Bohemian Rhapsody

Bohemian Rhapsody is the tile of a a song recorded by Queen, initially released in October 1975 as the lead single from their fourth studio album A Night at the Opera released the following month. It was written by the group's lead singer Freddie Mercury, and is a six-minute suite, with several parts of different musical styles including a ballad segment (featuring Mercury on piano), an operatic passage (featuring vocal harmonies by band members), a hard rock instrumental segment and a slow reflective coda to finish it off.

Despite its unorthodox format, and apparently non 'radio-friendly' length, the single became a big hit in the group's native Britain and around the world. It went to no.1 in the UK Singles charts relatively quickly, reaching the top spot during the last week of November 1975 remaining at the top for nine weeks, also becoming the Christmas Number 1 for 1975. It was eventually knocked off the top by ABBA's Mamma Mia (the Italian exclamation "Mamma mia!" also features in the lyrics to the Queen song). The song allegedly got its big break after Kenny Everett played it on his Capital Radio show in fragments to tease the listeners. The song hadn’t been technically released at that point, as Everett was playing it from a reel to reel tape, however this plan worked as people descended onto record shops to get a copy when it was released, thus building up demand.

Bohemian Rhapsody was re-released in December 1991 as a double A-side with new Queen song These Are the Days of Our Lives, further to the death of Mercury in late November. This single also went to no.1, remaining at the top for five weeks, and again becoming the Christmas no.1 for that year.

In recent years, in the downloading and streaming age, the track has entered the lower reaches of the Top 100 (most notably during late 2018 into 2019 after the release of the eponymous film, based on the life on Freddie Mercury), and to date has spent a total of 50 weeks in the UK charts. In 2022 in a special chart listing the UK's Official Top 200 most-streamed songs, Bohemian Rhapsody was the most-streamed of the 1970s, at no. 56, followed by the group's Don't Stop Me Now, at no.88).