Album
The Miracle
The Miracle is Queen's thirteenth studio album, released on 22 May 1989 by Parlophone. It followed A Kind of Magic and came out of a difficult stretch for the band: Brian May was dealing with marital problems, and Freddie Mercury had received his HIV diagnosis in 1987. Sessions began in January 1988 and ran for a full year. The record was nearly called The Invisible Men, but according to Roger Taylor the name was changed to The Miracle three weeks before release.
It topped the charts in the UK, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, and reached number 24 on the US Billboard Top Pop Albums chart. It is also the last Queen album to show all four members on its front cover. AllMusic names it, alongside The Game, as the band's best album of the 1980s, which makes it a good place to pick up the story before Innuendo.
The Miracle: tracklist, credits and charts
13 tracks · 52:19Tracklist
- 1PartyDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor2:25
- 2Khashoggi’s ShipDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor2:48
- 3The MiracleDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor5:02
- 4I Want It AllDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor4:41
- 5The Invisible ManDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor3:58
- 6BreakthruDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor4:08
- 7Rain Must FallDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor4:23
- 8ScandalDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor4:43
- 9My Baby Does MeDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor3:24
- 10Was It All Worth ItDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor5:46
- 11Hang On in ThereDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor3:47
- 12Chinese TortureDeacon, May, Mercury, Taylor1:46
- 13The Invisible Man (12″ version)Deacon, May, Mercury, Taylor5:28
- Produced by
- Queen, David Richards
- Recorded at
- Mountain Studios (Montreux), Olympic Studios (London), The Town House (London)
- Recorded
- January 1988 – January 1989
- Engineered by
- David Richards, Kevin Metcalfe, Gordon Vicary, Kris Fredriksson
- Labels
- Parlophone, Capitol
- Length
- 52:19
Line-up
- John Deacon · guitar, bass guitar, electric guitar, keyboard
- Brian May · guitar, background vocals, electric guitar, lead vocals, keyboard
- Freddie Mercury · synthesizer, piano, background vocals, lead vocals, keyboard
- Roger Taylor · drums (drum set), background vocals, percussion, keyboard, electric guitar, lead vocals, electronic drum set, vibraslap, gong, timpani
- David Richards · keyboard, sampler, bass synthesizer · guest
Singles
- “I Want It All” · 2 May 1989
- “Breakthru” · 19 June 1989
- “The Invisible Man” · 7 August 1989
- “Scandal” · 9 October 1989
- “The Miracle” · 27 November 1989
Peak chart positions
| Chart | Peak |
|---|---|
| UK Albums Chart · 1989 | 1 |
| US Billboard 200 · 1989 | 24 |
| Austrian Albums · 1989 | 1 |
| Dutch Albums · 1989 | 1 |
| Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts) · 1989 | 1 |
| German Albums · 1989 | 1 |
| Swiss Albums · 1989 | 1 |
| New Zealand Albums · 1989 | 2 |
| Norwegian Albums · 1989 | 2 |
| Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi) · 1989 | 3 |
All 28 charts
| Australian Albums (ARIA) · 1989 | 4 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) · 1989 | 4 |
| Scottish Albums · 2022 | 6 |
| Swedish Albums · 1989 | 6 |
| Portuguese Albums · 2022 | 8 |
| US Top Compact Disks (Billboard) · 1989 | 9 |
| French Albums (SNEP) · 1989 | 11 |
| Belgian Albums (Wallonia) · 2022 | 13 |
| Japanese Albums (Oricon) · 2022 | 17 |
| Canadian Albums (RPM) · 1989 | 19 |
| Hungarian Albums · 2022 | 20 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI) · 2022 | 20 |
| Belgian Albums (Flanders) · 2022 | 21 |
| Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan) · 2022 | 21 |
| Polish Albums · 2022 | 22 |
| Spanish Albums · 2022 | 30 |
| Japanese Combined Albums (Oricon) · 2022 | 36 |
| Irish Albums · 2022 | 55 |
Certifications
| Region | Certification |
|---|---|
| Australia | Gold |
| Austria | Gold |
| Finland | Gold |
| France · 1989 | Gold |
| Germany | Platinum |
| Netherlands | Platinum |
| New Zealand | Gold |
| Poland · 2009 | Platinum |
| Spain · 1989 | Platinum |
| Switzerland | Platinum |
| United Kingdom | Platinum |
From MusicBrainz, Wikipedia and Wikidata. Only what the sources record is shown.
71.9
Popularity (0–100, vs the whole vault)
7.7k
ListenBrainz listeners
172k
Wikipedia views, last 12 months
619
Deezer fans (all editions)
Released the same week
Also released on 22 May
Every year →
More from Queen
Full discography →
Queen
1973
Queen II
1974
Sheer Heart Attack
1974
A Night at the Opera
1975
A Day at the Races
1976
Queen’s First E.P.
