More than four decades after its release, the Queen's 1975 anthem beats other iconic rock songs, like Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and Guns N' Roses' 1988 hit 'Sweet Child o' Mine', for the title.
- December 12, 2018
AceShowbiz - Queen's anthem "Bohemian Rhapsody" has become the most streamed song released in the 20th century.
Bosses at Universal Music Group announced on Monday, December 10, that the operatic rock masterpiece, which was released in 1975, has been played by fans more than 1.6 billion times on streaming services around the world.
It has overtaken other iconic rock hits including Nirvana's grunge classic "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and Guns N' Roses' 1988 hit "Sweet Child o' Mine" to take the crown.
In a press release announcing the news, Queen guitarist Brian May told Variety: "So the River of Rock Music has metamorphosed into streams! Very happy that our music is still flowing to the max!"
The song has had a huge boost in its streaming stats by the release of the Queen biopic of the same name, which has earned $600 million (£475 million) at the global box office. Rami Malek, who played frontman Freddie Mercury, was nominated for a Golden Globe last week and could be in line for an Oscar nod come January.
Taken from the group's album "A Night at the Opera", "Bohemian Rhapsody" was groundbreaking as it lasted a lengthy six minutes and featured stylistically diverse sections of opera, ballad and rock. It also often tops polls of fans' favourite tracks.
Universal Music Group chief Lucien Grange gushed that he was "thrilled" to represent the band and congratulated them and their longtime manager Jim Beach on "an incredible achievement".
Although impressive, the 1.6 billion figure puts the song far behind many contemporary tracks like Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" - which has been played more than two billion times on the Spotify service alone.
