Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the British rock band Queen, released worldwide on 26 October 1981. The album consisted of Queen's biggest hits since their first chart appearance in 1974 with "Seven Seas of Rhye", up to their 1980 hit "Flash" (although in some countries, "Under Pressure", the band's 1981 UK number one single with David Bowie, was included). There was no universal track listing or cover art for the album, and each territory's tracks were dependent on what singles had been released there and which were successful. In 1992, the US version of the album, Classic Queen, was released, following the band's rekindled popularity in the nation.

In Argentina and Brazil, the LP edition included the same track listing as the UK Greatest Hits, minus "Seven Seas of Rhye" and including "Love of My Life" (Live Killers version). The CD version is the same as the British version.

The cover photo that appeared on the UK and US release was taken by Lord Snowdon at his home studio, using only natural light. For the 1981 release, the photo was skewed, but was later presented as it was originally taken for the 2011 re-release.

In 1991, Queen sought to issue a second Greatest Hits collection worldwide, this time with a standard track listing. However, the band had just changed record labels in the US, from Capitol to Hollywood Records, who were keen on a massive promotion of the band's back catalogue. The problem was that Elektra still held the US rights to that first 1981 collection (despite being Hollywood's US licensee). Hollywood Records decided not to release Greatest Hits II to the US market, but instead created their own collection, Classic Queen (1992), peaking at number four on the Billboard 200 chart. This compilation was made up of tracks such as "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Keep Yourself Alive" and "Under Pressure" (which had already appeared on the Elektra 1981 Hits collection), as well as newer tracks ("A Kind of Magic" and "Radio Ga Ga"). Some tracks were not even singles in the US ("One Year of Love") or anywhere ("Stone Cold Crazy"). In 1992, Hollywood Records released a VHS version to accompany the album, simply called Greatest Hits.

Greatest Flix (1981)

  1. "Killer Queen"
  2. "Bohemian Rhapsody"
  3. "You're My Best Friend"
  4. "Somebody to Love"
  5. "Tie Your Mother Down"
  6. "We Are the Champions"
  7. "We Will Rock You"
  8. "We Will Rock You (Live)"
  9. "Spread Your Wings"
  10. "Bicycle Race"
  11. "Fat Bottomed Girls"
  12. "Don't Stop Me Now"
  13. "Love of My Life (Live)"
  14. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
  15. "Save Me"
  16. "Play the Game"
  17. "Another One Bites the Dust"
  18. "Flash"

Note: On the sleeve notes of the video, "We Are the Champions" is incorrectly listed after the two versions of "We Will Rock You".

Greatest Hits (1992 US edition)

  1. "We Will Rock You"
  2. "We Are the Champions"
  3. "Another One Bites the Dust"
  4. "Killer Queen"
  5. "Somebody to Love"
  6. "Fat Bottomed Girls"
  7. "Bicycle Race"
  8. "You're My Best Friend"
  9. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"
  10. "Now I'm Here"
  11. "Play the Game"
  12. "Seven Seas of Rhye"
  13. "Body Language"
  14. "Save Me"
  15. "Don't Stop Me Now"
  16. "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"
  17. "I Want to Break Free"
  18. "Bohemian Rhapsody (Original Version)"
  19. "We Will Rock You (Rick Rubin 'Ruined' Remix Edit)" (end credits)

Note: New videos were created for Now I'm Here, Seven Seas Of Rhye and Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy for this collection, as they did not previously have music videos.

Critical reception and legacy

Initial reviews of the album in the British music press were negative. In NME, Barney Hoskyns said, "All of [their songs], besides 'Another One Bites the Dust', are quite repulsive, unbelievably crass insults to their respective genres and uniformly vulgar music. It was only when Queen took vulgarity to its absolute limit that they stood out." Melody Makers Adam Sweeting stated, "I've never been the slightest bit interested in Queen's ridiculous pomposity and Freddie just makes me snigger, but I suppose songs like 'Killer Queen' are sort of catchy, while anything as preposterous as 'We Will Rock You' deserves an award if only for bad taste".

Retrospective reviews have rated the album higher: Ira Robbins gave Greatest Hits a B+ rating in Entertainment Weekly upon its reissue in 1992, and AllMusic awarded the record four and a half stars out of five. In an interview in 2003 as part of the Arte television programme Music Planet 2Nite, Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien hailed the album as "impeccable" and "absolutely genius".

Commercial performance

thumb|Gold and platinum discs issued by EMI in 1982 for Greatest Hits (1981). With more than 25 million copies sold it is Queen's best selling album.

In the UK, Greatest Hits debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and climbed to number one the following week, spending four weeks at the top, for three of which it held Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants to second place. The album continued to sell well throughout the 1980s, appearing on several UK year-end charts, and by the end of the decade it had become the fourth-biggest selling album in the UK during the 1980s, with sales of over 1.9 million copies. By 2006, Greatest Hits had become the best-selling album in the UK and the first album to sell more than five million copies there. In February 2014, Greatest Hits became the first album in the UK to sell over six million copies, and it was claimed that one in three families in the UK owned a copy. In June 2022, Greatest Hits spent its 1,000th week on the UK Albums Chart, and in July 2022, it reached seven million sales, with one in four households in the UK estimated to have a copy of the album. As of May 2026, the album has spent 1,207 weeks in the top 100 of the UK Albums Chart.

