SortStack #1789 — 2031-05-03

By duration · Order from shortest to longest.

1. Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' 5.9 min

   Radio executives told Freddie Mercury it was far too long to ever get airplay. It topped the UK charts twice, 16 years apart.

2. Rio de Janeiro's Carnival, official festival period 5 days

   Around two million people hit the streets per day, and the samba school parade is a fierce contest judged on dozens of criteria.

3. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe 25 days

   The world's largest arts festival stages over 3,000 shows — by ticket sales it trails only the Olympics and the football World Cup.

4. Mike the Headless Chicken's life after losing his head 1.5 years

   The 1945 axe missed Mike's brain stem; fed by eyedropper, he toured sideshows and his Colorado hometown still throws him an annual festival.

5. The era of the Crusades, from the first to the fall of Acre 194.9 years

   Nine major crusades spanned 195 years — and the Fourth never reached the Holy Land at all, sacking Christian Constantinople instead.

6. The Western Roman Empire, from Augustus to its fall 501.9 years

   After the West fell in AD 476, the Eastern half carried on for nearly a thousand more years as the Byzantine Empire.

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