Golden oldies top number ones list

There is cheese, there is schmaltz, raw emotion and the odd killer tune in the list of the nation's favourite number ones of all time. The list, released yesterday, shows that the public prefers older songs to modern tunes.

It was compiled to mark the 50th anniversary of the British charts and top of the 100 most popular number ones is Queen's ever popular Bohemian Rhapsody.

Not one track from the last 15 years makes it into the top 25, with just four songs from the last 10 years squeezing into the chart.

From the past decade there is only Kylie Minogue's Can't Get You Out Of My Head, Oasis's Don't Look Back In Anger, U2's Beautiful Day and Elvis's remixed A Little Less Conversation.

Modern day stars such as Robbie Williams, the Spice Girls and Westlife failed to get in, though the Irish band will get a consolation prize by reaching number one in this week's chart, the 941st record to do so.

The 1984 chart topper Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas is the most modern song in the top 25.

Users of various websites and Radio 2 listeners voted in the poll, which could explain why the chart skews towards golden oldies.

The school of thinking which says modern music just is not very good will argue that the chart shows people want proper songs, played by people who are more than the creation of marketing men chasing the attention of teenage girls.

All bar three of the Beatles' 17 number ones make the all time top 100, with their post-break up efforts seeing George Harrison's My Sweet Lord at number five and John Lennon's Imagine at number two.

Darren Haynes of the Official Chart Company which compiled the list said: "The public's taste is pretty consistent. These classic popular songs are still the tunes people love most of all. Even the younger generation take these songs aboard as their own."

The complete 100 will be broadcast by Radio 2 this evening.

These we have loved

1 Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

2 John Lennon - Imagine

3 Beatles - Hey Jude

4 Simon & Garfunkel - Bridge Over Troubled Water

5 George Harrison - My Sweet Lord

6 Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale

7 Animals - The House Of The Rising Sun

8 Abba - Dancing Queen

9 Beach Boys - Good Vibrations

10 Queen & David Bowie - Under Pressure

11 Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights

12 Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall

13 Police - Every Breath You Take

14 Righteous Brothers - You've Lost That Loving Feeling

15 Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas

16 Rolling Stones - (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

17 Beatles - She Loves You

18 Soft Cell - Tainted Love

19 Beatles - All You Need Is Love

20 Elvis Presley - Jailhouse Rock

21 10 CC - I'm Not In Love

22 Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me)

22 Rod Stewart - Maggie May

24 Roy Orbison - Oh Pretty Woman

25 David Bowie - Space Oddity

26 Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U

27 Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand

28 Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen

29 Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine

30 Monkees - I'm A Believer

31 Boomtown Rats - I Don't Like Mondays

32 Beatles - A Hard Day's Night

33 Beatles - Help!

34 Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax

35 Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Out Of My Head

36 Queen - Innuendo

37 Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man

38 Abba - Waterloo

39 Elvis vs JXL - A Little Less Conversation

40 Kinks - You Really Got Me

41 Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger

42 Elvis Presley - All Shook Up

43 Fleetwood Mac - Albatross

44 Elvis Presley - Are You Lonesome Tonight

45 Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You

46 Rolling Stones - Paint It Black

47 Nilsson - Without You

48 Elvis Presley - The Wonder Of You

49 Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World/Cabaret

50 Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

51 Abba - The Winner Takes It All

52 Blondie - Heart Of Glass

53 Beatles - Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out

54 Elvis Presley - Can't Help Falling In Love/Rock-A-Hula Baby

55 George Michael - Careless Whisper

56 Beatles - Ticket To Ride

56 John Lennon - Woman

58 Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love

59 Elvis Presley - It's Now Or Never

60 Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile

61 Dusty Springfield - You Don't Have To Say You Love Me

62 Beatles - Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby

63 Human League - Don't You Want Me

64 Roy Orbison - Only The Lonely

65 Bill Haley & His Comets - Rock Around The Clock

66 Beatles - Paperback Writer

67 Jam - Going Underground

68 T Rex - Get It On

69 Slade - Merry Xmas Everybody

70 Sonny & Cher - I Got You Babe

71 Kinks - Sunny Afternoon

72 Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse Of The Heart

73 Joe Cocker - With A Little Help From My Friends

73 Abba - Mamma Mia

75 Gerry & The Pacemakers - You'll Never Walk Alone

75 David Bowie - Ashes To Ashes

75 Righteous Brothers - Unchained Melody

78 Beatles - Get Back

79 Abba - Knowing Me Knowing You

80 Madonna - Like A Prayer

81 Elvis Presley - Return To Sender

82 Bangles - Eternal Flame

83 Freddie Mercury - Living On My Own

83 U2 - Beautiful Day

85 Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star

86 Rolling Stones - Jumping Jack Flash

87 Meat Loaf - I'd Do Anything For Love (But I Won't Do That)

88 Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

89 Scott McKenzie - San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)

90 Beatles - From Me To You

91 Alice Cooper - School's Out

92 A-ha - The Sun Always Shines On TV

93 Bee Gees - Night Fever

94 Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive

95 Rolling Stones - Honky Tonk Women

95 Hollies - He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother

97 Beatles - Hello Goodbye

98 Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - Tears Of A Clown

99 Police - Message In A Bottle

99 Billy Joel - Uptown Girl