Being one of the most loved bands of all time, ranking the Queen albums is not an easy venture. Their output from the debut to The Game was consistently outstanding and while they may not have reached the same heights again, there is plenty to enjoy from then on. For the purposes of this ranking, I will not be including The Cosmos Rocks.
Where this list is concerned, I regularly enjoy every album down to number fourteen (and everything down to number ten I consider to be an excellent album overall) - the gap between the middle seven is extremely narrow and this was the trickiest part of the ranking. The 15 albums have different highs and in this case, I ranked them according to how consistent I think they are as entire albums. Furthermore, for some of the albums, their ranking relates to when I first heard the album and the influence it had on me as a Queen fan and music fan in general – A Kind of Magic being the main example of this.
This was by far the hardest ranking of albums I have completed so far and I have no doubt many will completely disagree with much of it, such is the range of opinion on Queen.
Feel free to add your own rankings and comments at the end!
15: Hot Space (1982)
Referring to Hot Space, Freddie Mercury famously said, “I mean, it's only a bloody record, people get so excited about these things ...”. He was, of course, completely correct – it really was not that important. Many Queen fans would place this at the bottom of their lists and with good reason. It is not even the style of music that is at fault. Queen had dabbled with the funk / dance world before (on the infinitely more successful Another One Bites The Dust) but Hot Space comes across as disjointed, poorly constructed and a band pulling in different directions.
Three favourite tracks: Put Out The Fire, Las Palabras de Amor, Under Pressure
14: Made in Heaven (1995)
Putting out an album after the loss of an icon was never going to be easy; however, the remaining members of the band felt they needed to pay tribute and as Made In Heaven is not a perfect album, it would be easy to become caught up in the emotion of the release and thus become a little too forgiving of some of the material, which while good, does not compare to some of their earlier output. At times however, that emotion is fully justified, such as the performance of Freddie on Mother Love – his last recorded vocal – which is both vulnerable and exquisite. As a patchwork of Queen versions of solo songs (I still prefer Brian May’s version of Too Much Love Will Kill You – originally planned to appear on The Miracle) and studio leftovers or re-recordings (Let It Live came from as far back as 1983) it could be far, far worse.
Three favourite tracks: Made In Heaven, Let Me Live, Mother Love
13: Flash Gordon (1980)
Queen were the perfect band to provide the soundtrack for Mike Hodges’ wonderfully over-the-top and lavish production of Flash Gordon. Snippets of dialogue from the film mean the album provides a narrative of its own and it is impossible to listen to it without visualising the moments on screen. Having fully embraced the use of synths by this point, they are used to great effect and atmosphere throughout.
Three favourite tracks: Flash’s Theme, In The Space Capsule (The Love Theme), Battle Theme
12: The Miracle (1989)
After the triumph of Live Aid and subsequently the Magic Tour, the world had embraced Queen as returning heroes once again - a status which has remained with them. The Miracle is a patchy Queen album but has some stand out moments. More varied in style than A Kind of Magic, it demonstrates that Queen could still rock with the best of them (I Want It All), be bombastic (Was It All Worth It) and that Mercury could still tug at the heart strings with his lyrical ability (The Miracle).
Three favourite tracks: I Want It All, Scandal, Was It All Worth It
11: Jazz (1978)
The run of albums from Queen II to The Game is one of the greatest in music history. While its ranking at number 11 may surprise many, this is not to say that I do not think that Jazz is a solid album – it is just not a great one. Even by Queen standards, it is one of their most idiosyncratic opuses and at times, there is evidence that the gap in quality between the best songs and the lesser tracks was growing. There’s nothing truly terrible here (although Fun It comes close – I always find it funny that Taylor was one who objected to elements of Another One Bites The Dust after writing this one) and while there still was some experimentation to come on The Game, there would be some return to more straight-ahead song writing on their next album.
Three favourite tracks: Jealousy, If You Can’t Beat Them, Don’t Stop Me Now
10: Queen (1973)
While there will be other placings that will cause debate, this is the one (alongside Jazz) that will probably be the cause of most disagreement. This is a fine album and for a debut it is incredibly consistent. The albums that follow in this list are placed higher as they are the ones I go back to more often. It is a victim of the favourite vs best discussion and objectively this is a classic album. With a balance of styles influenced by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and even Jethro Tull, Queen were already displaying incredible musicianship and with a vocalist to rival any band in the world, it was only a matter of time before Queen became superstars.
Three favourite tracks: Keep Yourself Alive, Doing All Right, Liar
9: The Works (1984)
After a hiatus (during which the members of Queen were involved in a range of solo and side projects) the band regrouped and to paraphrase the words of Roger Taylor, decided to give us the works. A vast improvement on their previous studio album proper (Hot Space), The Works returns to the more assorted approach that Queen had now made their calling card. May delivers one of his best riffs on Hammer To Fall and Radio Ga Ga (the track that united the crowd at Live Aid) is irresistible catchy. Mercury called It’s A Hard Life one of his best vocal performances and one of the most difficult to sing.
Three favourite tracks: Radio Ga Ga, Hammer To Fall, Is This The World We Created…?
