Greatest Hits

Description

Originally released in October 1981, Greatest Hits brought together Queen's biggest chart successes, from their first entry in 1974 with "Seven Seas of Rhye" to "Flash" in 1980. To this day, it is Queen's best-selling album, with over 25 million copies sold, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. Greatest Hits spent 1,195 weeks on the UK album charts and has been certified platinum 23 times. It is also among the most enduring albums on the American charts, with 688 weeks on the Billboard 200 and a 9-times platinum certification. There was no universal tracklist for this album, as each territory had a selection of tracks based on locally released singles and their respective success. Many variations of the cover art also existed around the world, in single or double album versions — this edition is the definitive version. The cover photo for the UK and US versions was taken by Lord Snowdon in his personal studio, using only natural light. This iconic image was tilted on the original 1981 release (the most well-known), but was later presented in its original framing. In July 2022, the album made history on the UK charts when Queen became the first artist to reach 7 million sales in the UK according to the Official Charts Company, making this album the best-selling of all time in the UK. This record was achieved through a combination of physical sales, downloads, and streams. At that time, Greatest Hits had a total of 1.26 billion streams in the UK, with the most streamed track, "Bohemian Rhapsody," having over 240 million listens.