EMI Records released "Keep Yourself Alive" as a single in the United Kingdom on 6 July 1973, a week before "Queen" hit the stores. A few months later, on 9 October 1973, Elektra Records released the single in the United States. However, "Keep Yourself Alive" received little radio airplay and was largely ignored on both sides of the Atlantic; it failed to chart in either the UK or the US. According to Queen biographer Mark Hodkinson, although "five separate occasions EMI's pluggers attempted to secure it space on [Britain's Radio 1 play list", they were denied each time, reportedly because the record "took too long to happen". "Keep Yourself Alive" remains the only Queen single not to have charted in the UK.