In the US, Greatest Hits sold moderately well on initial release in 1981, obtaining a platinum certification. One of the longest charting albums in the US, as of May 2026 it has spent 700 weeks on the Billboard 200. Greatest Hits has now been certified nine times platinum in the US for sales of nine million copies, making it the band's best-selling album in that country. It is also the band's best-selling album to date, with total sales of over 25 million copies.

Track listing

This section includes the track listings for the original Greatest Hits in its various forms. For other compilations, including the second and third Greatest Hits albums, see the relevant articles.

On the 17-track UK editions, Freddie Mercury was the writer of ten of the songs, Brian May five and John Deacon two. Roger Taylor had not written any songs that had been released as singles for the band at that point.

In addition to the variations above, the official biography Queen: As It Began by Jacky Gunn and Jim Jenkins states the following variations on the original UK track listing:

  • Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela had "Love of My Life" (live version) instead of "Seven Seas of Rhye".
  • Belgium and Spain had "Spread Your Wings" as an extra track.
  • Australia was identical to the US version, but had "Tie Your Mother Down" (live version, with organ intro) as an extra track.
  • Bulgaria had "Death On Two Legs" and "Sweet Lady" as extra tracks.
  • Canada, France, Germany, Israel and Netherlands had "Under Pressure" as an extra track.
  • Germany also added "Spread Your Wings" on some first pressing copies.

Personnel

Queen

  • Freddie Mercury – lead, backing and operatic vocals, acoustic piano, jangle piano, fingersnaps, bicycle bells, handclaps, acoustic guitar, organ, synthesiser, footstomps, fingersnaps (on original North American release only), drum machine (on 1991 North American release only), synth bass
  • Brian May – acoustic and electric guitars, co-lead vocals on "Fat Bottomed Girls" (chorus), backing and operatic vocals, bicycle bells, handclaps, piano, synthesiser, footstomps, fingersnaps (on original North American release only), co-lead vocals on "Keep Yourself Alive" (bridge), harmonium (on Japanese release only)
  • Roger Taylor – acoustic and (on 1991 North American release only) electronic drums, percussion, backing and operatic vocals, timpani, gong, triangle, chimes, bicycle bells, handclaps, woodblocks, tambourine, footstomps, fingersnaps (on original North American release only), cowbell, co-lead vocals on "Keep Yourself Alive" (bridge), rhythm guitar (on 2004 US edition), lead vocals (on 2004 US edition)
  • John Deacon – bass guitar, electric guitar, acoustic and electric pianos, bicycle bells, handclaps, footstomps, fingersnaps (on original North American release only), synthesiser (on 1991 North American release only)

Additional personnel (original UK release)

  • Mike Stone – co-lead vocals on "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy"
  • Roy Thomas Baker – stylophone on "Seven Seas of Rhye"

Additional personnel (original North American release)

  • David Bowie – co-lead vocals on "Under Pressure"

Additional personnel (1991 North American release)

  • Fred Mandel – synthesiser on "I Want to Break Free"

Charts

Weekly charts

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

|+Weekly chart performance from Greatest Hits

!scope="col" |Chart (1981–1982)

!scope="col" |Peak<br />position

|-

!scope="row" |Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)

| style="text-align:center;"|2

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (1991–1992)

!scope="col" |Peak<br />position

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (RPM)

|style="text-align:center;"|4

|-

!scope="row"|Finnish Albums (Suomen Virallinen)

|align="center"|3

|-

!scope="row"|French Compilations (SNEP)

|style="text-align:center;"|5

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (2004)

!scope="col" |Peak<br />position

|-

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (2008)

!scope="col" |Peak<br />position

|-

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (2009)

!scope="col" |Peak<br />position

|-

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (2011)

!scope="col" |Peak<br />position

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (2016)

!scope="col" |Peak<br />position

|-

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (2018–2019)

!scope="col" |Peak<br />position

|-

!scope="row"|Australia (ARIA Charts)

|style="text-align:center;"|3

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Czech Albums (IFPI)

|style="text-align:center;"|2

|-

!scope="row"|Italian Albums (FIMI)

|style="text-align:center;"|37

|-

!scope="row"|Japan (Oricon Charts)

|style="text-align:center;"|13

|-

!scope="row"|Mexican Albums (AMPROFON)

|style="text-align:center;" |2

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (2020–2025)

!scope="col" |Peak<br />position

|-

! scope="row"| Argentine Albums (CAPIF)

|style="text-align:center;"| 3

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|}

Year-end charts

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|+Year-end chart performance for Greatest Hits

!scope="col" |Chart (1981)

!scope="col" |Rank

|-

!scope="row"| Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)

|style="text-align:center;" |9

|-

!scope="row" | New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)

|style="text-align:center;" |11

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (BMRB)

|style="text-align:center;" |2

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (1982)

