Whiter Shade Of Pale 'most played' song for 75 years

Procol Harum
Procol Harum

Procol Harum's organ-backed 1967 hit A Whiter Shade Of Pale is the UK's most publicly played song over the past 75 years.

The top 10 - compiled for BBC Radio 2 by licensing firm PPL - also includes Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and Everly Brothers' All I Have To Do Is Dream in second and third respectively.

The Beatles' Hello goodbye just missed out at number 11, but was backed by two more: Get Back (number 13) and From Me To You (51). Robbie Williams equalled the Fab Four's three entries with Angels (number 6), Rock DJ (16) and Strong (56).

You can see the rest of the (overplayed?) top 10 below…

10 most played songs

1. Procol Harum - A Whiter Shade Of Pale
2. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
3. Everly Brothers - All I Have To Do Is Dream
4. Wet Wet Wet - Love Is All Around
5. Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You
6. Robbie Williams - Angels
7. Elvis Presley - All Shook Up
8. Abba - Dancing Queen
9. Perry Como - Magic Moments
10. Bing Crosby - White Christmas

We skipped the light fandango…

Tom Porter worked on MusicRadar from its mid-2007 launch date to 2011, covering a range of music and music making topics, across features, gear news, reviews, interviews and more. A regular NAMM-goer back in the day, Tom now resides permanently in Los Angeles, where he's doing rather well at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).