Greatest Hits

While its track listing changed here and there over the years and depending on where it was released, Queen’s 1981 singles compilation fully lives up to its name then and now, capturing the band’s first decade through the Flash Gordon soundtrack in concentrated form. Deploying a kaleidoscopic pop instinct filtered through the lineup of a stereotypical rock band, with the vocal starpower of Freddie Mercury leading the way, it samples every album except their debut, with a dizzying variety of both number ones and other worthy chart successes fully on display.