Queen Made In Heaven

Queen Albums: Ranked from Worst To Best

Queen formed in 1970 in London, originally a hard rock band with shades of progressive rock and metal. They adapted as musical fashions changed; they flirted with disco on 1982’s Hot Space and produced stripped-down, synthesizer-fuelled pop hits on 1984’s The Works.

But over their twenty-year recording career, certain hallmarks of their sound remained; Freddie Mercury’s virtuoso voice and Brian May’s distinctive guitar sound, from his “Red Special” guitar that he handcrafted as a teenager with his father. Mercury and May were supported by drummer Roger Taylor, whose high harmony vocals were an important part of the group’s sound, and bassist John Deacon. While Mercury and May were the most prolific writers, all four members wrote hit singles for the band – they’re the only four-piece band to have all of their members inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Queen’s best albums were generally at the start of their career – in the 1980s they were more focused on singles and dabbled with solo careers. Even as the quality of their albums declined, they remained a formidable live attraction, especially their 1985 Live Aid performance, and enjoyed hit singles throughout their twenty-year tenure. Queen refocused their attention as Mercury’s health declined before he succumbed to AIDS in 1991.

I’ve skipped 1980’s Flash Gordon soundtrack, as it doesn’t feel like a studio album, mostly short instrumentals interspersed with dialogue, but it would be at #15 if I had included it.

Queen’s Albums Ranked

Queen A Kind of Magic

#14 A Kind Of Magic

1986
A Kind of Magic is Queen at their least focused, a compilation of their contributions to soundtracks like Highlander. But even on their weakest studio album, there are highlights. May’s ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’ is majestic and haunting, especially the moment when Mercury takes over the lead vocal. The group rocker ‘One Vision’ is built around a ferocious May riff.


Queen Made In Heaven

#13 Made In Heaven

1995
Queen re-emerged in 1995 with a collection of songs the band worked on with Mercury before his death. Many of the songs were outtakes from previous Queen albums or songs previously used on solo projects. It feels thin, despite the heart-warming story behind it. ‘Mother Love’ was the last song Mercury recorded, and the closing features a short snippet of the entire Queen catalogue, sped up through a tape machine. May’s emotive ‘Too Much Love Will Kill You’ and the gospel-flavoured singalong ‘Let Me Live’ are both worthy additions to the Queen canon.


Queen Hot Space

#12 Hot Space

1982
Hot Space is infamous as Queen’s disco record. That’s misleading as the dance tracks are all on the first side; there are weak moments like Mercury’s ‘Body Language’, but the band does deliver effective disco tracks like Deacon’s ‘Backchat’. Any record that features the classic David Bowie duet ‘Under Pressure’ can’t be too bad, and the second half is more focused on balladry like ‘Les Palabras De Amor’.


Queen The Miracle

#11 The Miracle

1989
The pair of rock songs that open The Miracle, ‘Party’ and ‘Khashoggi’s Ship’, aren’t convincing. They disguise the fact that much of The Miracle marks a creative rebound for Queen after a sometimes indifferent 1980s. The anthem ‘I Want It All’ features scorching guitar work from May, while the title track is a pretty multi-part suite that recalls their earlier ambitious work.


Jazz Queen

#10 Jazz

1978
Queen closed out the 1970s with their weakest album of the decade. The ‘Bicycle Race’/’Fat Bottomed Girls’ single is one of their finest, but most of the album tracks feel unfocused like weaker versions of past triumphs. The camp ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ has never ranked among my favourite Queen singles. Jazz is fascinating for hardcore fans, as it’s Queen’s most diverse effort with weird genre dabbles like ‘Mustapha’ and ‘Dreamer’s Ball’.


Queen The Works

#9 The Works

1984
After the critical lashing of the dance-oriented Hot SpaceThe Works marks a return to basics for Queen. It’s not Queen’s most substantial album, although Mercury’s ‘It’s A Hard Life’ is a majestic ballad. The rhythm section supply the hits with Deacon’s ‘I Want To Break Free’ and Taylor’s ‘Radio Ga Ga’, while May is reliably rocking on ‘Hammer To Fall’.


