Ranking all of Queen's studio albums from worst to best selling

Queen released 15 studio albums over the years. Some of those were huge sellers, others less so. Find out which sold the most and the least and see what surprises you about that order.
Queen - John Deacon, Freddie Mercury, Brian May And Roger Taylor
Queen - John Deacon, Freddie Mercury, Brian May And Roger Taylor / Brian Rasic/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 8
Next

13 - Queen - 0.6 million

Queen made their album debut with this self-titled release in 1973. Like Queen II a year after, it’s very close to heavy metal and prog rock in style. There were even comparisons made at the time to Led Zeppelin. 

The album took a while to be released after the recording was completed as they struggled to find a label to take it on. Singles “Liar” (Mercury) and “Keep Yourself Alive” (May) didn't do much in the charts.  They did help get some airplay and draw attention to both Queen as a band and their album. Those are the top tracks on the album. There was also a sign of the future with a short instrumental version of “Seven Seas Of Rhye”, ahead of the fuller version being released as a single and appearing on Queen II.

12 - Hot Space - 0.7 million

This was perhaps a difficult album for Queen fans which is reflected in its lower sales and ranking. After the success of the super funky “Another One Bites The Dust” (Deacon) in 1980 they adapted their style even further. 

Hot Space, released in 1982, was an even bigger step towards a disco-sounding, funky-based, dance music Queen. Perhaps not what the band's core of rock fans wanted. Taylor indicated later that the band felt afterward it was a step too far.

This was Queen’s tenth studio album but its top track comes from a separate recording session, well before the album was put down. “Under Pressure” came from a relaxed jamming session in the band’s Montreux studios and famously also featured David Bowie. The writing of the song is credited to all four band members plus Bowie. Although that superb bass riff came from Deacon it was Mercury who coordinated the whole song pulling all the contributions together. 

 Continued on next slide