Bohemian Rhapsody was streamed more times than any other 1970s song last year after Queen biopic made £700m at the Box Office
- Hit movie led to a surge in streaming of the groundbreaking six-minute track
- Christmas songs feature heavily, topping the list for the 1940s, ’50s, and ’80s
- For the current decade, Bruno Mars is leading the list with his hit Finesse
Many cinemagoers who saw Bohemian Rhapsody weren’t alive for Queen’s heyday.
Now it seems the Oscar-winning biopic has won the group a few new fans – with their six-minute epic proving particularly popular.
A decade-by-decade breakdown of music streaming figure has shown that Bohemian Rhapsody is the most popular song from the 1970s.
The rock anthem is one of just four non-Christmas songs on the list, which demonstrates the power of a catchy festive tune.
Bohemian Rhapsody was the most streamed 1970s song of 2018 in a list full of festive Christmas tracks
The British Phonographic Industry revealed the top tracks for every decade since the 1940s, beginning with White Christmas by Bing Crosby. Like Bohemian Rhapsody, it too featured prominently in a film – 1942’s Holiday Inn.
Another Yuletide staple, Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee, is our favourite from the 1950s, while the Jackson 5’s I Want You Back is top of the pops among 1960s singles.
Last Christmas by Wham! follows for the 1980s, while Mariah Carey edges out the likes of Oasis and the Spice Girls for the 1990s with All I Want For Christmas Is You.
The top track for the 2000s is The Killers’s Mr Brightside, which still regularly makes the top 100 on the weekly Official Singles Chart despite being first released in 2003.
For the current decade so far, Bruno Mars has the most-streamed song with Finesse. Last year saw more than 500 tracks released before 2017 played more than 10million times in the UK, figures showed.
Geoff Taylor, of the BPI, said: ‘With ever-fiercer competition in the attention economy, music demonstrates time and again that it has the power and appeal to cut through. The success of Bohemian Rhapsody reminds us that older songs too can have a broad, pan-generational appeal.’
Legendary frontman Freddie Mercury and guitarist Brian May onstage during Queen’s showstopping performance at Live Aid in 1985