Queen‘s 1981 Greatest Hits compilation has long been the best-selling album in U.K. history, and now, the collection has reached a new milestone in the band’s home country.
According to the Official Charts Company, Greatest Hits has become the first album ever to reach the seven-million mark in sales in the U.K. The record-breaking sales figure includes physical sales, downloads and streams.
The album has amassed a whopping 1.26 billion total streams in the U.K. with “Bohemian Rhapsody” being the most-streamed track, notching over 240 million. Greatest Hits also has spent more than 1,000 weeks on the Official Albums Chart, making Queen the first British artists ever to achieve this feat.
In celebration of the sales milestone, Queen guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor recorded a video thanking fans.
“We’re here to bring you the joyous news that Queen’s Greatest Hits album has sold 7 million copies, which nobody has ever done before,” says May in the clip that’s been posted on OfficialCharts.com. “No album has done this before in history. Thank you, we appreciate it.”
Adds Taylor, “The British public in their infinitely great taste have made this the biggest-selling album in history. Thank you very much; we’re humbled and honored. We salute you!”
In other Queen news, today is May’s 75th birthday. He has continued to lead the band alongside Taylor since the 1991 death of frontman Freddie Mercury and is responsible for many of the group’s major hits. May wrote six songs on Greatest Hits, including “Fat Bottomed Girls,” “Save Me,” “Now I’m Here,” “Flash” and “We Will Rock You.”
Queen and singer Adam Lambert currently are on tour in Europe. The band’s next show takes place Wednesday, July 20 in Stockholm, Sweden.
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