Queen have come top in a worldwide poll to find the greatest song ever written – but UK music fans reckon Michael Jackson deserves the honour - and more besides.
A new poll has been conducted in 66 different countries and translated into 20 languages, and the individual results were aggregated to discover the global list of favourites.
Queen beat Britney Spears’ ‘Toxic’ to second place in the global poll, but in the UK version, Michael Jackson’s ‘Billie Jean’ was the top of a list includes no fewer than six other tracks by Jackson.
The global top ten songs were:
1. ‘We Are The Champions’ – Queen
2. ‘Toxic’ – Britney Spears
3. ‘Billie Jean’ – Michael Jackson
4. ‘Hotel California’ – The Eagles
5. ‘La Tortura’ – Shakira
6. ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ - Nirvana
7. ‘Yesterday’ – The Beatles
8. ‘One’ – U2
9. ‘Imagine’ – John Lennon
10. ‘Sultans Of Swing’ – Dire Straits
Meanwhile, British voters had different ideas entirely:
1. ‘Billie Jean’ – Michael Jackson
2. ‘Thriller’ – Michael Jackson
3. ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ – Queen
4. ‘Beat It’ – Michael Jackson
5. ‘Angels’ – Robbie Williams
6. ‘Smooth Criminal’ – Michael Jackson
7. ‘We’ve Had Enough’ – Michael Jackson
8. ‘Black Or White’ – Michael Jackson
9. ‘You Rock My World’ – Michael Jackson
10. ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ – Guns’n’Roses
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