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QUEEN Overtake THE BEATLES As The Most Successful Albums Act In U.K. Chart History
- July 15, 2005
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New research by the team behind the popular music annual "The Book of British Hit Singles & Albums" has revealed that QUEEN has overtaken THE BEATLES as official UK album chart champions, having spent more weeks on chart than the fab four.
According to British Hit Singles & Albums' unique database of official U.K. chart statistics, QUEEN has spent an incredible 1,322 weeks on the U.K. albums chart (29 weeks more than THE BEATLES). With sales figures notoriously unreliable in the '50s, '60s and '70s, the "weeks on chart" figure represents the fairest, most accurate method of ranking acts, according to David Roberts, editor of the book published by Guinness World Records Ltd.
Thirty years since their first UK #1 album "A Night at the Opera", QUEEN has overtaken THE BEATLES in this Top 10 for the first time.
Top 10 Most Successful Acts of All Time on the U.K. Albums Chart:
01. QUEEN (1,322 weeks)
02. THE BEATLES (1,293 weeks)
03. ELVIS PRESLEY (1,280 weeks)
04. U2 (1,150 weeks)
05. DIRE STRAITS (1,136 weeks)
06. SIMON AND GARFUNKEL (1,114 weeks)
07. MADONNA (1,032 weeks)
08. DAVID BOWIE (1,005 weeks)
09. ELTON JOHN (989 weeks)
10. MICHAEL JACKSON (966 weeks)
Roberts commented: "Given that QUEEN's chart career has been much shorter than those of THE BEATLES and ELVIS, this is an incredible achievement. They've long been written about with reverence in the pages of British Hit Singles and Albums and this just serves to cement their legendary status."
And if any proof of QUEEN's continued status as one of the world's greatest live bands were needed, the band wind up their current 32-date European tour with FREE/BAD COMPANY singer and musician Paul Rodgers this week, performing in London's Hyde Park Friday, July 15.
The date, which sees the band joined for the concert by RAZORLIGHT, PETER KAY and special guests Justin and Dan Hawkins of THE DARKNESS, marks QUEEN's return to the site of one of the most historic of their earlier concerts. Performing a free concert in Hyde Park almost 29 years ago (September 18, 1976), QUEEN attracted a record audience of more than 150,000 to the park.
QUEEN holds a number of records officially recognized by Guinness World Records. The band are lauded for having the biggest selling Greatest Hits album in the U.K. with "Greatest Hits 1" (now over four million) and QUEEN is also the only act to top the chart with the same single twice — "Bohemian Rhapsody" — selling a million copies both times. The single, which celebrates its 30th anniversary later this year, was also voted the favorite single of all time in a poll conducted by readers of "British Hit Singles & Albums". "Bohemian Rhapsody" is also the biggest selling non-charity single of all time.
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COMMENT | weeks on the chart
posted by :
7/15/2005 1:32:00 AM
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doesnt necessarily mean more albums sold...
but FUCK YEAH anyways.
queen!!
ps; MEGADETh
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COMMENT |
posted by : rycheskull
7/15/2005 1:42:19 AM
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I thought "Stairway To Heaven" was the favorite single of all time. I like Queen, but the without the Beatles and Elvis, thier would be no rock and roll.
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COMMENT | Queen's recording career
posted by :
7/15/2005 1:45:54 AM
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was 17 or 18 years; The Beatles' was 7.
blessed be.
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COMMENT | As it should be!
posted by : Skull Suicide
7/15/2005 3:58:24 AM
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Well done Queen! I salute you! the best band
in the world. I mean people, how many of you
formed a band and knew that your songs gonna be
Sport's anthems?? So much good music...
Ohh and Beatles SUCKS!
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COMMENT | Queen..
posted by :
7/15/2005 5:58:01 AM
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were and will always be the champions with the best singer of all time.
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COMMENT | huh ?
posted by :
7/15/2005 6:13:13 AM
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queen is good.
go see queen.
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COMMENT | Yeah!
posted by : Rasselkopf
7/15/2005 6:52:29 AM
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I like the Beatles, but Queen is were my first Rock heroes (apart from Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow)!
They derserve this. Not for their "reunion", that is...
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COMMENT | queen rocked.
posted by : triad
7/15/2005 7:17:32 AM
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although comparing beatles to queen, even chartwise, is ludicrous, queen were an amazing band, with each member being an incredible songwriter in their own right. they were also one of the first acts which took rock out of the "working class only" category, and their first few albums were brilliant. however, whilst queen have something like 20 albums, i find it hard to consider them more successful than the beatles in the UK when you compare the amount of original albums
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COMMENT | triad
posted by :
7/15/2005 7:41:05 AM
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The Beatles are SHIT compared to Queen. 1 Queen song alone is better than anything they have ever done.
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COMMENT | NileDeathMetalGods
posted by : Skull Suicide
7/15/2005 7:47:14 AM
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YOU ARE SO RIGHT! Queen are gods!
I miss them and you guys are too also!
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COMMENT | www.treehouseofdeath.com
posted by :
7/15/2005 9:24:54 AM
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I'm shooting myself in the foot today...
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COMMENT |
posted by : servantofthebones
7/15/2005 10:06:46 AM
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that goes to show that the fuckin masses have no sense of what good music is. just keep heavily marketing more panzies in tights and i'm sure you'll break the Queen record too...
HAIL LENNON.
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COMMENT | Queen rule
posted by :
7/15/2005 10:24:08 AM
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And the Beatles are also good. I prefer Queen to the Beatles though, but sales mean fuck all to me. Long live the Spirit of Freddie, Long live the reunited Queen with Paul Rodgers who's doing a killer job! I hope they record a new album of originals too!
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COMMENT |
posted by : RiotAct666
7/15/2005 10:40:05 AM
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QUEEN RULES
RIP FREDDIE
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COMMENT | servantofthebones
posted by :
7/15/2005 11:25:42 AM
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No it goes to show that YOU dont know what good music is since the beatles totally SUCKS. Dont compare shit bands like the beatles with the mighty Queen.
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COMMENT | What can you say?
posted by :
7/15/2005 6:29:20 PM
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Some people just like tinker bells!!!
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COMMENT | Queen rule...
posted by : bagofsoup
7/15/2005 7:45:00 PM
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...and would not have existed without the Beatles. All 4 members of Queen cite the Beatles as an influence, as do countless rock and metal musicians. For anyone to outright negate The Beatles' (positive) impact on Queen and the whole of modern music is simply ignorance. It's like saying that Thomas Jefferson had no impact on American History. It is simply undenyable.
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COMMENT |
posted by : rycheskull
7/16/2005 1:25:26 AM
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The Beatles are so omni-present and engrained in the American psyche that none of you Queen heads realize they invented modern recording. Without "Sgt. Pepper" there would be no "Bohemian Rhapsody." Queen would've sounded like just another garage band.
Paul McCartney is so talented that even after the Beatles broke up, he formed Wings with his tone-deaf wife and still churned out hit after hit. What did we get from Queen in the 80's? "Theme From Flash" and "Radio Ga Ga."
And then there's John Lennon who not only could write a good tune but became the voice of a generation and was a huge activist before it was trendy to do so. What was Freddie doing? Fucking anything that moved, male or female and getting AIDS and dying. Live fast, die not-so-young.
Finally, what has Brian May done since Freddie died besides guesting on everything under the sun and releasing a couple of forgetable solo albums that probably none of you "fans" bought. He should pull a Velvet Revolver/Audioslave and hook up with some other famous musicians and do a real band project or just retire.
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