Rockers outrank royalty: How music put the monarch in the shade
The stunning chart performance comes as the UK rockers reach another significant milestone.
It didn’t create many headlines, but there was a major change on the ARIA Albums chart that was released on the weekend.
What was noticed was that P!nk has the new #1 album on a chart flooded with new releases. Six of the top 11 rankings on the chart belonged to new albums.
Making way for the new music was one of the most successful rock acts ever – Queen. The band has had three albums in the top 10 since early November 2018. Some weeks those albums were top five.
That chart activity over the past six months was linked to the release of the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, which has triggered a massive celebration of their classic rock anthems.
That soundtrack album debuted in the top 10 in October, and the former #1 album remains their best performing entry on the ARIA Albums chart, now at #14 in its first week outside the top 10 in 28 weeks.
The stunning chart performance comes as the UK rockers reach another significant milestone.
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The Sunday Times Rich List, to be released this coming weekend, has calculated the three surviving members of the band – two of whom who will be touring Australia in 2020 to add to their coffers – are now collectively worth UK£445m, more than the British Commonwealth’s real Queen.
In fact Queen Elizabeth’s wealth has flatlined at UK£370m.
Queen band members Brian May and Roger Taylor were consultants on the Bohemian Rhapsody movie, which is close to a global gross of US$1b, that helped trigger huge increases in back catalogue sales as well as shifting huge amounts of the soundtrack.
The Sunday Times values May at UK£160m (+ £25m this year) and Taylor at UK£155m (+ £25m this year).
Even the silent member of Queen, bass player John Deacon who no longer plays live with the band, is still coining it, with a fortune valued at UK£130m, enough to put him back on The Sunday Times list for the first time since 2006.
