Throughout their storied career, rock legends Queen have earned numerous awards and honours. On May 27, 2025, surviving members of the band Brian May and Roger Taylor were awarded the 2025 Polar Music Prize.
Herbie Hancock and Barbara Hannigan also won a Polar Prize.
In response to winning the prize, drummer Roger Taylor said, “when we started our band…we had ambitions, but never dreamed of the journey that was to follow. We were fortunate in the fact that our four wildly different personalities came together to achieve a wonderful chemistry. The Polar Music Prize is exceptional in the fact that unlike other awards it recognises the entirety of an artiste’s career. What an honour to be included in the glittering cavalcade of previous laureates. True Olympian company indeed. We are so proud to be the recipients of this incredibly prestigious award.”
Guitarist Brian May added, “in this special moment, I contemplate how that younger Brian May in 1974 would have felt if he knew that we would be living this kind of dream 50 years in the future.”
In a star studded event at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, current Queen singer Adam Lambert, Ghost, and Fredrik Akesson performed. jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding, pianist, Robert Glasper, and French pianist Bertrand Chamayou were among those who gave performances.
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf presented the prizes of one million Swedish Krona (approx. £77k GBP and $102k USD).
Queen joins previous Polar Music Prize winners Sir Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel, Chuck Berry, Ennio Morricone, Led Zeppelin, Patti Smith, Stevie Wonder, Nile Rogers, Paul Simon, Kronos Quartet, Joni Mitchell, Elton John, Metallica, Iggy Pop, Ravi Shankar, Renée Fleming, Miriam Makeba, Wayne Shorter, and Sofia Gubaidulina.