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Bohemian Rhapsody become's most streamed song of the 20th century

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Wed, 12 Dec 2018, 5:43PM
The song has re-entered New Zealand's singles chart. (Photo / YouTube)

Bohemian Rhapsody become's most streamed song of the 20th century

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Wed, 12 Dec 2018, 5:43PM

This is real life, it's not just fantasy.

Queen's iconic rock ballad Bohemian Rhapsody has become the most streamed song written in the 20th century.

Buoyed by the success of the recent Freddie Mercury biopic, the song has been streamed 1.6 billion times across YouTube and Spotify.

It beats the previous record holder, Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.

Reacting to the news, guitarist Brian May said in a statement: “So the river of rock music has metamorphosed into streams! Very happy that our music is still flowing to the max!” 

The song has seen a resurgence since the biopic of the same name was released earlier this year, with the song becoming the 11th most streamed in the world at the end of November. 

The song is currently 20th on the New Zealand singles charts.  

Meanwhile, it has been announced that Ed Sheeran's Shape of You has become the first song to be streamed two billion times on Spotify. 

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