As previously reported, Mercury’s longtime friend/confidant Mary Austin partnered with Sotheby’s for a massive auction of Mercury’s possessions he left to her in his will. Items heading to auction range from stage costumes to hand-written lyrics to pieces of art Mercury collected.
This auction wraps on September 8, and the Queen guitarist is very emotional about it. May shared a photo of Mercury playing his iconic Red Special guitar via Instagram and wrote on September 5, “Tomorrow … Freddie’s most intimate personal effects, and writings that were part of what we shared for so many years, will go under the hammer, to be knocked down to the highest bidder and dispersed forever. I can’t look. To us, his closest friends and family, it’s too sad.”
Queen is one of rock’s most beloved bands of all time, and that love has grown in recent years.
In large part, the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody is to thank for this. The hit film grossed over $910 million dollars worldwide. Bohemian Rhapsody was also a critical darling winning four Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Rami Malek’s performance as Freddie Mercury.
The film also brought renewed attention to Queen’s music. In the six months following the release of Bohemian Rhapsody, the Queen catalog generated $18 million in revenue thanks to major boosts in sales and streams. This has also led to reports in May 2023 that the Queen catalog could be the latest to hit the market for a major sale. At the time, the catalog was estimated to sell for over $1 billion.
Whether the Queen catalog sells for a big price tag is yet to be determined. However, what has already been determined is just how much this band absolutely rocks. Queen’s music touches on many different subgenres in rock, from glam to hard rock, while also dabbling with elements of prog, funk, pop and disco. Their remarkable catalog left few stones unturned; not many bands can claim that.
Ranking Queen songs is a unique challenge. For starters, they have so many hits, but many of their album tracks are strong, too. Because of the diversity of the subgenres they explored, comparing one track to another often feels like an apples-and-oranges scenario. There are so many factors that can help determine any given rank. This includes something as mundane as your general mood to your own personal rock subgenre preferences. Frankly, it feels like an impossible task, but we have taken it on with gusto.
In honor of the band’s self-titled debut album turning 50 today (it was released July 13 in the U.K. and a few weeks later in America), here are Queen’s best songs ranked. Get “Ready Freddie” for the debating to begin!
