Queen: Facts and Figures

taken from http://www.pemcom.demon.co.uk/queen/ , www.wikipedia.com among others

• Queen List Entries
• Records
• Artists that Cite Queen as an Influcence
• Queen Trivia
• 1999 BBC Channel 4 Music Millenium Poll

• In the Music Of The Millennium poll conducted by BBC Channel 4 in 1999, Queen were voted the second greatest band in music history.
• In 2001, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.
• In 2003 Queen became the first and remain the only band to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
• In 2004, the band was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
• In 2006 Queen was the first inductee into the VH1 Rock Honors.
• Queen have also been inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame (at Guitar Center on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard) and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• Queen have released a total of eighteen #1 albums, eighteen #1 singles, and eight #1 DVDs worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists.

Queen List Entries

Where Queen occurs in 'greatest' lists.

Records

Weeks on UK album charts - Guinness Book of World Records 2005 rankings:

1. Queen (1,422 weeks/27 years)
2. The Beatles (1,293 weeks/24.8 years)
3. Elvis Presley (1,280 weeks/24.6 years)
4. U2 (1,150 weeks/22 years)
5. Dire Straits (1,136 weeks/21.8 years)
6. Simon and Garfunkel (1,114 weeks/21.4 years)
7. Madonna (1,032 weeks/19.8 years)
8. David Bowie (1,005 weeks/19.3 years)
9. Elton John (989 weeks/19 years)
10. Michael Jackson (966 weeks/18.6 years)

Also in 2005, with the release of its live album with Paul Rodgers, Queen moved into third place on the list of acts with the most aggregate time spent on the British record charts; this does not make allowances for the fact that the charts were a smaller list in the 1960s.[7]

Most Aggregate Time Spent on British Charts 2005 rankings:

1. Elvis Presley (2,074 weeks/39.9 years)
2. Cliff Richard (1,982 weeks/38 years)
3. Queen (1,755 weeks/33.7 years)
4. The Beatles (1,749 weeks/33.6 years)
5. Madonna (1,660 weeks/31.9 years)
6. Elton John (1,626 weeks/31.2 years)

Best Selling Album (English) 2006 rankings:

1. Queen, Greatest Hits (5,407,587)
2. The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (4,803,292)
3. Oasis, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? (4,304,504)
4. Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms (3,946,931)
5. ABBA, ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits (3,932,316)
6. Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon (3,759,958)
7. Queen, Greatest Hits II (3,631,321)
8. Michael Jackson, Thriller (3,570,250)
9. Michael Jackson, Bad (3,549,950)
10. Madonna, The Immaculate Collection (3,364,785)

Artists that Cite Queen as an Influcence:

10cc, AFI, Anthrax, Bad News, Ben Folds Five, Billy Squier, Blind Guardian, Boy George, The Darkness, Def Leppard, Dr. Dre, Dream Theater, Electric Six, Extreme, The Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferdinand, Gary Numan, George Michael, Green Day, Guns N' Roses, Iron Maiden, Jane's Addiction, Jeff Buckley, Jellyfish, Joan Osborne, Katie Melua, Keane, Marilyn Manson, Meat Loaf, Megadeth, The Melvins, Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Muse, My Chemical Romance, Nirvana, OK Go, Panic! At The Disco, Pharrell Williams, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Robbie Williams, Saga, Scissor Sisters, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Smiths, Sonata Arctica, Sparks, Steve Vai, TNT, Tenacious D, Justin Timberlake, Tori Amos, Trent Reznor, Van Halen, Ween, The White Stripes, Michael Jackson, Yngwie Malmsteen.

