Queen’s Greatest Hits becomes the twelfth album in U.S. history to spend 700 weeks — or more — on the Billboard 200, and the band joins some of the biggest artists ever. 1975: British rock band Queen (L-R: Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury, Brian May and John Deacon pose for an Electra Records publicity still to promote their tour of Japan in 1975. (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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If Queen never sold another album, the group would continue to be known as one of the bestselling bands of all time, perhaps forever. The legendary rockers do move thousands of equivalent album units each week, though streaming has largely taken over as the manner in which millions of fans around the planet consume the work that the English act produced during the years largely before Freddie Mercury’s death.
Queen lives on the Billboard charts week after week with its Greatest Hits compilation, as well as several tunes featured on that project’s track list. Greatest Hits reaches an incredible milestone on the current edition of the Billboard 200 – the comprehensive ranking of the most-consumed albums in America – one which only a handful of titles have approached.
Queen’s Greatest Hits Reaches 700 Weeks
Queen’s Greatest Hits dips from No. 31 to No. 36 this frame, holding on inside the top 40 on the Billboard 200. As of this period, the compilation has spent 700 weeks as one of the 200 most-consumed collections in the United States. For decades, the roster focused entirely on purchases, but years ago the chart company changed its methodology, and streams now play a role in where a set lands, or whether it appears on the tally or not.
Queen Joins a Highly Exclusive Club
Of the thousands of albums that have reached the Billboard 200 in the decades it has been published, only 12, now including Greatest Hits by Queen, have spent 700 weeks or more on the rundown. The longest-charting release of all time remains Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. That fellow rock release needs less than one month more before it becomes the first 1,000-week charter. The most recent addition to this club before Queen was Kendrick Lamar’s Good Kid, M.A.A.D City, which managed the feat less than two months ago.
Here are all of the albums that have spent 700 weeks or more on the Billboard 200.
- Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
- Bob Marley and the Wailers – Legend
- Journey – Greatest Hits
- Metallica – Metallica
- Creedence Clearwater Revival – Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits
- Eminem – Curtain Call: The Hits
- Bruno Mars – Doo-Wops & Hooligans
- Nirvana – Nevermind
- Guns N’ Roses – Greatest Hits
- Michael Jackson – Thriller
- Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid, M.A.A.D City
- Queen – Greatest Hits
INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 13: Kendrick Lamar performs in the Pepsi Halftime Show during the NFL Super Bowl LVI football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium on February 13, 2022 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
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Drake’s Take Care May Be Next
Later this summer, there may be another entrant to this exclusive group. Drake’s Take Care is up to 690 stays on the Billboard 200, and it is unlikely to fade away. As his new albums, Iceman, Habibti and Maid of Honour, debut at Nos. 1, 2 and 3, respectively, on the list, Take Care stands out as his fourth-highest-ranking release out of a total of 12 that make space on the tally this time around. Take Care descends to No. 25, pushed downward in large part by the Canadian hip-hop musician’s arrivals.
Queen’s Greatest Hits Is Not the Band’s Highest-Rising Hit
Despite being Queen’s longest-charting success on the Billboard 200, Greatest Hits does not rank as the band’s highest-rising set. In fact, multiple traditional albums have soared to more impressive positions. The band claims nine top 10 wins out of 30 total charting efforts on the Billboard 200, and Greatest Hits is the lowest-peaking of all of those that have reached the highest tier. Only The Game spent time at No. 1.
Queen Has Seen Two Albums Chart for 100 Weeks or More
Just two of Queen’s albums have earned triple-digit turns on the Billboard 200. Notably, they are both part of the hugely successful Greatest Hits series. Another charting effort, titled Greatest Hits I II & III: The Platinum Collection, managed 150 weeks on the chart and topped out at No. 6.
Queen Continues to Lead With Greatest Hits
As is often the case, Queen’s Greatest Hits appears on more than just the Billboard 200. The compilation is steady once more atop the Top Hard Rock Albums chart. It keeps at No. 5 on both the Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums rankings, and it slips slightly from No. 33, its all-time peak, to No. 36 on the Top Streaming Albums register.