!scope="col" |Rank

|-

!scope="row" | Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)

|style="text-align:center;" |23

|-

!scope="row" | Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)

|style="text-align:center;" |18

|-

!scope="row"| Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)

|style="text-align:center;" |24

|-

!scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)

|style="text-align:center;" |43

|-

!scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)

|style="text-align:center;" |25

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (BMRB)

|style="text-align:center;" |27

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (1984)

!scope="col" |Rank

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (Gallup)

|style="text-align:center;" |47

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (1985)

!scope="col" |Rank

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (Gallup)

|style="text-align:center;" |43

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (1986)

!scope="col" |Rank

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (Gallup)

|style="text-align:center;" |35

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (1991)

!scope="col" |Rank

|-

!scope="row"|Argentina Foreign Albums (CAPIF)

|2

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (Gallup)

|style="text-align:center;" |25

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (1992)

!scope="col" |Rank

|-

!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

|style="text-align:center;" |16

|-

!scope="row"| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)

|style="text-align:center;" |7

|-

!scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)

|style="text-align:center;" |2

|-

!scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)

|style="text-align:center;" |15

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (Gallup)

|style="text-align:center;" |34

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (1993)

!scope="col" |Rank

|-

!scope="row"|UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;"|90

|-

!scope="row"| US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;" | 60

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (2001)

!scope="col" |Rank

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;" |155

|-

!scope="col"| Chart (2002)

!scope="col"| Position

|-

!scope="row"|Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)

|style="text-align:center;" | 190

|-

!scope="row"|Canadian Metal Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)

|style="text-align:center;" | 30

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (2015)

!scope="col" |Rank

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;" |77

|-

!scope="row"| US Billboard 200<br />

|style="text-align:center;" |171

|-

!scope="col" |Chart (2016)

!scope="col" |Rank

|-

!scope="row"| Mexican Albums (AMPROFON)

|style="text-align:center;" |92

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;" |69

|-

!scope="col"| Chart (2017)

!scope="col"| Rank

|-

!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

|style="text-align:center;" |55

|-

!scope="row"| Mexican Albums (AMPROFON)

|style="text-align:center;" |71

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;" |68

|-

!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" |49

|-

!scope="col"| Chart (2018)

!scope="col"| Rank

|-

!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

|style="text-align:center;" |8

|-

! scope="row"| Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)

|style="text-align:center;" |8

|-

!scope="row"| Mexican Albums (AMPROFON)

|style="text-align:center;" |14

|-

!scope="row"| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)

|style="text-align:center;" |39

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;" |40

|-

!scope="row"| US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;" |96

|-

!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 12

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2019)

! scope="col"| Rank

|-

!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

|style="text-align:center;" | 9

|-

!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

|style="text-align:center;" | 115

|-

!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)

|style="text-align:center;" | 100

|-

!scope="row"| Italian Albums (FIMI)

|style="text-align:center;"| 85

|-

!scope="row"| Mexican Albums (AMPROFON)

|style="text-align:center;"| 9

|-

!scope="row"| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)

|style="text-align:center;" | 57

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;" | 81

|-

!scope="row"| US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;" | 27

|-

!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 2

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2020)

! scope="col"| Rank

|-

!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

|style="text-align:center;" | 52

|-

!scope="row"| Irish Albums (IRMA)

|style="text-align:center;" | 20

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;" | 8

|-

!scope="row"| US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;" | 25

|-

!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 1

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2021)

! scope="col"| Rank

|-

!scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)

|style="text-align:center;" | 91

|-

!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

|style="text-align:center;" | 74

|-

!scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)

|style="text-align:center;" | 146

|-

!scope="row"| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)

|style="text-align:center;" | 61

|-

!scope="row"| Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)

|style="text-align:center;" | 92

|-

!scope="row"| Irish Albums (IRMA)

|style="text-align:center;" | 6

|-

!scope="row"| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)

|style="text-align:center;" | 70

|-

!scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;" | 5

|-

!scope="row"| US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;" | 23

|-

!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 1

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2022)

! scope="col"| Rank

|-

! scope="row"| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)

|style="text-align:center;" | 164

|-

! scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 25

|-

! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;" | 11

|-

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;" | 31

|-

! scope="row"| US Independent Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 3

|-

!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 2

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2023)

! scope="col"| Rank

|-

! scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 30

|-

! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;"| 20

|-

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;" | 33

|-

! scope="row"| US Independent Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 4

|-

!scope="row"| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 4

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2024)

! scope="col"| Rank

|-

! scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 38

|-

! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;" | 25

|-

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;" | 47

|-

! scope="col"| Chart (2025)

! scope="col"| Rank

|-

! scope="row"| Canadian Albums (Billboard)

|style="text-align:center;" | 44

|-

! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;"| 31

|-

! scope="row"| US Billboard 200

|style="text-align:center;" | 64

|}

Decade-end charts

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"

|+Decade-end chart performance for Greatest Hits

!scope="col" |Chart (1980–1989)

!scope="col" |Position

|-

! scope="row"| UK Albums (Gallup)

|style="text-align:center;" |52

|-

! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)

|style="text-align:center;" |89

|}

Certifications and sales