Queen Are The Most Popular British Band Of All Time
Then buzz it up
July 5th, 2005 at 13:30 by Stuart Heritage
Every couple of weeks, a new band comes along that are touted as being ‘Bigger Than The Beatles’. But it looks like these bands will have to change that phrase to ‘Bigger Than Queen’.
The compilers of the Guinness Book Of British Hit Singles And Albums have worked out that Queen are the most popular British band of all time.
That claim was made by working out the exact number of weeks that
various bands have spent in the British Album Chart. And Queen (CDs) have
spent 23 more weeks on the album chart than The Beatles, and 42 more
than Elvis Presley.
The majority of this chart time comes from Queen’s first two
Greatest Hits albums - the first one alone counts for 450 of the weeks.
But the band was also boosted by events like their Live Aid set,
Freddie Mercury’s death, Bohemian Rhapsody being featured in Wayne’s
World, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee concert and the godawful musical We
Will Rock You.
Now the band are touring with former Free vocalist Paul Rogers,
which will no doubt bring in more record sales, and possibly the short
burst of We Will Rock You by Robbie Williams at this weekend’s Live 8
concert is also expected to boost sales.
The top ten bands of all time in the UK are as follows:
1 - Queen (25% dead stars of West End musicals) 1,322 weeks
2 - The Beatles (50% dead cartoon scousers) 1,293 weeks
3 - Elvis Presley (100% dead star of Girls, Girls, Girls) 1,280 weeks
4 - U2 (The President Of The World and a man named after a pizza) 1,150 weeks
5 - Dire Straits (a computer delivery man that can play the guitar) 1,136 weeks
6 - Simon and Garfunkel (a midget and his goon sing folk songs) 1,114 weeks
7 - Madonna (bad actress that swears for charity) 1,032 weeks
8 - David Bowie (spaceman with different coloured eyes) 1,005 weeks
9 - Elton John (Pete Doherty’s Dad) 989 weeks
10 - Michael Jackson (where to start….) 966 weeks
[story by Stuart Heritage]
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July 5th, 2005 at 3:55 pm
Load of crap claiming theyre the biggest band of all time . You judge the size of a band by worldwide album sales and world tours and Queen are way behind with the likes of the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones etc . Ok they’ve spent a lot of weeks on the UK (I stress UK chart) but most of that would have been way down the list . If you are getting nitty gritty just look at Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd - that album of theirs alone spent 740weeks on the US albums chart (not talking about any of their other albums)
July 5th, 2005 at 6:42 pm
Who really cares? They’re certainly not the best British band of all time.
July 5th, 2005 at 8:18 pm
No laddo, that’d be The Fall. The Fall.
MES
July 6th, 2005 at 9:38 am
That’s right. If Mark E Smith wore spandex and had a tash they would be in Queen’s position now.
July 6th, 2005 at 6:54 pm
Anyone else prefer The Smiths?
July 6th, 2005 at 7:41 pm
I prefer many bands to Queen, too many to list.
November 26th, 2005 at 11:41 pm
queen is the greatest band of all time and freddie mercury the best performer. there is no disputing that bands like pink floyd rock but queen was a hugely consistent rock band who were always incorporating new styles into their music. and if you don’t believe me listen to bohemian rhapsody
December 16th, 2005 at 4:22 am
im a big fan of smaller bands just starting off. i dont care much for bigger bands or whatever. i listen to alot of music by alot of different artists from all different time periods, and i think that queen were the most accomplished band. the beatles were obviously more popular in their time, but thats because there wasn’t much competition. i’d say queen were ahead of the lot if it came to the overall best band. yeah, freddie did have a far superior vocal talent in comparison to the rest. i think thats a major edge queen had. but when it comes down to it, most people WILL be biast and say the band they like is the best.
December 17th, 2005 at 3:09 pm
I’ve listened to it and I still don’t believe you. What now?
December 29th, 2005 at 8:52 pm
NOW realise that its a way amazing song and stop being a reject who cant appreciate good music.
loser!
April 16th, 2006 at 7:50 am
Queen is the best afterall .no one could do things what they have created, A REAL ROCK BAND
August 24th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
The beatles’ record sales is about to reach 2 billoion units and even though Queen are one of the best bands ever, they’ve only sold 300 million units and that leaves no question. The Beatles is the biggest band of all times!