Ed Sheeran’s Perfect is the number one song voted for by Smooth Radio listeners

Smooth Radio’s All Time Top 500 has revealed that Ed Sheeran’s Perfect single is the most popular song by its listeners.

The national station spent the Bank Holiday weekend counting down the chart, which also included Adele and Whitney Houston as the most popular female artists.

Almost 30,000 votes were cast in the countdown.

Taken from Sheeran’s third album ÷, Perfect spent three weeks at the top of the Official Vodafone Big Top 40 last year and was number one in a further 17 countries. Overall, the singer has four songs in Smooth’s poll, three of which are in the top 20, including Thinking Out Loud (number five) and Supermarket Flowers (number 17). The news of Sheeran’s success comes as he lands back in the UK later this month on the European leg of his worldwide tour.

Ed Sheeran 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. The fact that the listeners chose it makes it even more special and I’d like to say a big thank you to them for their support.”

With 20 songs in Smooth’s All Time Top 500 – more than ever before – George Michael has been voted the most popular artist for the second year in a row. Careless Whisper and A Different Corner are at number two and three respectively, down just one place each from last year. Elton John follows Michael with 18 songs in total.

Smooth listeners have voted Adele and Whitney Houston as the most popular female artists. While both have nine songs each in the 2018 poll, three of Adele’s tracks are in the top 20. Someone Like You is her highest-placed song at number nine, followed by Make You Feel My Love (number 12) and Hello (number 14). Houston’s iconic version of I Will Always Love You has reached its highest ever position in the chart’s five-year history, at number four.

With the news that Agnetha, Anni-Frid, Benny and Björn are back in the studio after 35 years to record new material, ABBA has been voted the most popular band of all time with 15 songs, led by Dancing Queenat number six – its highest ever position.

It’s been another massive year for British music, with 87 artists from the UK featured in Smooth’s All Time Top 500, including Sam Smith, Ellie Goulding, Take That and Robbie Williams, whose Angels is in this year’s top 10 at number seven.

Smooth presenter Kate Garraway said: “It has been a phenomenal twelve months for Ed Sheeran – one of the most popular, down-to-earth and successful music artists in the world today. From the time I first met him years ago, it was obvious that he was a legend in the making and even though he’s gone on to conquer the world, he’s still the same lovely bloke as he was back then. Our listeners love him – and to seePerfect topping Smooth’s All Time Top 500 is testament to the superstar that he is. And from Ed to George Michael and Adele, our poll proves that Britain continues to lead the world in music-making.”

Smooth is available across the UK on 97-108 FM, on DAB digital radio and TV, the Smooth app, at SmoothRadio.com and on the Global Player.