A few months after the release of the massively successful biopic of the same name, Queen’s signature song ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has been named the most streamed track of the 20th century.

The song, from the band's album A Night At The Opera and which reached no.1 in the UK upon its original release in 1975, and hit the top of the charts again in 1991 in the aftermath of lead singer Freddie Mercury’s death, has been streamed more than 1.6 billion times across all platforms, including Spotify and YouTube.

As such, it’s overtaken classics like Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ and Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ to take the number one spot in Spotify’s list of the 20th century’s most streamed songs. Those two tracks are in second and third respectively, with the Gunners’ ‘November Rain’ taking the fourth spot and a-Ha’s pop classic ‘Take On Me’ finishing off the top five.

Brian MayBrian May of Queen

The resurgence in interest in the song is largely down to the release of the Freddie Mercury biopic movie Bohemian Rhapsody in November. It’s taken over $600 million at box offices around the world so far.

It caused the song to re-enter the UK charts the same month at no.45, and for the statistical week of 22nd November, was the 11th most streamed song in the world on Spotify.

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‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was also named the most streamed classic rock song of all time, in the announcement made on December 10th.

In reaction to the news, Queen’s guitarist Brian May said in a statement: “So the river of rock music has metamorphosed into streams! Very happy that our music is still flowing to the max!”

Lucian Grainge, CEO of Queen’s label Universal Music Group, added that it was an “incredible achievement that is a testament to the enduring brilliance of Queen”.

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