We've ranked Queen's albums from worst to best because they remain so present in the news and their fans’ hearts these days that it’s pretty hard to believe singer Freddie Mercury has been gone for decades now.

You can credit not only the charismatic Mercury for this state of affairs, but also guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor, who, despite the absence of retired bassist John Deacon, have maintained Queen’s name in lights with the help of other singers, including Free and Bad Company legend Paul Rodgers and American Idol alum Adam Lambert.

But above all else, you can credit Queen’s enduring relevance to the timeless music they recorded with Mercury across 15 studio albums released between 1973 and 1995. They became stars not just for the quality of the music, but also their willingness to follow their muse and experiment, succeeding more often than not. The records represent the incredible diversity of the group, ranging from operatic bombast to glam to hard rock to stadium-rousing anthems to camp to funk and disco – and that's just the hit singles – with no two records sticking to a particular formula.

With all due respect to 1979's Live Killers; Rodgers' lone collaboration with May and Taylor, The Cosmos Rocks; Mercury's 1985 solo LP, Mr. Bad Guy; and 2014's Queen Forever, our worst-to-best ranking of Queen studio albums includes only those made by the original lineup.

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