian Rhapsody"
  3. "You're My Best Friend"
  4. "Somebody to Love"
  5. "Tie Your Mother Down"
  6. "We Are the Champions"
  7. "We Will Rock You"
  8. "We Will Rock You "
  9. "Spread Your Wings"
  10. "Bicycle Race"
  11. "Fat Bottomed Girls"
  12. "Don't Stop Me Now"
  13. "Love of My Life "
  14. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
  15. "Save Me"
  16. "Play the Game"
  17. "Another One Bites the Dust"
  18. "Flash"
Note: On the sleeve notes of the video, "We Will Rock You" is incorrectly listed before "We Are the Champions".

Critical reception and legacy

Initial reviews of the album in the British music press were negative. In NME Barney Hoskyns said, "All of , besides 'Another One Bites the Dust', are quite repulsive, unbelievably crass insults to their respective genres and uniformly vulgar music. It was only when Queen took vulgarity to its absolute limit that they stood out." Melody Makers Adam Sweeting stated, "I've never been the slightest bit interested in Queen's ridiculous pomposity and Freddie just makes me snigger, but I suppose songs like 'Killer Queen' are sort of catchy, while anything as preposterous as 'We Will Rock You' deserves an award if only for bad taste".
However, retrospective reviews have rated the album higher: Ira Robbins gave Greatest Hits a B+ rating in Entertainment Weekly upon its reissue in 1992, and William Ruhlmann of AllMusic awarded the record four and a half stars out of five. In an interview in 2003 as part of the Arte television programme Music Planet 2Nite, Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien hailed the album as "impeccable" and "absolutely genius".

Commercial performance

In the UK, Greatest Hits debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and climbed to number one the following week, spending four weeks at the top. The album continued to sell well throughout the 1980s, appearing on several UK year-end charts, and by the end of the decade it had become the fourth-biggest selling album in the UK during the 1980s, with sales of over 1.9 million copies. By 2006, Greatest Hits had become the best-selling album in the UK and the first album to sell more than five million copies there. In February 2014, it was confirmed by the Official Charts Company that Greatest Hits had become the first album in the UK to sell over six million copies. The same year The Telegraph stated one in three families in the UK owns a copy. As of February 2019 the album has spent a total of 861 weeks on the UK Albums Chart.
In the US the album sold moderately well on initial release in 1981, being certified platinum, and peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200 chart on its reissue in 1992. However, it has since been certified eight times platinum for sales of eight million copies, making it the band's best-selling album there. Among the longest charting albums in the US, as of April 2020 it has spent 380 weeks on the Billboard 200. It is also the band's best-selling album worldwide, with total sales of more than 25 million copies.

Track listing

This section includes the track listings for the original Greatest Hits in its various forms. For other compilations, including the second and third Greatest Hits albums, see the relevant articles.
On the 17-track UK editions, Freddie Mercury was the writer of ten of the songs, Brian May five and John Deacon two. Roger Taylor had not written any songs that had been released as singles for the band at that point.
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 track listing:
;Additional personnel
;Additional personnel
;Additional personnel

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Release history