Bohemian Rhapsody

Popularity

"Bohemian Rhapsody" is the only single to have been UK Christmas Number 1 twice (in a single recording), first in 1975/6, and then in 1991/1992 (as a double-A single with "These Are The Days Of Our Lives") following the death of Mercury. "Bohemian Rhapsody" was placed third in the official list of the best-selling singles in the UK issued in 2002.

Related Topics:
1991 - 1992 - These Are The Days Of Our Lives - List of the best-selling singles in the UK - 2002

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The song consistently ranks highly in media reader polls of "the best singles of all-time". In 2002, it came first in the Guinness Hit Singles poll of the greatest UK singles of all-time, as well as coming 10th in a BBC World Service poll to find the world's favourite song. In 2003 it came second to "Imagine" by John Lennon in a Channel 4 television poll of The 100 Best Number 1s. It has also topped VH1's "100 Greatest Songs from the Past 25 Years" list. It has been in the top 5 of the Dutch annual "Top 100 Aller Tijden" ("All-Time Top 100 Singles") since 1977, reaching #1 many times; in the annual "Top 2000" (maintained since 1999) it has, as of 2004, been #1 every year.

Related Topics:
2002 - BBC World Service - 2003 - Imagine - John Lennon - Channel 4 - VH1 - Dutch - 1977 - 1999 - As of 2004

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The song enjoyed renewed popularity in 1992 as part of the soundtrack to the film Wayne's World. In connection with this, a new video was released, intercutting excerpts from the film with footage from the original Queen video.

Related Topics:
1992 - Wayne's World

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The track was not initially intended as a single release due to the length. However, Mercury's friend Kenny Everett (a BBC Radio 1 DJ at the time) played an advance copy on the radio several times; the track proved popular and was released with "I'm In Love With My Car" as the B-side.

Related Topics:
Kenny Everett - BBC Radio 1 - B-side

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The introduction to the song is based on the chorus of a piece by Mercury's former band, Ibex. Some claim that this first minute of "Bohemian Rhapsody" inspired the ending of the song "One Jump Ahead (reprise)" from the Disney animated film Aladdin; both are sung by a poor boy character, and both have the words "to me" sung on the same notes in roughly the same inflection over the same cadence.

Related Topics:
Ibex - Aladdin - Cadence

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The song's title is also the title of an episode of Cowboy Bebop.

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