diff --git a/background.go b/background.go
index 204b59d..908e7a6 100644
--- a/background.go
+++ b/background.go
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import (
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/go-redis/redis/v7"
+	"github.com/hibiken/asynq/internal/base"
 	"github.com/hibiken/asynq/internal/rdb"
 )
 
@@ -54,6 +55,23 @@ type Config struct {
 	// e is the error returned by the task handler.
 	// t is the task in question.
 	RetryDelayFunc func(n int, e error, t *Task) time.Duration
+
+	// List of queues to process with given priority level. Keys are the names of the
+	// queues and values are associated priority level.
+	//
+	// If set to nil or not specified, the background will process only the "default" queue.
+	//
+	// Priority is treated as follows to prevent starving low priority queues.
+	// Example:
+	// Queues: map[string]uint{
+	//     "critical": 6,
+	//     "default":  3,
+	//     "low":      1,
+	// }
+	// With the above config and if all queues are not empty, then the tasks
+	// in "critical", "default", "low" should be processed 60%, 30%, 10% of
+	// the time respectively.
+	Queues map[string]uint
 }
 
 // Formula taken from https://github.com/mperham/sidekiq.
@@ -63,6 +81,10 @@ func defaultDelayFunc(n int, e error, t *Task) time.Duration {
 	return time.Duration(s) * time.Second
 }
 
+var defaultQueueConfig = map[string]uint{
+	base.DefaultQueueName: 1,
+}
+
 // NewBackground returns a new Background instance given a redis client
 // and background processing configuration.
 func NewBackground(r *redis.Client, cfg *Config) *Background {
@@ -74,9 +96,13 @@ func NewBackground(r *redis.Client, cfg *Config) *Background {
 	if delayFunc == nil {
 		delayFunc = defaultDelayFunc
 	}
+	queues := cfg.Queues
+	if queues == nil {
+		queues = defaultQueueConfig
+	}
 	rdb := rdb.NewRDB(r)
 	scheduler := newScheduler(rdb, 5*time.Second)
-	processor := newProcessor(rdb, n, delayFunc)
+	processor := newProcessor(rdb, n, queues, delayFunc)
 	return &Background{
 		rdb:       rdb,
 		scheduler: scheduler,
diff --git a/processor.go b/processor.go
index 7f408c0..06930db 100644
--- a/processor.go
+++ b/processor.go
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ type processor struct {
 
 	handler Handler
 
+	queueConfig map[string]uint
+
 	retryDelayFunc retryDelayFunc
 
 	// timeout for blocking dequeue operation.
@@ -44,9 +46,10 @@ type processor struct {
 
 type retryDelayFunc func(n int, err error, task *Task) time.Duration
 
-func newProcessor(r *rdb.RDB, n int, fn retryDelayFunc) *processor {
+func newProcessor(r *rdb.RDB, n int, qcfg map[string]uint, fn retryDelayFunc) *processor {
 	return &processor{
 		rdb:            r,
+		queueConfig:    qcfg,
 		retryDelayFunc: fn,
 		dequeueTimeout: 2 * time.Second,
 		sema:           make(chan struct{}, n),
diff --git a/processor_test.go b/processor_test.go
index 79ff0cc..915bb72 100644
--- a/processor_test.go
+++ b/processor_test.go
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ func TestProcessorSuccess(t *testing.T) {
 			processed = append(processed, task)
 			return nil
 		}
-		p := newProcessor(rdbClient, 10, defaultDelayFunc)
+		p := newProcessor(rdbClient, 10, defaultQueueConfig, defaultDelayFunc)
 		p.handler = HandlerFunc(handler)
 		p.dequeueTimeout = time.Second // short time out for test purpose
 
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ func TestProcessorRetry(t *testing.T) {
 		handler := func(task *Task) error {
 			return fmt.Errorf(errMsg)
 		}
-		p := newProcessor(rdbClient, 10, delayFunc)
+		p := newProcessor(rdbClient, 10, defaultQueueConfig, delayFunc)
 		p.handler = HandlerFunc(handler)
 		p.dequeueTimeout = time.Second // short time out for test purpose