Queen's Greatest Hits becomes first album to sell 6 million in the UK

Queen's Greatest Hits has become the first album to sell over 6 million copies in the UK... Ever! Plus: The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Albums Of All Time revealed!

Legendary British band Queen have made chart history by becoming the first act ever to reach 6 million UK sales of an album, the Official Charts Company can confirm.

Queen have broken chart records after surpassing the 6 million sales milestone with their 1981 Greatest Hits album.  Britain’s best-selling album of all time, a staggering one in four British households now own a copy of the iconic act’s original bestof collection featuring such classic tracks as We Will Rock You, Another One Bites The Dust and their top-selling hit, Bohemian Rhapsody.

“Great news, AMAZING news from the Official Charts Company!“ guitarist Brian May told OfficialCharts.com. “Queen’s Greatest Hits which was released in 1981 has passed the 6 million mark in sales, which is incredible. I just want to say thanks to everyone who has supported us through the years, we hope to continue to serve you.”

Queen drummer Roger Taylor adds: "Wonderful. Who would have thought it! And all due to the Great British public. Thank you. A great honour!"

“Becoming the first album to pass 6 million sales is a quite incredible achievement by Queen and their iconic Greatest Hits album,” comments Martin Talbot, Chief Executive of the Official Charts Company. “Ever since it was first released in 1981, this package of classic pop and rock tracks has been an indispensable item in every music fan’s record collection – perhaps THE definitive greatest hits album!”

A true, enduring classic, the British public continue to buy Queen’s Greatest Hits in their droves; some 33 years after its original release, the album regularly sells several thousand copies per week, particularly around the Christmas gifting period, a trusted stocking filler for British music fans.

Sales of the album digitally are also now racking up, having been downloaded 124,000 times in the UK to date, though Queen’s Greatest Hits is evidently still very much an essential collectors’ favourite that music lovers demand to own a coveted physical copy of.

Queen’s Greatest Hits leads the way, some 900,000 copies ahead of ABBA Gold as the UK’s best-selling album of all time. ABBA last year overtook The Beatles‘ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band to take second place in the list.

The Beatles’ 1967 album, Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, is in third place with 5.1 million sales, while Adele’s 21 (4.7 million sales) and Oasis’ What's the Story Morning Glory (4.6 million sales) complete the Top 5.

And if 6 million sales isn’t enough for them, Queen’s follow-up, Greatest Hits II, which was release in October 1991 – a month before lead singer Freddie Mercury’s untimely death - also rides high at Number 10 in the all-time Official Albums Chart, having notched up a further 3.9 million UK sales to date.

The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Albums Of All Time are as follows:

The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Albums Of All Time

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