70% of streams of Queen songs are by people under 35

Back in 1975, I had a Juliette multi-band radio on my bedroom dresser always tuned to CFRW/Winnipeg. One evening sometime before Christmas, the DJ came on to introduce a new song.

“This is a new song from an English band called Queen. I don’t know what you’re going to think about it, but let’s listen anyway.” He proceeded to play “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

And yeah, it was weird–at the time. But the song has since become so iconic and such a part of popular culture that’s it’s hard to imagine that back in the day, the experts predicted it would be a massive failure.

Fast-forward to 2018 and the release of the biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody. Spotify reports that the song and others from the Queen catalogue are massively, massively popular.

On Spotify, Queen is more popular than ever—not only among baby boomers and Gen Xers, but with millennials, too. Since the release of the Bohemian Rhapsody film, streams of Queen songs on Spotify have surged 333 percent, with 70 percent of those listeners under the age of 35. Last month, Queen enjoyed a two-week run as the No. 1 global artist on Spotify—and when they “dropped” in the rankings to No. 3, the group remained in good company behind 6ix9ine and Ariana Grande.

What’s Queen’s secret to cultural relevance, seemingly set on repeat? Two words: “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

[…]

Queen remains popular among listenehttps://newsroom.spotify.com/2019-01-03/queen-will-queen-will-rock-you-and-your-kids-and-their-kids/rs under 35 because of their relevance in pop culture; the band has definitively secured its place in the immortal canon of rock. And “Bohemian Rhapsody” in particular is enjoying a pronounced resurgence in 2018 for the same reason it’s always come roaring back into the spotlight: It’s as dynamic as it is fun.

Read the whole analysis here.