Queen Trivia

1. First band to have their entire back catalogue released at one time on CD.
2. First band to play three consecutive nights in a stadium in the same city - Buenos Aires.
3. First band to be signed by an independent record company who took on full responsibility of the band - Trident.
4. Queen pioneered coming onstage to a backing tape.
5. First band to sell out the Glasgow Apollo.
6. Their light shows were revolutionary: dismissed as excessive at the time, but are now copied worldwide.
7. At the time, A Night At The Opera was the most expensive album ever made.
8. Bohemian Rhapsody featured the first ever promotional video.
9. First band to have all four of their albums in the UK top 20 at once.
10. A Day At The Races had the highest ever advance sales for an album.
11. First band to sell out Ahoy Hall, Rotterdam in one hour.
12. First band to have video screens at their concert.
13. Bohemian Rhapsody voted joint best single in the UK for 1952-77.
14. We Will Rock You was Number 1 in France for 12 weeks - the longest period allowed in that country. The following week it was replaced by We Are The Champions, from the second side of the single.
15. First band to sell out 3 consecutive nights at Forest Nationale, Brussels. It was such an amazing feat that the promoters congratulated them via press adverts.
16. Highest attendance for an indoor concert in the UK. (NEC Birmingham, 14,000)
17. Another One Bites The Dust was Elektra's first 3,000,000+ single.
18. First band to play at Exhibition Centre, Birmingham.
19. First band to release a 12" single anywhere (Crazy Little Thing Called Love)
20. Gained entry in Guiness Book of Records for highest paid executives (Ł700,000 each in 1980).
21. First band to undertake a stadium tour of South America.
22. Their concert in Sao Paulo attracted the biggest paying audience ever (251,000) to see one band.
23. First band to fill every place in Argentina's Top Ten album chart.
24. Only band to have one single in the Argentinean chart for one year (Love Of My Life).
25. First rock band to be commissioned to write a soundtrack for a major film. (Flash Gordon)
26. First band to release the first proper collection of promotional videos commercially (Greatest Flix).
27. First band to have a number one video in the UK (Greatest Flix).
28. First band to be number one simultaneously in the UK's single, album and video charts.
29. Tickets for 12 nights at Sun City Superbowl, S Africa sold out in one day - the fastest ever.
30. Unanimously voted best band at Live Aid by media, journalists, critics, fans and Bob Geldof.
31. Main Road stadium, Manchester (40,000) sold out in 24 hours - the fastest ever.
32. First band to play a large stadium date in the Eastern Bloc (Budapest).
33. First band to release a video single.
34. Their concert at Milton Keynes was the first programme to be broadcast simultaneously on TV and all independent radio stations in the UK.
35. First band to have five videos in the UK top ten video chart.
36. Highest total attendance for four consecutive nights in the UK (over 400,000).
37. Live In Budapest was the first full length feature film to be premiered in the Eastern block.
38. Highest rate of sales of a single in Spain (Barcelona sold over 10,000 copies in under 3 hours).
39. Freddie was the first (and only) rock musician to compose, record and perform classical opera.
40. The Magic Years video trilogy was the best longform video of any kind worldwide in 1988.
41. Innuendo had the longest ever music promotional video (six and a half minutes of music)
42. These Are The Days Of Our Lives was the first music video to be animated by Disney.
43. Bohemian Rhapsody was pressed and released within one week. This had not been done before, and has never been done since.
44. First band to have 2 albums and 2 singles enter the UK charts at number 1 in one year.
45. Bohemian Rhapsody is the only single to be Christmas number one twice.
46. Bohemian Rhapsody is the only single to be number 1 in four different years.
47. First band to have 10 albums in the UK top 100.
48. Greatest Hits is best selling album ever in the UK.
49. The Freddie Mercury Tribute was watched by over one billion people.
50. Brian May is the only rock guitarist to have a paper published in the scientific journal Nature.
51. The four singles taken from The Works album were each written by a different member of the band, and each made the Top 20 in the UK. No other 4-piece band has had this success at song writing.
52. Queen is the most highly qualified rock band ever - all four members have degrees or equivalent.
53. Queen have had had more videos at Number 1 in the UK video chart than any other band. (9)
54. Queen is the first band to have three greatest hits compilations in the UK top 75 album chart.(12/12/99 - GH1 - #66, GH2 - #74, GH3 - #9)

1999 BBC Channel 4 Music Millenium Poll

BEST SONG - Number One with Bohemian Rhapsody

BEST BAND - Queen were voted Second, following the Beatles at Number One

BEST MALE VOCALIST - Freddie was voted in Sixth place behind 1)Elvis Presley, 2)Robbie Williams, 3)Michael Jackson, 4)Frank Sinatra and 5)George Michael.

MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSICIAN - Freddie was voted Number 14.

BEST SONGWRITER - Freddie was 15th in this category.

BEST ALBUM - Queen's 'A Night At The Opera' was at Number 55.