The Miracle is the thirteenth album by British rock band Queen, released in 1989. It was recorded as the band recovered from Brian May’s marital problems and Freddie Mercury’s AIDS diagnosis (which was, though known to the band, not publicised at the time). Recording started in January 1988 and lasted twelve months.

The album was originally going to be called “The Invisible Man”, but three weeks before the release, according to Roger Taylor, they decided to change the name to “The Miracle”. The striking cover art utilised the Quantel Paintbox, then state of the art image-manipulation technology, to combine photographs of the familiar faces of the four band members into one morphed Gestalt image, in line with their decision to dispense with individual credits and simply present their music as the product of Queen; the back cover went a step further with a seamless regiment of the bands’ eyes. Derek Riggs, best known for illustrating Iron Maiden covers, claims that Queen “stole” the idea for this album cover from his cover for the single The Clairvoyant. The album reached #1 in the UK, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland, and #24 on the US Billboard 200 chart. The Miracle is estimated to have sold 9.5 million copies. Allmusic would name it as Queen’s best album of the 1980s, along with “The Game”.

Tracklist:

Party
Khashoggi’s Ship
The Miracle
I Want It All
The Invisible Man
Breakthru
Rain Must Fall
Scandal
My Baby Does Me
Was It All Worth It

Legend: Side A / Side B – Record Company – Catalogue number – Country (Year) ~ Notes