Queen’s iconic video for Bohemian Rhapsody has now officially passed 1 billion views on YouTube.
The 1975 video – the first ever music promo – has made history as the first pre-1990s video to reach one billion views on the platform.
Queen have almost 33 million monthly listeners on Spotify, as well as more than 10m subscribers on their official YouTube channel. In December, Bohemian Rhapsody was revealed as the most streamed song from the 20th century and the most Googled song of 2018.
The song reached the top 40 in the USA in 2019, making its third visit and one of the only songs to reach the Top 40 in three different decades. Thanks to streaming, the single has also returned to the Top 50 in the UK in 2018 and 2019.
Speaking from the band’s current sold-out North American tour, founding Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor said: “We are honoured that Bohemian Rhapsody has just hit one billion views on YouTube.”
To mark the 1bn milestone, a newly remastered HD version of the video is available today (July 22) for the first time ever and exclusively on the band’s YouTube channel. Fans will now be able to access the song’s lyrics in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese, Polish, German, Indonesian Bahasa, Korean, Czech, Russian & Turkish whilst watching the video.
“Bohemian Rhapsody is a sonic and cinematic masterpiece that’s one of the most enduring songs of all time,” said Lyor Cohen, global head of music for YouTube. “The newly remastered video on YouTube will ensure the song continues to be rediscovered, embraced and beloved by old and new generations of music fans around the world; it's incredible to help change the way fans experience music and provide a place for artist and fan connections worldwide."
The band are also encouraging fans to help create three new user-generated music videos for their songs via the site, youarethechampions.com.
Celine Joshua, GM, commercial, content and artist strategy at Universal Music Group, said: “We are thrilled that Queen’s iconic Bohemian Rhapsody video has reached a historic one billion views on YouTube. Now, together with Queen, YouTube and Hollywood Records, we are excited to launch ‘You Are The Champions’, an innovative new user generated video campaign with Queen’s incredible fans around the world at its core. This will be the first of a series of custom initiatives we have planned in the coming months on the official Queen channel.”
The song has continued to win new fans following the global success of last year’s Bohemian Rhapsody movie. The film is the highest grossing music biopic in history, having generated more than $900 million dollars at the box office. It won four Oscars, including Rami Malek’s triumph in the Best Actor Category for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury on the big screen – a feat he also achieved at the BAFTAs and Golden Globes. Queen’s catalogue sales have seen a spike thanks to the film.
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