"Another One Bites the Dust" was written by John Deacon, Queen's bassist, who is credited as composer and lyricist. It appeared on the band's eighth studio album, The Game (1980), and as a single released on 16 August 1980. Producer Reinhold Mack recorded it at Musicland Studios in Munich. Deacon played almost all the instruments, Roger Taylor added a drum loop, and Brian May played guitar. The bass line was inspired by Chic's "Good Times". Built on a funk rock groove with disco influences at about 110 bpm, with English lyrics that use the idiom "to bite the dust", the song was suggested as a single by Michael Jackson to Freddie Mercury.
The single reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in October 1980, Queen's second and last US number one, and spent 15 weeks in the Billboard top 10. It peaked at number seven in the UK. It is Queen's best-selling single, with over 7 million copies sold, and won an American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Single in 1981. Gwen Stefani interpolated it in "Hollaback Girl" (2005).
