In August 1975 Queen started recording the rock classic Bohemian Rhapsody at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth, Wales.
Freddie Mercury had mentally prepared the song beforehand and directed the band throughout the sessions which took just three weeks.
Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor sang their vocal parts continually for ten to twelve hours a day, resulting in 180 separate overdubs.
Bohemian Rhapsody was included on the album A Night At The Opera, but it was its impact as a single that took the world by storm.
It topped the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks and sold more than a million copies by the end of January 1976. In 1991, after Freddie’s death, it topped the charts for another five weeks, eventually becoming the UK’s third best-selling single of all time.
In the US it peaked at number two in 1992 after being used in the movie Wayne’s World. Further popularity followed after the release of the Queen biopic that took the same name as the song.
In March 2021 it was certified Diamond in the US for combined digital sales and streams equal to 10 million units.
Bohemian Rhapsody is one of the many hits and album tracks you can enjoy on our dedicated Queen radio station.
