Metallica beat Zeppelin, AC/DC in radio poll

Hetfield, Hammett and co 'Enter' radio poll at No. 1
Hetfield, Hammett and co 'Enter' radio poll at No. 1 (Image credit: Chad Batka/Corbis)

Metallica have emerged as the top dogs in a new radio poll, beating out hard rock stalwarts AC/DC and even the mighty Led Zeppelin.

According to Manchester's Rock Radio 106.1, which tallied the votes of thousands of online voters who submitted their Top Ten tracks of all time, Metallica nabbed the No. 1 spot with their 1991 cut Enter Sandman.

The station compiled all the votes into a top 500 list. The top 50 yielded some interesting results: Metallica scored four entries, matching Led Zeppelin and Guns N' Roses, while AC/DC appeared the most times with six placements.

The Rolling Stones and Iron Maiden made three appearances each, with Deep Purple, Jimi Hendrix, Black Sabbath and The Who nabbing two spots apiece.

Here's Rock Radio's Top Ten listener favorites:

1. Enter Sandman - Metallica
2. Back in Black - AC/DC
3. Stairway to Heaven - Led Zeppelin
4. Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd
5. Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses
6. Comfortably Numb - Pink Floyd
7. Whole Lotta Rosie - AC/DC
8. Kashmir - Led Zeppelin
9. Ace Of Spades - Motorhead
10. One - Metallica

But it wasn't all 'classic rock,' as new and slightly new bands popped up here and there: Muse made their presence known with Kights Of Cydonia at No. 89. And Green Day's Basket Case just missed the top 50 with a No. 51 ranking.

One of the more surprising choices? Steve Earle, who came in at 201 with his song Copperhead Road.

So, you're no doubt asking yourself, What song and band won the much-coveted dead-last slot? Well, we won't keep you in suspense: Deep Purple with a little ditty called Black Knight.

Now we know what Roger Glover is doing with his new MacBook!

To view the entire list, click here.

Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar WorldGuitar PlayerMusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.