It's really quite simple. What really matters is your opening day sales, here in the states. You don't sell 180,000 units in the first week, and you're not a mega star anymore. Now that figure is talking about today's mainstream pop stars, not established acts.
Releasing tracks or albums early generates more hype. But in this case, I think they were hoping to still be charting abroad when the US release materializes. Unfortunately, with aging stars, that rarely happens. Seems a bit odd for this to be happening, but oh well!
Also, this may be something already worked into Queen's distribution deal in the UK versus the states, since all previous albums were released this way. Might be part of the Hollywood vs Parlophone deal. If the "Archivist" is really 'in the know', he would probably be able to answer this as well. My guess is we'll never really know.
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Queen is more popular in Europe and in Latin America than in the USA, that`s for sure.
Still we get no respect! I was home watching VH-1 Classic & I have seen the commercial for AC/DC's new cd coming out shortly probably 10 times. But no mention of TCR in the least. I sure hope as the release date draws closer we get to see something. However, I won't hold my breath!