Queen A Day At The Races

#8 A Day At The Races

1976
A Day At The Races was less ambitious than the group’s previous albums. Mercury’s gospel-tinged show-stopper ‘Somebody To Love’ is one of their best tracks, showcasing their harmonies. The record’s a little sleepy and less dynamic than their previous records, with mellow but worthy tracks like ‘Drowse’ and ‘Millionaire’s Waltz’. As always, Brian May is reliably enjoyable on tracks like ‘Tie Your Mother Down’ and ‘Long Away’.


The Game Queen

#7 The Game

1980
The Game introduces a new, streamlined Queen. If they were an album band in the 1970s, they’re largely a singles band in the 1980s. The best tracks are the radio hits, which explore new territory for Queen – Mercury’s rockabilly ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’ and Deacon’s funky ‘Another One Bites The Dust’. May provides quality deep cuts with ‘Sail Away Sweet Sister’ and ‘Dragon Attack’.


Queen 1973 Debut

#6 Queen

1973
Queen’s debut album wasn’t very successful in terms of sales, but a lot of their ideas were already in place. May’s ‘Keep Yourself Alive’ is the most well-known song, but there are strong, forgotten Mercury-penned pieces like ‘Great King Rat’ and ‘My Fairy King’. Like their other early work it benefits from underexposure – even if you’ve heard their hits too many times, there are lots of fabulous deep cuts awaiting your discovery on the early records.


Innuendo Queen

#5 Innuendo

1991
Queen’s final album before Mercury’s death suffers from its release during the CD era – at almost 55 minutes it could do with some trimming. But the key tracks – the epic and sweeping six-minute title track and ‘The Show Must Go On’ – recapture the grandiose Queen of old, and they’re among the band’s best work ever. The low-key ‘These Are The Days Of Our Lives’ is one of Queen’s most moving tracks too.


Queen News of the World

#4 News of the World

1977
In the year of punk, Queen responded with a less grandiose album. News of the World opens with two huge Queen anthems – ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘We Are The Champions’. Even if you’ve heard those songs too many times at sporting events the rest of the album is very consistent, with highlights like May’s ‘It’s Late’ and Taylor’s ‘Fight From The Inside’.


Queen Sheer Heart Attack

#3 Sheer Heart Attack

1974
Queen’s second album of 1974 contained their breakthrough hit ‘Killer Queen’. It’s one of their best singles, but it’s merely a foretaste of a relentlessly entertaining suite of songs. Songs like the old-timey ‘Bring Back That Leroy Brown’, Deacon’s charming ‘Misfire’, and the rocker ‘Now I’m Here’ showcase the diverse musical interests of Queen’s four members.


Queen A Night At The Opera

#2 A Night At The Opera

1975
A Night At The Opera contains the monstrous single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, a multi-part epic. There’s enough substance on Opera here that it doesn’t overshadow the rest of the record. Mercury’s catty opener ‘Death On Two Legs’, Brian May’s time-travel ballad ’39’, and Deacon’s pop song ‘You’re My Best Friend’ lead a very strong setlist.


Queen II

#1 Queen II

1974
Queen’s second album is their most indulgent and pretentious, but that’s a compliment. Mercury and May have an LP side each. May contributes the gorgeous ‘White Queen (As It Began)’, while Mercury’s ‘The March of the Black Queen’, ‘Ogre Battle’ and The Fairy Feller’s Master-Stroke’ are all multi-part magnum opuses.

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What’s your favourite Queen album?

48 Comments

    • Cool – there are 87,178,291,200 different ways to rank a list of 14 items, right? Looking at my list objectively, the most provocative thing is probably having Jazz below The Works. Never really been able to get into Jazz.

  1. Pretty much the guide I’ve been looking for! The only Queen album I own is A Night At The Opera, but my introduction was Greatest Hits back in the early 90s (quite possibly after Wayne’s World and Bohemian Rhapsody). The only studio albums I actually bought after that? Innuendo and, quite possibly, The Miracle. Then I drifted away and tuned into alternative rock. Although obtaining a copy of A Night At The Opera a few years ago, I still haven’t explored the discography too much.

