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11 December 2025
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Bohemian Rhapsody heads Top 2000 again as 1970s dominate

December 9, 2025
George Kooymans of Golden Earring in 2015. Radar Love is back in the Top 10 after Kooymans died this year. Photo: Stefan Brending via Wikimedia Commons

Th’s year’s Top 2000, NPO Radio 2’s annual countdown of the Netherlands’ all-time favourite songs, reveals few changes in the nation’s musical taste, with Bohemian Rhapsody topping the chart for the 22nd time.

Queen’s 1975 classic has been ranked first or second every year since the chart was first compiled in 1999, based on the results of an online poll.

NPO unveiled the Top 10 this week, with the full list due to be published on December 15. The entire chart is played in reverse order from Boxing Day until New Year’s Eve, with Freddie Mercury’s voice set to resonate through bars and living rooms across the country in the minutes leading up to midnight.

Second place on the list is taken by Billy Joel’s 1973 hit Piano Man, its highest-ever ranking, while Hotel California, another perennial favourite from 1976, is third.

Just two of the top 10 songs were recorded in the 21st century, with Danny Vera’s Roller Coaster from 2019 the youngest contender. Vera is the highest-placed Dutch artist in fifth place, while Boudewijn de Groot’s Avond, ranked eighth, is the most popular Dutch-language entry.

Golden Earring’s Radar Love, also from 1973, is back in the top 10 for the first time in four years, honouring the The Hague-based band’s singer and guitarist George Kooymans, who died earlier this year aged 77.

The top 10:

1. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen (1975)

2. Piano Man – Billy Joel (1973)

3. Hotel California – The Eagles (1976)

4. Fix You – Coldplay (2005)

5. Roller Coaster – Danny Vera (2019)

6. Black – Pearl Jam (1991)

7. Stairway to Heaven – Led Zeppelin (1971)

8. Avond – Boudewijn de Groot (1997)

9. Radar Love – Golden Earring (1973)

10. Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd (1975)

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