Queen Smashed A New World Record Thanks To 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

Celebrity | Music

Queen Smashed A New World Record Thanks To 'Bohemian Rhapsody'

20th Century Fox / UMG

It feels odd to say this about a rock band that's almost 50 years old, but it's been an incredible year for Queen.

The massively successful British rock band - who gave the world hits like "We Will Rock You" and "We Are The Champions" - is suddenly topping the charts again.

By now, you've probably seen Bohemian Rhapsody, a biopic of the band's lead singer Freddie Mercury and one of the year's most talked-about movies.

Rami Malek Bohemian Rhapsody
Audiences cheered Rami Malek as the late Queen singer Freddie Mercury in 'Bohemian Rhapsody'.20th Century Fox

Rhapsody was released in the U.S. just last month, but has already become on of the year's 10 highest-grossing films, the most successful musical biopic ever, and a hit with audiences worldwide.

The movie even earned three Golden Globe nominations, and there's Oscar buzz for Rami Malek, who played Mercury.

But the most surprising outcome of the new movie is that it has pushed Queen's most famous single to become a modern hit, setting a new world record.

"Bohemian Rhapsody," already one of the bestselling songs of all time and a Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, has just earned a new honor. The 1975 song is now the most-streamed song of the 20th century.

Queen
The band dethroned Nirvana to earn the record for the 20th century's most-streamed song. Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group broke the good news, sharing that "Rhapsody" is also the most-streamed Classic Rock song of all time, with 1.6 billion streams worldwide.

"Rhapsody" beat out other rock records like Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Sweet Child O'Mine" by Guns N' Roses to take the top spot.

The song holds an important place in Queen's history, as it was the band's first Top 10 hit in America and spent a record-setting nine weeks in the UK's #1 spot.

It later become the only song ever to earn the UK's coveted Christmas #1 spot twice.

Watch the full video for Bohemian Rhapsody here:

Bohemian Rhapsody video
The groundbreaking video for 'Bohemian Rhapsody' cost just $5,000 to film.UMG

And the band's iconic music video for the song, which helped them break this record, was historic in its own right as one of the first ever promotional music videos.

Despite the fact that it has inspired so many parodies, the band actually filmed the video in just three hours in their own rehearsal space on a shoestring budge.

Brian May, Queen's founding guitarist, celebrated the news that the band's fans are still rocking out to "Rhapsody" decades later:

"So the River of Rock Music has metamorphosed into streams!" he said in a statement. "Very happy that our music is still flowing to the max!"

Queen Adam Lambert
Adam Lambert covers Mercury's vocals in concert.Ralph_PH

Believe it or not, Queen are still making new fans as they tour the world with American Idol star Adam Lambert providing vocals. Their latest Rhapsody Tour will be coming to dates in North America next summer.

[H/T: Variety, Forbes]

Do you still love Queen and "Bohemian Rhapsody"?

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