This year marks the 50th anniversary of Queen’s A Night at the Opera album and Freddie Mercury’s most famous single, Bohemian Rhapsody. To celebrate the special vinyl reissues of both, the band’s team has officially fact-checked and approved a definitive list of 50 facts on the iconic track, which you can view below.

50 Facts About Bohemian Rhapsody

1. Bohemian Rhapsody was released on October 31, 1975 as the lead single from Queen’s album A Night at the Opera.

2. The track spent a record-breaking nine weeks at No 1 in the UK singles chart on its original release.

3. The song continues to be voted the best single of all time, most recently topping the popular chart of UK’s leading radio outlet Gold Radio’s Top 300 Hall of Fame listeners’ vote.

4. After being re-released in 1991 following Freddie Mercury’s death, Bohemian Rhapsody once again reached No 1 in the UK and stayed there for another five weeks.

5. In 2004, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

6. In 2022, the single was selected for preservation in the US Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry.

7. The original working title of one of the three ideas Freddie adapted into Bohemian Rhapsody was called The Cowboy Song.

8. Many people, including the band’s manager at the time and other music industry figures, believed the six-minute song was too long for radio.

9. One of Freddie’s original sheets of handwritten lyrics revealed the working title to be Mongolian Rhapsody, which he later crossed out.

10. The vocal harmonies were so complex that they required 180 layers of overdubs, singing for up to 12 hours a day.

11. By the end of the recording, the tape was so dangerously worn from repeated use and overdubbing that it was nearly transparent and had to be very promptly safety copied.

12. The song was recorded at three different studios. The opening and ending sections were recorded at Rockfield Studios, South East Wales, and Scorpio Sound in London, where they pushed the limits of 24-track recording with the middle section, and the three parts were cut together at Sarm East in London’s Brick Lane.

13. Bassist John Deacon didn’t sing in the operatic section because he wasn’t confident in his voice.

14. The song was knocked off the UK top spot by ABBA’s Mamma Mia.

15. The piano used by Freddie for Bohemian Rhapsody was the same one used by Paul McCartney for Hey Jude.

16. It is the only song to have topped the UK charts twice at Christmas.

17. The music video was filmed at Elstree Studios on the same soundstage that would later be used for Star Wars.

18. The song played a significant role in the movie Wayne’s World; director Penelope Spheeris had to persuade Paramount Pictures to use it over another song.

19. A cover of the song by The Muppets received a Webby Award in 2010.

20. A rare royal blue vinyl pressing of the single was released in 1978, with only 200 copies. It has become one of the most sought-after and valuable 7”s of all time.

21. The band performed the track during their Live Aid set in 1985.

22. In 2021, it was the only 1970s song to be certified Diamond in the US.

23. It became the most-streamed song of the 20th century in 2018.

24. Radio DJ Kenny Everett helped its success by playing it in full when many stations were pushing to play an edited version – which the band refused to create. Everett became slightly demented over the track. He played the full single more than a dozen times over one weekend.

25. The song includes references to characters like Scaramouche, Galileo, Figaro, and phrases such as “Bismillah” in its opera section.

26. The song took three weeks to record.

27. In 2002, it was rated by the Guinness Book of Records as the Top British single of all time.

28. In 2019, the music video surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube.

29. The B‐side of the single was Roger Taylor’s I’m in Love with My Car which he dedicated to the band’s trusted roadie John Harris.

30. Bohemian Rhapsody offered Queen’s very first picture sleeve in the UK.

31. The song has sold over six million copies worldwide.

32. It is the UK’s third best-selling single of all time.

33. The song has been covered by numerous artists, including Panic! At The Disco, The Muppets, and Pentatonix.

34. Freddie once revealed the band started deciding on a single about halfway through making the A Night At The Opera album. There were a few other contenders. The band were thinking about The Prophet’s Song at one point, but then Bohemian Rhapsody seemed to be the one.

35. The single sold over a million and a quarter copies in Britain alone. Of that feat, Freddie is quoted as saying, “That is just outrageous. Imagine all those grandmothers grooving to it!”

36. Freddie once described Bohemian Rhapsody as “just a phase I was going through then.”

37. In 2023, the original working lyrics for Bohemian Rhapsody were sold at Sotheby’s for £1,379,000. The drafts, which were snapped up by an online buyer, were jotted across fifteen pages of British Midland Airways notepaper.

38. The song’s famous music video was directed by Bruce Gowers, who also directed Queen’s video for Somebody to Love”= and others. The now-famous clip was shot in just four hours.

39. The lyrics do not include “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

40. In 2018, the song was featured in the biographical film Bohemian Rhapsody.

41. The operatic section alone took a whole week to record.

42. The song’s guitar solo was played by Brian May on his homemade Red Special Guitar.

43. John Deacon felt the song should have a nice, simple title. His suggestion was Mama.

44. The gong that so dramatically strikes at the track’s close now stands in the garden of Queen’s Roger Taylor.

45. In the recording, Freddie wanted to re-create a huge operatic harmonies section between himself, Brian and Roger singing, to create a 160 to 200 piece choir effect. Freddie estimated that to achieve this, they performed the No, no, no, no, no, no, no section 150 times.

46. Freddie Mercury’s vocal performance in the song was voted the greatest in rock history by Rolling Stone readers.

47. Due to the complexity of the song, Queen originally introduced Bohemian Rhapsody into its live set as part of a medley. It wasn’t until 1977 in Boston, during the band’s US tour, that the band felt confident enough to introduce it virtually in its entirety, although they did not attempt to recreate the opera and instead let the light show take over.

48. Freddie Mercury described the song as a “mock opera”.

49. Freddie refused to explain the song. When being asked what Bohemian Rhapsody is all about, Freddie responded: “I say I don’t know. I think it ruins the mystique. I think people should listen to it, think about it, and then decide for themselves what it means to them”.

50. Despite pressure from their record label to cut down the track, Queen insisted the full 6-minute version be released.