How a 1980s Queen song sold 22,000,000 but still kept losing

Chic, Bob Seger, and 'Rocky III'- How a 22,000,000-copy selling 1980s Queen song kept losing every battle

Credit: Far Out / David Bailey / Alamy / Original Poster

Fri 2 October 2026 1:15, UK

On the face of it, the world was Queen’s oyster when they released ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ in 1980.

It was the disco funk revolution that bridged the gap between 1970s glamour and the synth streak of the ‘80s. Many bands might have faltered at the prospect of trying to sonically morph while staying inherently true to themselves, but that would never happen when Freddie Mercury and co had something to do with it.

In that sense, we could more or less wrap this piece up here, couldn’t we? The song became Queen’s defining anthem, their best-selling hit, sold 22million copies, and they all sailed off into the sunset. Except, even if you only know the slightest thing about the band’s story, you would realise that this was never exactly the case.

For one, as much as it was the moment when they were at the peak of their commercial success, it was also the start of the downward spiral to frayed tensions and outright brawls. It was only two years later, in 1982, that Brian May admitted that “we hated each other for a while”. That wrath and ire had to start in earnest somewhere.

Yet even though ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ was painted as the crown jewel, perhaps when you looked closer, you could see the cracks and imperfections starting to show, even then. Although subtle, there was a series of signs which demonstrated that Queen could never quite be the royalty they wanted to be, always bringing them back down to Earth and clipping their wings.

It began with the fact that, famously, John Deacon wrote the bass line inspired by Chic’s ‘Good Times’. However, ‘inspired’ may not have been how Chic saw it, in place of blatant plagiarism. The band’s Bernard Edwards said, “That Queen record came about because that Queen bass player…spent some time hanging out with us at our studio”. That he didn’t even bother to learn his name probably spoke volumes.

Then, after the song was released, came the all-important Grammy Awards, where Queen found themselves nominated for ‘Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal’ on account of their monster hit, but lost to Bob Seger’s generational opus, ‘Against the Wind’. Gracious losing faces were at the ready, but they still had to keep using them.

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