1975 Classic Rock Anthem Became Rare Hit to Chart Across 3 Decades
On this day in 1976, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" was climbing the Billboard Hot 100 - kicking off a rare chart run that would span multiple decades.
The track, written by frontman Freddie Mercury and released on Halloween as the lead single from the band's A Night at the Opera album, debuted on the chart at No. 81, and eventually climbed into the Top 10 - marking Queen's first major breakthrough in the U.S.
But the chart history was hardly over.
In 1992, "Bohemian Rhapsody" surged back onto the charts. Following the death of Mercury in November 1991 and an unforgettable scene in 1992's Wayne's World, the song rose all the way to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, reintroducing it to a new generation and cementing its play in pop culture.
Related: Science Says This '70s Rock Hit Is the Catchiest Song of All Time
Then, decades later, it happened again.
In 2018, the track found fresh life following the release of the Rami Malek biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. After the film's premiere, the song became the most-streamed track from the 20th century, surpassing 1.6 billion global streams, per Universal Music Group. Today, it has more than 3 billion streams.
Looking back on the song's creation, Mercury once revealed just how unconventional its structure really was. Sharing the origin story of the rock song in a 1984 interview, he said, "I basically was writing three songs, and they were going to be different. I just couldn't finish them, and I just thought, Oh, dammit, I'll just put the three together."
Few songs ever return to the charts once - let alone across three different eras. C'mon No. 4!
Related: 1991 Generational Anthem Ranked ‘Most Iconic Song Ever' Debuted 35 Years Ago Today
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This story was originally published April 18, 2026 at 7:33 AM.