Queen Greatest Hits 1981 Elektra U.S. Edition Vinyl Rip Flac
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Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the British rock group Queen. When released in November 1981, the record consisted of Queen's best-selling singles since their first chart appearance in 1974 with "Seven Seas of Rhye," until their most recent album at the time, The Game. 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 some cases, despite the band's popularity, not enough songs were issued as singles to fill a compilation album, so album tracks were used as filler. In some countries "Under Pressure" was included, which had been released as a single earlier in the year.
Queen's Greatest Hits was an instant success, peaking at number one on the UK Album Chart for four weeks. It has spent over 450 weeks in the UK Charts, and is the best-selling album of all time in the UK.[1][2][3] It is certified eight times platinum in the United States, and is Queen's most commercially successful album ever having sold more than 25 million copies, rendering it one of the best-selling albums worldwide.[4][5] Combined with Greatest Hits II, it became the definitive Queen compilation.
Contents
1981 UK and U.S. editions
Greatest hits by Queen
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 was released as a single in any country, but appear on some regions' 1981 Hits release.
In the UK and the U.S., where solid numbers could be collected, the standard was raised again by only including top twenty Hits.
The U.S. ended up with its original edit of Queen's first single release, "Keep Yourself Alive", which had been re-released in the U.S. in 1975 (original release was 1973)
after the success of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Also, because of the delay in release dates between the UK (out first) and the U.S. (almost a month later),
the U.S. was able to add "Under Pressure" (Queen's duet with David Bowie) to its Hits collection, as it was released during that interim.
Track listing
On this album Mercury has ten songs, Brian May has five and John Deacon has two. Roger Taylor had not released any singles with the group at that time.
A1 Another One Bites The Dust 3:37
A2 Bohemian Rhapsody 5:58
A3 Crazy Little Thing Called Love 2:44
A4 Killer Queen 3:02
A5 Fat Bottomed Girls 3:23
A6 Bicycle Race 3:01
A7 Under Pressure 4:05
B1 We Will Rock You 2:02
B2 We Are The Champions 3:01
B3 Flash 2:49
B4 Somebody To Love 4:58
B5 You're My Best Friend 2:52
B6 Keep Yourself Alive 3:45
B7 Play The Game 3:28
Charts
Country Peak position Certification Sales
United Kingdom 1[6] 19x (formally 11x) Platinum*[2] 5,600,000[1]
United States 11[7] 8x Platinum[8] 8,500,000
Germany 1 7x Gold 1,750,000
Australia 1 14x Platinum 1,500,000
Canada 1 3x Platinum 500,000
Austria 1 4x Platinum 250.000
Argentina 1 7x Platinum 500.000
France 1 2xPlatinum 750,000
South Korea 600,000
Italy 1 6x Platinum 1,000,000
Israel Gold 20,000
Switzerland 5[9] 5x Platinum 300,000
Brazil 1 Platinum 300,000
Netherlands 1 Platinum 300,000
Spain 1 500,000
Japan 9 Gold 200,000
New Zealand 1 9x Platinum 200,000
Denmark 1 2x Platinum 100,000
Finland 3[10] 2x Platinum 55,000
Portugal 1 Gold 20,000
Greece Gold 25,000
Singapore Platinum 200,000
Sweden 2x Platinum 150.000
Czech Republic Gold 100,000
Hong Kong Gold 15,000
Rip Disclaimer Included
1981 UK and U.S. editions
Greatest hits by Queen
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 was released as a single in any country, but appear on some regions' 1981 Hits release. In the UK and the U.S., where solid numbers could be collected, the standard was raised again by only including top twenty Hits.
The U.S. ended up with its original edit of Queen's first single release, "Keep Yourself Alive", which had been re-released in the U.S. in 1975 (original release was 1973) after the success of "Bohemian Rhapsody". Also, because of the delay in release dates between the UK (out first) and the U.S. (almost a month later), the U.S. was able to add "Under Pressure" (Queen's duet with David Bowie) to its Hits collection, as it was released during that interim.