Queen celebrate Bohemian Rhapsody milestone with fan-driven video campaign

Queen’s video for their classic 1975 track Bohemian Rhapsody has passed the 1 billion views mark on YouTube.

It’s now the first pre-1990’s video to reach 1bn views on the platform – and Queen have celebrated the milestone by releasing a remastered, hi-def version of the promo and announced a campaign titled You Are The Champions.

Queen have teamed up with YouTube Music, Universal Music Group and Hollywood Records for the initiative, which will give fans the chance to have a starring role in three new user generated videos for a trio of the band’s best-loved songs.

Queen are looking for musicians, singers, and instrumentalists for their take on Bohemian Rhapsody, while dancers are invited to submit their own routines and interpretations for Don't Stop Me Now. Visual artists will also have the chance to design something eye-catching around a word or phrase from A Kind Of Magic’s lyrics.

Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor say: “We are honoured that Bohemian Rhapsody has just hit 1bn views on YouTube. We want to thank you all and celebrate with our amazing fans all around the world by creating three new music videos to our songs, all featuring you!

“Whether you are a musician, singer, dancer, visual artist or you just want to have some fun. Visit the You Are The Champions website to find out more and we’ll see you on the road somewhere.”

The completed videos will be uploaded later this year to the official Queen YouTube channel.

Queen and Adam Lambert are currently on their Rhapsody tour across North America, with their next show set for tomorrow night (July 23) in Dallas.

Here’s the setlist from the tour’s opening night earlier this month at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena.

Queen and Adam Lambert Rhapsody tour 2018
Jul 23: Dallas American Airlines Center, TX
Jul 24: Houston Toyota Center, TX
Jul 27: Detroit Littles Caesars Arena, MI
Jul 28 Toronto Scotiabank Arena, ON
Jul 30: Washington Capital One Arena, DC
Jul 31: Pittsburgh PPG Paints Arena, PA
Aug 03: Philadelphia Wells Fargo Center, PA
Aug 04: Boston Xfinity Center, MA
Aug 06: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Aug 09: Chicago United Centre, IL
Aug 10: St paul Xcel Energy Center, MN
Aug 13: Columbus Nationwide Center, OH
Aug 15: Nashville Bridgestone Arena, TN
Aug 17: Ft lauderdale BB&T Center, FL
Aug 18: Tampa Amalie Arena, FL
Aug 20: New Orleans Smoothie King Centre, LA
Aug 22: Atlanta State Farm Arena, GA
Aug 23: Charlotte Spectrum Center, NC

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.