The British record collector magazine Record Collector has published several Top 20 to 100 “Worldwide Rarities” lists throughout the years for Queen and solo releases. The ones published between 1998 and 2000 can be found here. Some more lists have been published throughout the years with the last notable one being from 2021, but all were arguably incomplete. The collectors market changes on a regular basis. New items are being discovered every few months or years. Rare items are suddenly not so rare anymore because old warehouse stock was found or interest in a particular artist or release has increased or decreased, changing demand and thus an item’s value.

A small group of Queen collectors came up with the idea to compile a new contemporary list, covering not just Queen, but also the solo releases. Each list will be a Top 100 to ensure that as many releases will be covered as possible. To avoid the fact that many lists will be dominated by obscure one-off releases or test pressings, two main categories are introduced:

• General public releases: these include music formats which could be purchased in a shop, were handed out to radio stations or where released but then withdrawn again
• Non-general public releases: as expected, this one covers anything that was not made for the record buying audience. These include test pressings, acetates, special executive and non-public event releases and rumoured releases

Each of these two categories apply to every artist or band (Queen, The Cross, Brian May, Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor) and will cover 100 of the most rare and expensive releases up to the date of this publication. This approach thus means that you will get up to 200 releases per artist! Obviously, John’s solo output can be counted on one hand so his rarities will be covered by just one list with a few entries.

The Top 100 lists

The lists will be published through the course of the upcoming weeks or months, depending on how much research is needed, but also the availability of the engaged resources and people.

This main post will be updated whenever a new list is ready and was kicked off with a Top 100 rarities list for Roger’s solo output on the 12th of January, followed by a list for John on the 24th of January and The Cross on the 25th. Two more lists are currently in preparation.

• Queen Top 100 collectables– in preparation
• The Cross Top 100 collectables
• John Deacon collectables and rarities
• Brian May Top 100 collectables
• Freddie Mercury Top 100 collectables– in preparation
• Roger Taylor Top 100 collectables