Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody video hits 1 billion views on YouTube
It's the first pre-1990s video to reach that milestone.
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Queen's music video for the song Bohemian Rhapsody may have come out more than 40 years ago, but it's still a hot commodity. The video passed 1 billion views on YouTube, the video-sharing site said Monday. It's the first video released before the 1990s to reach that milestone, YouTube said.
To mark the occasion, a newly remastered HD version of Bohemian Rhapsody is available for the first time on Queen's YouTube channel. Fans can also now access the song's lyrics in languages including Italian, Japanese and Turkish while watching the video.
"Bohemian Rhapsody is a sonic and cinematic masterpiece that's one of the most enduring songs of all time," Lyor Cohen, YouTube's global head of music said in a statement. "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."
The song's success comes after the release of last year's biopic Bohemian Rhapsody starring Rami Malek, which follows the creation of the hit song, the arc of Queen's early years and the life of lead singer Freddie Mercury. The movie earned more than $900 million dollars at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing music biopic in history.
Queen is also partnering with YouTube Music, Universal Music Group and Hollywood Records to launch "You Are The Champions," a campaign calling on fans to be featured in three new music videos for Bohemian Rhapsody, A Kind Of Magic and Don't Stop Me Now. The campaign kicks off next month, and the completed videos will be uploaded later this year to Queen's YouTube channel.
Bohemian Rhapsody has been hailed as one of the greatest songs ever recorded. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004, and readers of Rolling Stone magazine named Freddie Mercury's vocal performance the best in rock history. Last year, Bohemian Rhapsody became the most-streamed song of the 20th century.