8: Innuendo (1991)
By the time Innuendo was recorded, Freddie Mercury was incredibly ill and the fact that he managed to record an album at all is testament to the man’s character and his will to make the best music he could until the end. Downing a glass of vodka and saying 'I'll fucking do it, darling' to the band who were concerned that the vocal demands would be too much, Mercury gave one of the best performances of his entire career on The Show Must Go On. Elsewhere, with typical flamboyance, Queen returned to number one in the singles chart with another lengthy track (Innuendo) – just another example of them never following the rules.
Three favourite tracks: Innuendo, Don’t Try So Hard, The Show Must Go On
7: The Game (1980)
It is often said that the quality of Queen’s albums in the 1970s is exceptional and the consistency of their discography at the time would rival that of any band. I would expand that consistency to this truly excellent album. Queen entered a new decade with vitality, enthusiasm and an album which perfectly straddled the rock / pop threshold. With the exception of Flash Gordon, The Game is the band’s shortest album but they make the most of every second. May displays the different sides of his songwriting with the hard rocking Dragon Attack and the glorious Save Me (listen to the performance on the Live In Montreal album) via the underrated Sail Away Sweet Sister. Having penned several excellent songs, John Deacon was rewarded with the mega-hit Another One Bites The Dust and Mercury unusually wrote Crazy Little Thing Called Love on the guitar (an instrument he would later play on stage for the first time).
Three favourite tracks: Another One Bites The Dust, Need Your Loving Tonight, Save Me
6: A Kind of Magic
Forever linked with Highlander, A Kind of Magic was the first studio album I owned by Queen (Live Magic was my first album overall – having bought it the day after seeing Highlander for the first time close to Christmas 1986, I played it death (not knowing about the appalling edits which infest it) which probably explains my love for both A Kind of Magic and The Works) and it is still one of my most played. Timing of hearing certain albums can have a lasting affect on how I might place them amongst a band’s discography (see also Invisible Touch by Genesis) and this is a prime example. I fully understand that many 1970s diehards would balk at this being placed so high. Serving as the unofficial soundtrack for Highlander, the tracks that featured in the film (alongside One Vision – a track credited the whole band, an approach they would take from then on) are the obvious highlights. Princes of the Universe is among the heaviest tracks by Mercury and Who Wants To Live Forever, the most emotional love song from throughout the bands career.
Three favourite tracks: One Vision, Who Wants To Live Forever, Princes of the Universe
5: A Day At The Races (1976)
Following A Night At The Opera must have seen like an impossible task. The band were keen to replicate the eclectic nature of the previous album and they were largely successful. Rightly or wrongly, it is an album that sits in the shadow of its predecessor and is sometimes overlooked by the casual listener. Long Away (a track Brian May felt should have been a huge hit), You Take My Breath Away and You And I, show it is a record that has much to offer beyond the obvious hit singles.
Three favourite tracks: Tie Your Mother Down, You Take My Breath Away, Somebody To Love
4: Sheer Heart Attack (1974)
While by no means could the first two albums be called one-dimensional, it was with Sheer Heart Attack that Queen first constructed an album which allowed their wildest ideas to flourish, while taking their songwriting to the next level. With glam rock tendencies one moment and tender, fragile ballads the next, it was the album that paved the way for what was to come for the rest of the decade. It also contains arguably their heaviest song: Stone Cold Crazy – a track that Metallica would go on to cover.
Three favourite tracks: Flick Of The Wrist, Lily of the Valley, In The Lap Of The Gods…Revisited
3: A Night At The Opera (1975)
While Queen were already on the rise, this is the album that would bring them to a much wider audience. It is sometimes forgotten that the scope and range found on this album had truly begun on Sheer Heart Attack. For A Night At The Opera, Queen pushed their ambitions, the production values (it was the most expensive album ever made at the time) and the variety to the limit. From music hall to opera, from progressive rock to gentle ballads, the album encapsulated everything that Queen had to offer with every member contributing choice material.
Three favourite tracks: I’m In Love With My Car, ’39, Bohemian Rhapsody
2: Queen II (1974)
Queen II is the connoisseur’s choice. Divided into Side White (with more emotional songs mostly by May) and Side Black (with more fantastical songs by Mercury), Queen II is a perfect balance of progressive rock, metal and exquisite balladry. Giving the band their first hit (reaching number 10), the second version of Seven Seas of Rhye showed that Queen could also appeal to a singles market. They never fully revisited the darker tones present on this album and became far more experimental over the next few albums.
Three favourite tracks: White Queen (As It Began), Ogre Battle, The March of the Black Queen
1: News of the World (1977)
In parts, News of the World continues Queen’s penchant for experimentation but never has it been so tightly honed. There is no odd diversion into vaudeville but there is enough variation for every Queen fan. The multi-act It’s Late (one of the best songs from any album) showed them still able to produce great hard rock songs, Spread Your Wings was Deacon’s best track and Taylor was at his most aggressive contributing Sheer Heart Attack. The only mistake they made with this album? While We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions are now inextricably linked, We Are The Champions should have been the final track. A closing statement if ever there was one.
Three Favourite Tracks: Sheer Heart Attack, Spread Your Wings, It’s Late
Written: November 2023
Listen to my Queen Through the Years playlist featuring my three favourite songs from each album in chronological order.