Queen Earned $57 Million From Movie And Albums In Last 12 Months Thanks To Freddie Mercury Biopic

Despite not having released a new studio album for almost 26 years since their ‘Made In Heaven’ in 1995, Queen is still making a profit more than most of the musicians around the world. The band is still the 38th biggest artist on Spotify as of today having over 37 million monthly listeners currently, which shows the band still has an audience today from 1971 until now.

International Federation of the Phonographic Industry has revealed that Queen was the world’s sixth biggest-revenue-generating recording artist of 2018 and fifth biggest in 2019, though not making it in the list in 2020 as the list was topped by the Korean band BTS last year. Moreover, according to Music Business Worldwide, the annual accounts of Queen Productions Ltd reveal that the band has generated $58.1 million in 2020, the vast majority of which is known to be coming from royalties. As it has been calculated, that amount of money is known to be the equivalent of a musician’s income whose music would be played 14.4 billion times on Spotify.

The main reason for the rise in the Queen’s astronomical success is known to be the 2018’s Freddie Mercury biopic titled ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’ After two consecutive years of commercial success, the biopic became the best-selling home video in the UK in 2019, with roughly 1.7 million units sold. Being a box office hit, the movie has made nearly $1 billion since its release and the band is known to be making $100.000 a day from the movie.

After the release of the movie, it appears the band attracted more attention as their ‘Greatest Hits’ returned to number one on the official UK Albums Chart for the first time in 40 years. Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ also became the first-ever ‘diamond’ certified single for a UK-based band this year in March, as the single reached 10 million sales in the US. The song also became trending on Youtube after the movie, surpassing one billion views in 2019.

Queen’s Brian May was also asked about the film’s popularity in an interview by Louder Sound. Being asked if he could handle being part of Hollywood in the longer term, May said it’s heavy-duty after being enjoyable for a while. He considered the amount of money used for the movie like a hundred times bigger than what they deal with every day and said it’s a different world. May then said he thinks there is some magic in this film.

The interviewer asked Brian May that:

“Do you think you could handle being part of the Hollywood machine in the longer term, or would that life eventually give you a nervous breakdown?”

Brian May responded:

“Well, it’s funny what you can adapt to. You can enjoy being a part of it for a while, but it’s heavy-duty. The figures – in terms of money – are a hundred times bigger than what we deal with every day. It’s a different world. And the amount of wastage is incredible. But a lot of wonderful things happen. And I think there’s some magic in this film.”

Although the film was a huge success, Brian May has denied a potential sequel saying he and the filmmakers don’t really think there will be another movie. Considering the effect biopic had on the popularity and the income of the band Queen, it appears the film industry can have a huge impact on the music industry.