Radio 2 listeners have crowned The Beatles their favourite British band taking the No.1 spot in Your Ultimate British Group, with hundreds of thousands of votes cast by music fans. The vote gave listeners the opportunity to pick their five favourite groups to mark the annual all-day musical celebration of National Album Day on Saturday 19 October.
In the No.2 spot is Queen, No. 3 is The Rolling Stones, No.4 is Pink Floyd and No.5 is Fleetwood Mac. The full Top 30 chart is below and available exclusively to hear now on BBC Sounds, presented by Mark Goodier, as part of a National Album Day Collection. It will be broadcast on Radio 2 from 1-3pm on Saturday 19 October when all the music played on Radio 2 will be from Great British groups – from Sounds of the 60s with Tony Blackburn (6am-8am) through to Sounds of the 90s with Fearne Cotton (10pm-midnight).
An additional show, Your Ultimate British Group: The Extras, is now available in the BBC Sounds collection, which will feature (in no particular order) the bands voted in chart position numbers 30-54. Both shows are BBC Audio productions.
A star-studded panel, including Radio 2 presenters, Jo Whiley, Sara Cox, OJ Borg, Vernon Kay, Scott Mills, Trevor Nelson, DJ Spoony, and Owain Wyn Evans voted from a long list of nearly 100 bands to produce a final list of 54, which spans the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s. The list was compiled from the timeless melodic music that is played on Radio 2 and the Most Successful British Groups on the Official Albums Chart. A British group is any band of 2+ members that is made-up wholly or the majority are people who were born, live or hold British citizenship. The chairman of the selection panel is Radio 2 and 6 Music’s Head of Music, Jeff Smith, who is also the chairman of the Mercury Prize judging panel.
Jeff Smith, Head of Music for Radio 2 says: “We have absolutely loved seeing the Radio 2 listeners cast hundreds of thousands of votes for their Ultimate British Group, and this Top 30 chart reflects some of music’s biggest selling, most loved and established British artists who have achieved incredible success globally across the decades.”
Mark Goodier says: “Radio 2 listeners have chosen their best of the best British world-beating groups. I can’t wait to count down this chart. It promises to be quite a listen!”
The chart is:
The Beatles
Queen
The Rolling Stones
Pink Floyd
Fleetwood Mac
Led Zeppelin
Take That
Coldplay
Oasis
Electric Light Orchestra
The Who
Depeche Mode
The Jam
Radiohead
The Smiths
Genesis
Pet Shop Boys
The Cure
Duran Duran
Madness
Girls Aloud
The Beautiful South
The Kinks
Bee Gees
Wham!
The Clash
Blur
Spice Girls
The Police
Manic Street Preachers
In addition to Radio 2’s battle of the bands, there is further programming to celebrate the success of Great British Groups, which is available now as part of the National Album Day Collection on BBC Sounds.