1977
News of the World
1977
Jazz
1978
Live Killers
1979
The Game
1980
Flash Gordon
1980
Greatest Hits
1981
Hot Space
1982
The Works
1984
A Kind of Magic
1986
Live Magic
1986
Hungarian Rhapsody: Live in Budapest
1987
At the Beeb
1989
Innuendo
1991
Greatest Hits II
1991
Box of Tricks
1992
Classic Queen
1992
The 12″ Collection
1992
Live at Wembley ’86
1992
Five Live
1993
The Greatest 3
1995
Made in Heaven
1995
Queen Rocks
1997
The Crown Jewels: A 25th Anniversary Celebration
1998
Greatest Hits III
1999
Highlander
2000
Greatest Hits I, II & III: The Platinum Collection
2000
We Will Rock You
2002
Jewels
2004
We Are the Champions: Final Live in Japan
2004
Queen on Fire: Live at the Bowl
2004
Stone Cold Classics
2006
The A–Z of Queen, Volume 1
2007
Rock Montreal
2007
The Singles Collection, Volume 1
2008
The Singles Collection, Volume 2
2009
Absolute Greatest
2009
The Singles Collection, Volume 3
2010
The Singles Collection, Volume 4
2010
Deep Cuts, Volume 1 (1973–1976)
2011
Deep Cuts, Volume 2 (1977–1982)
2011
Deep Cuts, Volume 3 (1984–1995)
2011
Icon
2013
Live at the Rainbow ’74
2014
Queen Forever
2014
A Night at the Odeon
2015
Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack
2018
Riffs
2025
Pop
2025
Anthems
2025
Ballads
2025
The best of 1989
All of 1989 →
Bleach
Nirvana · 1989
Pretty Hate Machine
Nine Inch Nails · 1989
The Real Thing
Faith No More · 1989
Blew
Nirvana · 1989
Headless Cross
Black Sabbath · 1989
At the Beeb
Queen · 1989
Beneath the Remains
Sepultura · 1989
Louder Than Love
Soundgarden · 1989
1,000 Hours
Green Day · 1989
Moon
The Smashing Pumpkins · 1989
Jed
Goo Goo Dolls · 1989
Best of Ozz
Ozzy Osbourne · 1989
More on Parlophone
The label →
OK Computer
Radiohead · 1997
The Bends
Radiohead · 1995
Pablo Honey
Radiohead · 1993
The Endless River
Pink Floyd · 2014
Innuendo
Queen · 1991
Brave New World
Iron Maiden · 2000
Creep
Radiohead · 1992
Live at Wembley ’86
Queen · 1992
Album Box Set
Radiohead · 2007
The 12″ Collection
Queen · 1992
Drill
Radiohead · 1992
Greatest Hits III
Queen · 1999
Releases and pressings
How we know the release date wikipedia + musicbrainz + wikidata
| Source | Date | Note |
|---|---|---|
| MusicBrainz | 22 May 1989 | |
| Wikipedia infobox | 22 May 1989 | |
| Wikidata | 22 May 1989 | |
| US release | 1989 | earliest US date |
| UK / Europe release | 22 May 1989 | earliest UK or European date |
45 editions
| Date | Country | Label | Barcode | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | CA | Hollywood Records | 0050087522070 | remaster |
| 1989 | GB | Parlophone | other | |
| 1989 | XE | Parlophone | 0077779235728 | other |
| 1989 | AT | Parlophone | 0077779235728 | other |
| 1989 | DE | Parlophone | other | |
| 1989 | US | Capitol Records | other | |
| 1989 | NL | Parlophone | 0077779235728 | other |
| 1989 | GB | Parlophone | 0077779235742 | other |
| 1989 | US | Capitol Records | 077779235728 | other |
| 1989 | DE | Parlophone | 0077779235728 | other |
| 1989 | US | Capitol Records | 077779235711 | other |
| 1989 | US | Capitol Records | other | |
| 1989 | GB | Parlophone | 0077779235711 | other |
| 1989 | CA | Capitol Records | 77749774463102 | other |
| 1989 | XE | EMI Electrola | 077779235711 | other |
| 1989 | GB | Parlophone | other | |
| 22 May 1989 | GB | Parlophone | 0077779235728 | original |
| 9 June 1989 | JP | EMI | 4988006632196 | other |
| 22 October 1991 | US | Hollywood Records | 720616123428 | other |
| 24 October 2001 | JP | Universal Music | 4988006796751 | other |
| 25 February 2004 | JP | EMI | 4988006818224 | other |
| 22 June 2008 | ES | EMI | 8423793300218 | other |
| 22 June 2008 | ES | EMI | 8423793300218 | other |
| 2011 | ZA | Universal | 6009143480735 | remaster |
| 5 September 2011 | GB | Island | 602527799841 | remaster |
| 5 September 2011 | XW | Columbia | 602527799841 | remaster |
| 5 September 2011 | GB | Island | 602527799872 | remaster |
| 21 September 2011 | JP | Island | 4988005668882 | remaster |
| 21 September 2011 | JP | Island | 4988005668882 | remaster |
| 7 February 2012 | US | Hollywood Records | 050087250652 | remaster |
| 25 April 2012 | JP | Island | 4988005702876 | remaster |
| 2014 | XW | — | deluxe | |
| 2014 | XW | Hollywood Records | other | |
| 25 September 2015 | XE | Virgin EMI Records | 602547202802 | other |
| 20 March 2019 | JP | Island | 4988031321874 | other |
| 16 June 2019 | ES | Virgin EMI Records | 0602577565861 | other |
| 2020 | ES | Virgin EMI Records | other | |
| 18 November 2022 | JP | EMI | 4988031543221 | deluxe |
| 18 November 2022 | — | EMI | 602448658999 | deluxe |
| 18 November 2022 | XE | EMI | 602507325541 | deluxe |
| 18 November 2022 | GB | — | 602508911330 | deluxe |
| 18 November 2022 | XW | EMI | 0602448659675 | deluxe |
| 18 November 2022 | CA | Hollywood Records | 00050087518219 | deluxe |
| 18 November 2022 | US | — | deluxe | |
| — | — | Hollywood Records | 00050087250652 | remaster |
Cover art sources
coverartarchive · upscaled: major: best source 1399x1390, upscaled to 1500 (x1.08)
| Source | Size | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| coverartarchive ✓ | 1399×1390 | upscaled: major: best source 1399x1390, upscaled to 1500 (x1.08) |
| deezer | 1200×1200 | upscaled |
| fanarttv | 1000×1000 | upscaled |