LONDON, UK (Top40 Charts) Ultravox's 1981 hit Vienna has been voted the nation's favourite number two single! The song topped the poll by BBC
Radio 2 and the Official Charts Company to find the greatest track to miss out on the number one spot.
Vienna was held off by novelty track Shaddup You Face by Joe Dolce.
The poll was launched to celebrate 60 years of the singles chart. DJ Tony Blackburn will list the songs in his three-hour show The Nation's Favourite Number Two Single. He was among a panel of experts - including
Radio 2's Ken Bruce and Janice Long,
Radio 1's
Annie Nightingale, Official Charts Company managing director
Martin Talbot and 6 Music's Steve Lamacq - who compiled a shortlist from 941 singles which have made it to number two.
Radio 2 listeners then voted.
Ultravox frontman Midge Ure said: "We are extremely pleased and very humbled to have been given this honorary number one, especially knowing the outstanding records which were also in the running - Strawberry Fields, Hound Dog and
Wonderwall to name just a few.
A huge thanks to everyone who took the time and effort to vote for Vienna. It has restored our faith in the idea that the public will always recognise the good in music, and that this song has proved this."
Radio 2's head of music Jeff Smith said: "Vienna is a brilliant track; a true classic. It was up against hits by some of the world's biggest acts - We Are The Champions by Queen, Rocket Man by
Elton John and Rolling In The Deep by Adele. The countdown is packed with some amazing songs."
Mr Talbot said: "Ultravox's Vienna has beaten off some truly great, classic tracks to claim the title of the UK public's favourite number two single - including
Fairytale Of New York, Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields, My Generation, Waterloo Sunset and many more. It is also probably the most apt winner, given the fact that it was kept from the chart summit in 1981 by Joe Dolce's Shaddup You Face, which has long been considered one of the biggest chart injustices of all time.
To mark the 60th anniversary of the Official Singles Chart in 2012, we are delighted to declare it as an honorary official number one single."
Christmas favourite
Fairytale of New York by
The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl was voted into second place.
The Who's My Generation was 12th in the list,
Wonderwall by
Oasis finished at 13, Rolling In The Deep was at 34 and Rocket Man was at 37.
TOP 10 NUMBER TWOS:
1. Ultravox - Vienna, 1981 (beaten by Shaddup You Face - Joe Dolce)
2.
The Pogues ft. Kirsty MacColl -
Fairytale Of New York, 1987 (Always On My Mind - Pet Shop Boys)
3.
Don McLean - American Pie, 1972 (Son Of My Father - Chicory Tip, Without You - Nilsson)
4.
James - Sit Down, 1991 (The One And Only - Chesney Hawkes)
5. The
Stranglers - Golden Brown, 1982 (Town Called Malice - The Jam)
6. The Kinks - Waterloo Sunset, 1967 (Silence Is Golden, The Tremeloes)
7. The
Beatles - Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever, 1967 (Release Me, Engelbert Humperdinck)
8.
Queen - We Are The Champions, 1977 (The Name Of
The Game - Abba, Mull Of Kintyre/Girls' School - Wings)
9. The
Beach Boys - God Only Knows, 1966 (Yellow Submarine/Eleanor
Rigby - The Beatles)
10. A-ha - Take On Me, 1985 (The Power Of Love, Jennifer Rush)
