Queen The final albums and Mercury's death (1990–1997)
 Queen began the 1980s with The Game. It featured the singles Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Another One Bites the Dust, both of which reached number one in the United States. The album stayed number one for four weeks in the United States, and sold over four million copies. It was also the only album to ever top the Billboard rock, dance, and R&B charts simultaneously. The album also marked the first appearance of a synthesizer on a Queen album.
1980 also saw the release of the soundtrack Queen had recorded for Flash Gordon.
In 1981, Queen became the first major rock band to play in South American stadiums. The band broke the attendance world record for a single concert and venue, at the Morumbi Stadium in S?o Paulo, Brazil, where 131,000 people attended on the first night, followed by 251,000 in attendance over the next two days. Queen played to a total audience of 479,000 people on their South American tour, including five shows in Argentina. In October 1981, Queen performed for more than 150,000 fans at Monterrey (Estadio Universitario) and Puebla (Estadio Zaragoza), Mexico.
Also in 1981, Queen worked with David Bowie on the single Under Pressure. The first-time collaboration with another artist was spontaneous, as Bowie happened to drop by the studio while Queen were recording. The band were immediately pleased with the results, but Bowie did not play the song live for several years.[citation needed] Upon its release, the song was extremely successful, reaching number one in Britain. The bass line was later used for Vanilla Ice's 1990 hit Ice Ice Baby, prompting the threat of a lawsuit over the use of the sample. The lawsuit did not make it to court and was settled for an undisclosed amount.
Later that year, Queen released their first compilation album, entitled Greatest Hits, which showcased the group's highlights from 1974-1981. It was highly successful, and as of 2007, it is the United Kingdom's best selling album. Taylor became the first member of the band to release his own solo album in 1981, entitled Fun In Space.
Queen concert in Norway in 1982.In 1982 the band released the funk album Hot Space. The band stopped touring North America after their Hot Space Tour, as their success there had waned, although they would perform on American television for the first and only time during the eighth season premiere of Saturday Night Live. Queen left Elektra Records, their label in the United States, Canada, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, and signed onto EMI/Capitol Records.
After working steadily for over ten years, Queen decided that they would not perform any live shows in 1983. During this time, they recorded a new album, and several members of the band explored side projects and solo work. May released a mini-album entitled Star Fleet Project, on which he collaborated with Eddie Van Halen. A computer musician composer in Canada, Kevin Chamberlain, helped with vocals and background music for Freddie Mercury's solo project, which was later canceled due to creative differences.
In 1984, Queen released the album The Works, which included the successful singles Radio Ga Ga and I Want to Break Free. Despite these hit singles, the album failed to do well in the United States. Radio Ga Ga was the band's last original Stateside Top Forty hit until 1989's I Want It All.
Queen embarked that year on a set of dates in Bophuthatswana, South Africa at the arena at Sun City. Upon returning to England, they were the subject of outrage, having played there during the height of apartheid and in violation of worldwide divestment efforts. The band stated that they were playing music for fans in that country, and stressed that the concerts were played before integrated audiences.[citation needed]
In 1985, the band played two performances at the Rock in Rio festival. On January 12, Queen began their performance as headliners of the festival's opening day, playing in front of 325,000 people, breaking the previous world record. They also played on January 19 for a capacity-crowd of 325,000 fans. Mercury also released his first solo album, Mr. Bad Guy, in April. At Live Aid, held at Wembley on July 13, 1985, Queen performed some of their greatest hits in what has been considered their best performance to date.
Revitalized by the response to Live Aid and the resulting increase in record sales, Queen ended 1985 by releasing the single One Vision. The song was used in the film Iron Eagle.
In early 1986, Queen recorded the album A Kind of Magic, containing several songs written for the Russell Mulcahy film Highlander. The album was very successful, producing a string of hits including the title track A Kind of Magic, which contains the key lyrics 'There can be only one', a reference to the movie's plot; Friends Will Be Friends, Who Wants to Live Forever and Princes of the Universe. However, like The Works, it sold poorly in the United States.[citation needed]
Later that year, Queen went on a sold-out tour (the band's largest) in support of A Kind of Magic. The Magic Tour's highlight was at Wembley Stadium in London and resulted in the live double album, Queen Live At Wembley Stadium, released on CD and as a live concert film. They could not book Wembley for a third night because it was already booked, but they did play at Knebworth Park. The show sold out within two hours and over 120,000 fans packed the park for what was to be Queen's final live performance with Mercury. More than 1 million people saw the show – 400,000 in the United Kingdom alone, a record at the time.
After working on various solo projects during 1988 (including Mercury's collaboration with Montserrat Caball?, Barcelona) the band released The Miracle in 1989. The album continued the direction of A Kind of Magic, using a pop-rock sound mixed with a few heavy numbers. It spawned the European hits I Want It All, Breakthru, The Invisible Man, Scandal, and The Miracle. Speculation returned of a possible breakup of the band in the near future, or that Mercury might be suffering from health problems.[citation needed]
The Miracle also began a change in direction of Queen's songwriting philosophy. Since the band's beginning, nearly all songs had been written by and credited to a single member, with other members adding minimally. With The Miracle, however, the band's songwriting became more collaborative, and they vowed to credit the final product only to Queen as a group.[citation needed]
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