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A Whiter Shade Of Pale, Procol Harum's iconic single which spent six weeks at the top of the charts in 1967, has been revealed as the most played song in public places over the last 75 years, in a chart broadcast today on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 2.

The chart, presented by Rob Brydon in the three-hour countdown programme The People's Chart, was compiled by music licensing company PPL to mark their 75th anniversary.

The rest of the top five consists of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody from the Seventies at No. 2, The Everly Brothers' All I Have to Do Is Dream from the Fifties at No. 3, followed by Wet Wet Wet's version of Love Is All Around at No. 4, and at No. 5 is the song that holds the record for consecutive weeks at No. 1, Bryan Adams' (Everything I Do) I Do It For You.

Procol Harum frontman Gary Brooker says: "It's a great and unsought honour that A Whiter Shade Of Pale is No.1 in this unique chart. It isn't something I could have remotely imagined when I wrote the song and then made that legendary recording with Procol Harum all those years ago!

"Every musician and singer hopes to reach out and communicate to the audience, so it means a great deal that the record has such an indefinable popularity and lasting appeal."

The chart reveals two acts sharing the highest number of entries: The Beatles – Hello Goodbye (No. 11), Get Back (No.13) and From Me To You (No. 51) – and Robbie Williams – Angels (No. 6), Rock DJ (No.16), Strong (No. 56).

But three more solo hits by individual Beatles also feature: George Harrison's My Sweet Lord (No. 18), John Lennon's Imagine (No. 32) and Paul McCartney with Wings' Mull of Kintyre (No. 72).

The oldest song is Glenn Miller's In The Mood from 1939 and the most recent is Outkast's Hey Ya! from 2003.

Both Bing Crosby's legendary Christmas songs feature – White Christmas at No. 10 and Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town at No. 30 – along with the Christmas classics Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid (No. 52) and Harry Belafonte's Mary's Boy Child (No. 54).

Other artists with two entries include Elvis Presley, Elton John, The Everly Brothers and John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John.

A full run-down of the chart can be found at bbc.co.uk/radio2.

The programme is available on the listen again facility for seven days after broadcast.

Notes to Editors

PPL is the industry body that licenses recorded music on behalf of more than 3,400 record companies.

The chart represents recordings which have not just been broadcast on radio but heard everywhere that music is consumed in public, whether in the high street, on hospital radio, in pubs, on jukeboxes, in clubs and supermarkets, in stadia, in hairdressing salons – literally everywhere.

The Top Ten

1. Procol Harum: A Whiter Shade Of Pale (release date 8.6.67)

2. Queen: Bohemian Rhapsody (29.11.75)

3. Everly Brothers: All I Have To Do Is Dream (4.7.58)

4. Wet Wet Wet: Love Is All Around (4.6.94)

5. Bryan Adams: (Everything I Do) I Do It For You (13.7.91)

6. Robbie Williams: Angels (1.12.97)

7. Elvis Presley: All Shook Up (12.7.57)

8. Abba: Dancing Queen (4.9.76)

9. Perry Como: Magic Moments (28.2.58)

10.Bing Crosby: White Christmas (1.1.42).

Radio 2 Publicity