Queen is staging a return to the U.K. chart throne.
The British rock legends’ Greatest Hits package is on pace for No. 1, thanks to a surge of activity around its 40th anniversary reissue.
According to the Official Charts Company, the collection leads the midweek chart by over 4,000 combined sales, with physical formats accounting for 86% of the tally so far.
If it keeps its momentum when the weekly chart is published this Friday, it’ll mark the album’s fifth week at the summit, and its first stint at the top since the LP ruled the chart for four straight weeks in November and December 1981.
With more than six million copies sold, Queen’s Greatest Hits is the best-selling album in the history of the U.K.’s recorded music industry.
Also, it has logged 952 weeks in the Official Albums Chart to date, behind just ABBA’s Gold (1,000 weeks) and Bob Marley and The Wailers’ Legend (984 weeks).
Queen last ruled the U.K. chart with 2020’s Queen + Adam Lambert Live Around The World, their first time leader since 1995’s Made In Heaven.
Ahead of its release, Royal Mail released a collection of stamps to commemorate the group’s 50-year anniversary, and the Royal Mint celebrated the band with an official U.K. coin.
It’s not the first bounce for Queen’s much-loved hits set.
Last year, the compilation reached the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 for the very first time, vaulting 36-8 after 412 weeks on the U.S. albums survey.
Greatest Hits, which includes “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Flash,” “Killer Queen,” “You’re My Best Friend,” “Somebody To Love,” “We Are The Champions,” “We Will Rock You,” and “Under Pressure,” their collaboration with David Bowie, also hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Vinyl Albums Chart.
The anniversary reissue includes a collector’s edition of the CD with an exclusive slipcase cover, and a limited-edition cassette available in five different colors.
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