The Game cover art

  Studio Album · No. 8

The Game Songwriting Credits by Queen

1980 EMI Records 10 tracks 36 min

Produced by Queen, Reinhold Mack  ·  Engineered by Reinhold Mack

EMI Records RockFunk rockPop rockNew wave
100%
Authorship
Complete Artist

Queen wrote 10 of 10 documented tracks

Authorship Breakdown 10 / 10 documented

Who wrote the songs?

Scored across the 10 tracks with documented writers, by whether Queen carries a lyricist or composer credit.

100%
10 trackswritten by Queen 0 tracksoutside writers
Queen's roles on this album

Share of the 10 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.

Lyricist100%
Composer100%
Producer100%
Performer100%

By the Numbers

10
Tracks
4
Lyricists
2
Producers
2
No.1 Singles
4 million
US Copies Sold
1980
Released

Awards & Recognition 1

Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal (1981, Nominated)
Data Insight

The Game is Queen's commercial peak in America, their only US No. 1 album, and it shows the payoff of the band's four-writer model: two members deliver chart-topping singles. John Deacon's funk-disco "Another One Bites the Dust" and Freddie Mercury's rockabilly "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" both hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It is also their first album to use a synthesizer, and every track is still an individual member's credit.

Queen's eighth studio album, released June 30, 1980, produced by Queen and Reinhold Mack, the beginning of a productive partnership with the German producer that would continue through Hot Space and The Works. The Game became Queen's first US number one album and spent thirteen weeks at the top of the Billboard 200. It contains two of John Deacon's most commercially successful compositions: 'Another One Bites the Dust,' which reached number one in the US and was one of the best-selling singles of 1980, and 'Need Your Loving Tonight.' Freddie Mercury contributes 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love,' written and recorded in under an hour and distinguished by its rockabilly arrangement, a deliberate departure from Queen's usual complexity. Roger Taylor contributes 'Rock It (Prime Jive)' and 'Coming Soon.' The album was also Queen's first to use synthesizers, which they had previously excluded from their sound.

Track Listing & Credits 10 tracks

Written by the artist Written by outside writers

Songwriter & Credit Spotlight 6 contributors

More from Queen

Frequently Asked Questions The Game

Did Queen write The Game themselves?
Yes, entirely. Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon each wrote songs, with no outside writers. Two of them, Mercury and Deacon, wrote US No. 1 singles for the album.
Who wrote Another One Bites the Dust by Queen?
"Another One Bites the Dust" was written by bassist John Deacon. Its funk-disco bassline made it Queen's best-selling US single and a No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Who wrote Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen?
"Crazy Little Thing Called Love" was written by Freddie Mercury in under an hour as an Elvis Presley-style rockabilly tribute. It became Queen's first US No. 1 single.
Was The Game by Queen their only number one album in the US?
Yes. The Game is Queen's only album to reach No. 1 on the US Billboard 200, where it spent thirteen weeks at the top. It is their best-selling American studio album at 4x Platinum.
Was The Game the first Queen album with synthesizers?
Yes. The Game was the first Queen album to use a synthesizer, the Oberheim OB-X, after years of declaring "no synthesisers" on their sleeves. It marked a shift toward a sleeker, more modern sound.
When was The Game by Queen released?
The Game was released on June 30, 1980, through EMI and Elektra. It was the band's eighth studio album.

Sources