    • Cool. In some ways I think the 1981 Greatest Hits is the best thing they ever did, but I also feel like their albums are overlooked, while some of their singles are overexposed. If you like Night at the Opera, Sheer Heart Attack is almost as good, while Queen II is a bit more hard rock/progressive rock.

  2. Great list. “A Night At The Opera” is still my personal favourite, but they did a clutch of records from “Queen II” up until “News Of The World” that all have a claim to be their greatest IMO.

  3. Good list but you’re a little too harsh on three albums in particular: A Kind Of Magic, The Miracle and Hot Space. Perhaps they belong in the “you had to be there” category, but since I was there I have a strong affinity for all three. Initially I was against Hot Space as the “disco album,” but it has grown in stature for me over the years. I particularly like “Back Chat” among the dance/club-inspired songs, and the second half of the album has some really strong rockers, Beatles-inspired tracks & ballads. A Kind Of Magic, which I featured in my “Thirty Year Thursday” series in 2016, is a very strong album in spite of the fact that it was tied to their Highlander contributions. Freddie’s histrionic (in the best possible way) vocals on “One Year Of Love” are incredible. As for The Miracle, it’s one of the most interesting & creative albums in their discography, and it gets unfairly compared to its follow-up, Innuendo, which I think receives a little too much praise because (a) it “sounds like” classic Queen and (b) it’s tied to people’s emotions about Freddie’s death shortly after its release. Don’t get me wrong…it’s a very strong album…but The Miracle shows Queen being creative as opposed to re-creative (if that makes any sense). I also believe it’s the only Queen album where all songs were credited as “written by Queen” instead of one particular band member. Through it all, even the lesser songs on these albums are notable for the incredible musicianship, especially Brian May’s constantly inventive guitar work.

    Okay, I’ll step off my soap box now. 😀

    • Something has to be near the bottom! I like ‘Back Chat’ a lot as well – I almost mentioned it in the write-up, and I think even at #11, I actually like The Miracle more than most Queen fans, but like a lot of the 1980s’ stuff I generally mostly like May’s stuff and the singles.

      I think they had shared writing credits for Innuendo as well – it masks how important Roger Taylor was as a writer on the last few Queen albums (Breakthru, Invisible Man, Days of our Lives, Innuendo, Heaven for Everyone).

      What else would you have near the bottom?

      • I guess the problem I have with “worst to best” lists is that they tend to keep people who may have been on the fence about certain albums from ever checking them out. For me, just about every Queen album is great, with only varying degrees of greatness…with the exception of Made In Heaven, of course, which has some decent moments but it sounds like the pieced-together project that it is. I can’t argue that most of the albums near the top of your list are essential purchases for anyone new to Queen’s music (or who haven’t delved beyond compilations), while the lower-ranked albums…while still as worthy of praise…are probably not the best entry points into their discography.

        • Maybe I should even be stating in the intro that I only do Worst To Best lists for artists that I really like, and where I think their albums are generally worthwhile. I don’t think I’d even attempt it for someone like Neil Young – I love his 1970s stuff, but there are so many post 1970s albums to wade through, and I only need so many Neil Young albums in my life.

          • Always good to have some kind of disclaimer or explanation up-front, even if some readers won’t pay attention. I know what you mean about Neil Young. I covered his complete discography a few years ago in a 10-post series. There are some wonderful post-’70s albums but more often than not it was a slog to differentiate many of them.

  4. Whenever someone asks me what is my favorite Queen album I always have a hard time deciding between Queen II and A Night at the Opera, so I think this is a great list! =D

    I wish I liked News of the World as much as you do, though. I am not a big fan of neither We Will Rock You nor We Are the Champions (maybe they are a victim of being overplayed), so that makes the album lose quite a bit of its charm. I do, however, love Spread Your Wings and All Dead, All Dead.

    • Thanks! I’m pretty sick of the 1-2 punch on News of the World too, but I think the rest of the album is very solid. Did you know that ‘All Dead, All Dead’ is about May’s cat?

