"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen. It was written by Freddie Mercury for the band's 1975 album A Night at the Opera. The song has no chorus, instead consisting of three main parts: a ballad segment ending with a guitar solo, an operatic passage, and a heavy rock section.
When it was released as a single, "Bohemian Rhapsody" became a huge commercial success, staying at the top of the UK Singles Chart for nine weeks and selling more than a million copies by the end of January 1976.[1] It reached number one again in 1991 for five weeks following Mercury's death, eventually becoming the UK's third best selling single of all time.[2] It topped the charts in several other markets as well, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and The Netherlands. In the United States the song originally peaked at number nine in 1976; however, it returned to the chart at number two in 1992 following its appearance in the film Wayne's World revived its American popularity.
The single was accompanied by a promotional video, considered ground-breaking.[3] Although critical reaction was initially mixed, particularly in the United States, "Bohemian Rhapsody" remains one of Queen's most popular songs. Rolling Stone ranked it as the number 163 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".