Bohemian Rhapsody | Queen

“Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?…"

Often voted the greatest song ever made, Bohemian Rhapsody has topped our Feel Good 500 Countdown for the third time!
 
The six-minute iconic mini rock opera has become Queen’s defining song, and eventually provided the title of the hit 2019 biopic starring Rami Malek as Freddie.
 
“Nobody really knew how it was going to sound as a whole six-minute song until it was put together,” producer Roy Thomas Baker told Performing Songwriter magazine. 
 
Queen’s label were initially reluctant to release it as a single, however the band were united in insisting that it was the right choice, despite exceeding the three-minute running time expected of most singles. They were told the song had no hope of getting airplay, but they were helped by Capital Radio DJ Kenny Everett, a friend of Mercury’s, who played it 14 times in one weekend and started the buzz that eventually ended with the single going to number one.
 
It reached number one twice in the UK, first in 1975 and again in 1991 after Freddie Mercury’s death. 
 
In NZ Bohemian Rhapsody spent two weeks at number one in 1976, remaining on the chart for 28 weeks becoming Queen’s biggest ever NZ hit with sales of 60,000 – double platinum.

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