British rock band Queen began its tale when Freddie Mercury declared his love for Brian May and Roger Taylor's band Smile, encouraging them to experiment with more elaborate stage and recording techniques. Freddie ended up joining the band in 1970 and changed the name of the band to Queen. John Deacon was recruited before they signed a deal with Trident/EMI and released their eponymous debut album in 1973.

Queen first charted in the U.K. with their second album "Queen II" in 1974. However, it was the release of "Sheer Heart Attack" in the same year and "A Night at the Opera" in 1975 which brought them to international success. The latter set's single, "Bohemian Rhapsody", particularly played a big role in the band's success. The song was named the third best-selling single of all time in the U.K. in addition to being named the best-selling commercial single. It was also voted as the greatest song of all time numerous times.

After that, the band continued to make hit after hit. "Somebody to Love", a gospel-inspired song off their fifth studio album "A Day at the Races", peaked at No. 2 in the U.K. and No. 13 in the U.S. Two singles off their 1977 album "News of the World", "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", became international sports anthem. After releasing their next album "Jazz" in 1978, Queen unveiled their first live album "Live Killers" in the following year. It went platinum twice in the U.S.

In the same year, Queen released another very successful single "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", a song which was done in the style of Elvis Presley. The song reached the top ten in many countries, topped ARIA chart for seven consecutive weeks and became their first No. 1 single in the United States. The song topped Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks.

"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was then included on the band's next album "The Game" which was released in 1980. The record also featured "Another One Bites the Dust", which later became their best-selling single and won Favorite Pop/Rock Single at the 1981 American Music Awards. The album itself topped Billboard 200 for five weeks and sold over four million copies in the U.S.

Following the success of "The Game", Queen released their first compilation album "Greatest Hits" in 1981. The album became the best-selling album in the U.S. and was certified eight times platinum in the U.S. Having been known for their trademark seventies sound, their 1982 album "Hot Space" marked their departure from that sound as it was a mixture of rock, pop rock, dance, funk and R&B. After this, the members of the band started focusing on solo projects.

They gathered together later in 1984 and released their eleventh studio album "The Works" which included successful singles such as "Radio Ga Ga", "Hammer to Fall" and "I Want to Break Free". Despite the success of the singles, the album failed to do well in the U.S. It went triple platinum in the U.K., though.

Queen once again made history after they performed at the Live Aid concert in 1985. Their set at the charity concert was ranked among the greatest in rock history by various music publications. Following the release of their album "A Kind of Magic", the band went on their final tour with Freddie in the summer of that year. They then released their next album "The Miracle" in 1989 after working on various solo projects in 1988.

In 1991, Freddie died of bronchopneumonia, a complication of AIDS, and John retired in 1997. Brian and Roger have been performing under the Queen name with Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert as vocalists on tours ever since. Their biopic, "Bohemian Rhapsody", was released in October 2018. Due to the success of the biopic, its soundtrack album and the band's compilation album "Greatest Hits I II & III" entered the top 10 of Billboard 200.