The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Radio voters say Sheeran love song’s just Perfect
Listeners list Ed chart-topper as all-time number one – with George Michael, Adele, Abba and Bowie high in the mix
Ed Sheeran’s Perfect has been voted as the number one song of all time in a new radio poll, knocking last year’s charttopper George Michael into second place.
Almost 30,000 votes were cast by Smooth Radio listeners to choose the nation’s All Time Top 500 songs to put the singer-songwriter in pole position in the chart’s five-year history.
Michael topped the list last year with Careless Whisper after booting Imagine by John Lennon from number one after a three-year stranglehold.
Sheeran’s Christmas number one hit Perfect has now been hailed as the nation’s favourite, with Careless Whisper in second place.
Sheeran, 27, said: “With Perfect, I wanted to write the best love song I could that was 100% me, so I’m over the moon that it’s been voted the number one song in Smooth’s poll.”
Perfect spent three weeks at the top of the charts last year.
Michael may be in second place with his beloved saxophone-heavy 1980s hit, but he has been voted the UK’s most popular artist overall with more tracks in the chart than ever before.
The late singer, who died in 2016, has 20 songs in the top 500, including A Different Corner at number three.
Sheeran has two other songs in the top 20 – Thinking Out Loud at number five, and Supermarket Flowers at 17.
According to Smooth listeners, Adele and Whitney Houston are the most popular female artists, each with nine songs.
Three of Adele’s tracks are in the top 20 – Someone Like You, Make You Feel My Love and Hello .
Sir Elton John is the second most popular artist with 18 songs in the chart.
Abba follow with 15 songs, while Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and The Beatles are in joint fourth place with 13 tracks each.