      • I have a related question: Do you think being sick of certain songs takes away from an album’s greatness if you thought those songs were great in the first place? I’m rarely affected by songs being “overplayed” but I seem to be in the minority, as a lot of music lovers I know will take points away from albums because of that. I like to think of how an album will sound to someone hearing it for the first time, and as often as possible I like to listen with that mindset. I’m curious about how many others do the same.

        • I have had that issue sometimes – I remember when I first started my site, I marked Crowded House’s early albums pretty harshly, then realised I wasn’t taking the singles into account, which wasn’t fair. ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ kind of towers over the rest of the Crowded House debut, so it shouldn’t be discounted.

          The two acts I struggle with the most with single overplay are Queen and U2 – the first two songs on News of the World and the first three songs of Joshua Tree in particular I’ll often skip, but I think both of those albums are very solid otherwise. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has lost impact for me too, but it’s a key track for Queen.

          • I have a friend who wouldn’t listen to The Beatles, once claiming that they were overrated and that he preferred The Monkees. His explanation was that he was overexposed to Beatles songs when he was younger and didn’t need to hear them anymore. At this point it’s probably been 35 years since he played anything by them, which makes me think that they would sound pretty fresh to him. But he’s clung to that opinion for so long that I don’t think he’ll budge. Just because a song is overexposed doesn’t mean its impact should be forgotten.

            U2 is a great example. I was already a huge fan when The Joshua Tree was released, and overplayed that record all by myself throughout my junior & senior years of college. I don’t play it (or most of their discography) much anymore, but I still regard it as a pivotal album in my life and would rank it among their Top 3 or 4, especially for newcomers. Maybe “worst to best” should really be “least favorite to most favorite” or “least played to most played.”

  5. The pre Queen group Smile makes for interesting reading & i think i undervalued Queen. I once saw them emerge from a central Dublin hotel on route to the RDS venue. Very hip & very chic.

  6. I agree with your top 4. Not necessarily in that order, but those 4 are clearly the bands best, most cohesive works( pun non-intendre)

    The Miracle is the dark horse. Always liked that album.

    • I actually think I was a little controversially high rating The Miracle at #11. A lot of people hate it, but I think it brings back the classic Queen sound – ‘I Want It All’ and the title track are nice and pompous.

  7. 1- Queen II
    2- A Night at the Opera
    3- A Day at the Races

    Their top 3, brilliant and among the greatest pop/rock albums ever.

    4- Sheer Heart Attack
    5- Queen
    6- Jazz

    Excellent albums, full of high-quality material.

    7- Innuendo
    8- News of the World
    9- The Miracle
    10- The Game

    They have some really good songs and a couple of stinkers.

    11- The Works
    12- Made in Heaven
    13- A Kind of Magic
    14- Hot Space

    Inconsistent albums with a lot of subpar material and the occasional banger.

  8. A Day at the races and Jazz I would much higher in the list. Certainly both are better than Innuendo. They both represent two albums which were not only brilliant in their own right, but there isn’t a single weak song on either. Innuendo has more fillers (to me anyway).

    • Thanks for writing in. I agree that Innunedo has filler, but the high points are really high – especially Show Must Go On and the title track.

  9. Coming late to this.

    As a Queen fan since 1974 (I saw them live in 1977), here is my list in order of preference, best to worst.

    1. Queen II
    2. Sheer Heart Attack
    3. A Day At The Races
    4. Queen
    5. A Night At The Opera
    6. The Miracle
    7. News Of The World
    8. The Works
    9. Jazz
    10. Innuendo
    11. Made In Heaven
    12. The Game
    13. A Kind Of Magic
    14. Hot Space

    Now, I love disco, but not “Queen disco” in this case. I like the totally incongruous Cool Cat and the “classic Queen” of Las Palabras De Amor, however, as well as Under Pressure, of course.

    • We’re not too different on Queen, I guess. I always find Day at the Races too languid – take away a couple of May rockers and it’s very low energy. Innuendo is a weird one for me as it’s inconsistent but has a few amazing songs IMO.

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Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person. It features album reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.

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Graham Fyfe has been writing this website since his late teens. Now in his forties, he's been obsessively listening to albums for years. He works as a web editor and plays the piano.

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