Last year, British DJ and producer Majestic dusted off the old Boney M hit ‘Rasputin’ from 1978 and turned it into a hit all over again.

‘Rasputin’, billed as Majestic x Boney M, gained a new following after its resurgence on TikTok and charted on several pop charts worldwide including in Switzerland, Sweden, Slovakia, Romania, Norway, Netherlands, Lithuania, Hungary, Canada, Belgium and Austria.

In the United Kingdom, it peaked at number 11, number one in Poland and number 11 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart. This was the song’s first time ever charting in the US.

‘Rasputin’ was certified platinum for sales exceeding 600,000 units in the United Kingdom. The certification was issued on September 30 by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

‘Rasputin’ was first released on 28 August 1978 as the second single from Boney M’s third studio album Nightflight to Venus. Written by the group’s creator Frank Farian, along with George Reyam and Fred Jay, it is a song about Grigori Rasputin, a friend and advisor of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family during the early 20th century. The song describes Rasputin as a playboy, mystical healer, and political manipulator.

In 1978, the original version of ‘Rasputin’ peaked at number two in the UK, number one in Australia, Austria and Germany, and made the top ten in Argentina, Canada, Ireland, Norway, Netherlands and Switzerland.

It was certified platinum in Australia and Canada and gold in Netherlands and the UK back then.

Last year’s remixed version of ‘Rasputin’ has so far been certified platinum in Australia, Italy and Switzerland, and gold in Belgium and Poland.

Boney M consisted of Jamaicans Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell, Maizie Williams from Montserrat and Bobby Farrell from Aruba.

The group’s other hits include ‘By the Rivers of Babylon’, ‘Mary’s Boy Child’, ‘Ma Baker’ (later sampled by Lady Gaga in Bad Romance), ‘Brown Girl in the Ring’ and ‘Daddy Cool’.