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Queen is champion of UK album sales
By Jim Welte - MP3.com
November 16, 2006 at 02:01:00 PM | more stories by this author

Pomp rockers' Greatest Hits is certified as Britain's top-selling album ever, besting The Beatles and Oasis.

It's made nary a music critic's all-time best list over the years, but Queen's Greatest Hits is tops at UK cash registers.

Freddie Mercury basks in the love. Freddie Mercury basks in the love.

The Official UK Charts Company said today that Queen's Greatest Hits had sold more than 5.4 million copies in Britain since its release in 1981, more than any other record.

Sales of the hits package, which includes classics like "We Will Rock You" and "Bohemian Rhapsody," have outpaced that of two of the UK's most lauded albums, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Oasis' (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. Sgt. Pepper's has sold 4.8 million copies to date, while What's the Story has sold 4.3 million.

Queen's follow-up Greatest Hits II is the seventh best-selling album in Britain, according to the list. Queen and Michael Jackson (Thriller and Bad) are the only two artists to have two albums in the top 10. Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms, Abba's Gold, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, and Madonna's The Immaculate Collection rounded out the top 10.

Robbie Williams appeared most among the top 100, landing six albums on the list.


Here's the top 10:

1. Greatest Hits, Queen, 5,407,587

2. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles, 4,811,996

3. (What's the Story) Morning Glory? Oasis, 4,314,715

4. Brothers In Arms, Dire Straits, 3,956,704

5. Gold, Abba, 3,943,950

6. The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd, 3,781,993

7. Greatest Hits II, Queen, 3,644,619

8. Thriller, Michael Jackson, 3,578,107

9. Bad, Michael Jackson, 3,554,301

10. The Immaculate Collection, Madonna, 3,402,160

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