Queen released “We Are the Champions” in the UK on October 7, 1977, with “We Will Rock You” on the B-side. Freddie Mercury’s song and Brian May’s companion piece introduced News of the World, the band’s sixth studio album, and gave audiences two different ways to become part of a Queen performance.
The album took shape during roughly ten weeks of recording at London’s Basing Street and Wessex studios, with engineer Mike Stone working alongside the band. Queen were pursuing a less elaborate production than on their preceding records. The two songs placed at the beginning of News of the World made that change immediately audible, with the foot-stamping rhythm of “We Will Rock You” followed by Mercury at the piano on “We Are the Champions.”
The latter still had room for the detail associated with Queen’s recordings. Roger Taylor’s drums and John Deacon’s bass supported the piano, while May’s guitar became more prominent as the performance developed. By the final chorus, his lead playing ran alongside Mercury’s vocal. The arrangement grew around a refrain that an audience could take over, even as the musicians continued building underneath it.
Mercury’s choice of title initially attracted questions about the band’s ego. In archive interviews included in Queen’s 2021 The Greatest episode about the song, he and Taylor responded with jokes about their lack of modesty. Mercury also explained the practical intention behind it: “Basically it is a participation thing.” He was considering how the song would work onstage and how listeners would join in. May recalled being briefly taken aback by the title before recognizing that its declaration could belong to everyone singing it.
That invitation extended to the promotional film. Director Derek Burbridge filmed Queen at the New London Theatre the day before the single’s release, with members of the band’s fan club in the audience. It was Queen’s first promotional video to invite fan club members to participate. Each attendee received a copy of the single, and the band thanked them with a short free concert after the shoot. The people the song was intended to include were already part of its presentation.
When Queen took News of the World to North America in November 1977, “We Are the Champions” entered the touring set. Footage revisited in the band’s 2023 The Greatest Live series shows Mercury performing at the piano amid dry ice beneath the tour’s Crown lighting rig. Paired with “We Will Rock You,” the song became an established finale on subsequent Queen tours, followed by the recorded “God Save the Queen.”
The familiar recording also concealed a different ending. In 2017, Queen released a Raw Sessions version assembled from the original multitrack tapes, with an alternate lead vocal and instrumental performances. It restored two additional choruses, allowing listeners to hear the song at its originally recorded length, and included a false start from an early take. Those tapes also revealed that the band had initially intended the performance to fade out. The abrupt, unresolved finish heard on the 1977 release emerged from the editing of a longer performance.
