More than a decade ago, the Official Charts Company, the United Kingdom’s equivalent to America’s Billboard, introduced the Official Albums Streaming chart. The tally ranks the most successful full-lengths and EPs on streaming sites like Spotify and Apple Music throughout the nation. The roster regularly includes debuts from some of today’s hottest soloists and groups, and it is also a place where many legacy acts have set up shop and refuse to budge. Continued plays of hit songs from legendary artists keep a number of compilations going, and a handful have lived on the tally for years and may never disappear.
Queen is one such musical act. The group’s Greatest Hits is a fixture across a variety of charts in the band’s home country. This week, the compilation brings the outfit to a never-before-seen milestone as it once again ranks as a major streaming success.
Queen’s Greatest Hits Hits a Decade as a Streaming Smash
Queen’s Greatest Hits improves by two spaces on the Official Albums Streaming chart, ascending to No. 30. As of this period, the project has spent 520 weeks — exactly a decade — as one of the 100 most-streamed releases in the U.K.
8th September 1976: British rock group Queen at Les Ambassadeurs, where they were presented with silver, gold and platinum discs for sales in excess of one million of their hit single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. The band are, from left to right, John Deacon, Freddie Mercury (Frederick Bulsara, 1946 – 1991), Roger Taylor and Brian May. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesQueen’s Greatest Hits Is the Band’s First Decade-Long Streamer
Greatest Hits is Queen’s first title to celebrate 10 years on the Official Albums Streaming chart. No other effort from the band has held on for a triple-digit week-long stay, although several additional sets have made it to at least one year.
The Platinum Collection ranks as Queen’s second-longest-running project, as it’s up to 84 turns on the tally. Hungarian Rhapsody: Live in Budapest and the Bohemian Rhapsody soundtrack are tied for third place, as the two managed to find space on the ranking for 57 stints.
Queen’s Greatest Hits Has Charted Almost Constantly Since 2015
Greatest Hits became Queen’s first placement on the Official Albums Streaming chart in March 2015. In the 11 years since the compilation debuted, it has been found on the roster more often than not, and typically in impressive positions. Greatest Hits has spent more time on the Official Albums Streaming ranking than Queen’s eight other releases that have landed on the tally combined – times three.
Queen Joins Michael Jackson, Oasis, Fleetwood Mac and More
VARIOUS, VARIOUS – JUNE 25: Michael Jackson performs in concert circa 1988. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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It is fairly uncommon for any album to spend a decade as a top performer, whether it be on sales rosters, ones that focus on streaming, or even the closely watched, competitive, consumption-built Official Albums chart. On the Official Albums Streaming tally, Queen is one of a number of musical acts that got their start decades ago that have seen at least one project keep on the list for a decade or longer.
Two albums — Michael Jackson’s The Essential and Time Flies… 1994–2009 by homegrown favorites Oasis — have long passed that figure and are still present inside the top 10. Names like ABBA, Eminem, Fleetwood Mac, Arctic Monkeys, and Maroon 5 all sit ahead of Greatest Hits by Queen, and they’ve managed decade-long runs as well.
Queen’s Greatest Hits Has Lived on Other Charts Even Longer
10 years on one chart is impressive, but astoundingly, 520 weeks counts as one of the shortest streaks attached to Greatest Hits. The set has only lived for a shorter time on the Official Albums Sales tally, where it’s up to 468 appearances. The compilation will soon make it to 1,200 frames on the Official Albums roster, and it has managed an even longer hold on both the Official Physical Albums and Official Album Downloads rankings, where it is now up to 671 and 575 turns, respectively.