Dynamic Spanish car maker SEAT is lifting the lid on the ‘must-have’ tunes of today’s MP3 generation with a list of digital music fans’ 50 favourite songs.
The catalogue of classics includes a diverse mix of musical genres including everything from Queen (whose Bohemian Rhapsody is on 42% of all MP3s) to Katy Perry and The Verve to Blondie.
Other bands to feature include Maroon 5 and the Rolling Stones. The list contains tracks recorded over almost 50 years – from way back in 1968 to as recently as last year.
Extensive research commissioned by SEAT scoured music forums and websites to compile a list of more than 600 songs from which people could select their must-have favourites.
The catalogue of tracks was then broken up into 25 separate questions and respondents were asked to select all the songs they had on their iPod.
The study also finds that the car is the most popular place for us to enjoy our digital tunes with 38% of those questioned citing their vehicle as their top listening spot. SEAT’s research also reveals that the average Brit listens to music for two hours a day, with the living room (14%) and bedroom (11%) other popular places to crank up the volume.
The SEAT Top 50 is dominated by tracks from The Beatles – with All You Need Is Love, Hey Jude, A Hard Day’s Night and Let It Be all making the grade.
Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and We Will Rock You as well as Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance and Poker Face also feature.
Popular artists include The Killers with Mr Brightside and All The Things That I’ve Done and Coldplay with Yellow, Clocks and Viva la Vida.
Otis Redding’s 1968 hit (Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay has found its way onto millions of people’s iPods, as has Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and Amy Winehouse’s Rehab.
Other songs put forward include Use Somebody by Kings of Leon, The Eagles’ hit Hotel California and Abba’s Dancing Queen.
Elton John’s Your Song and Don McLean’s American Pie are also listened to on a regular basis by millions of MP3 users.
The study finds all of the 4,000 music fans polled had on average 15 of the tunes on their iPods or MP3 players.
Eddy Lawrence, music editor of Time Out magazine, said: ‘It’s a funny thought that Bohemian Rhapsody, a track that Freddie Mercury almost scrapped in its early stages of development, has topped the poll.
‘So many of these songs have successfully made the transition from vinyl classics to MP3 classics.
‘It’s also interesting to see how varied the genres on the list are, going from classic rock to retro soul to grunge, which reveals how diverse listeners’ tastes are in the MP3 era.
‘It also goes to show that a good tune, however old or loud the original recording, will always find a new audience.’
The survey reveals that a third of respondents (34%) are in agreement that the 1980’s produced the best music.
Rock (32%) marginally beats Pop (28%) as our favourite genre of music found on the nation’s collective MP3 player.
The research was carried out by SEAT ahead of the return to Channel 4 of the Spanish brand’s On Track With music shows. The second series of the compelling music specials airs on Channel 4 from next week (Wednesday 28 September).
Each week, artists including the Kaiser Chiefs, Friendly Fires, Manic Street Preachers, James Morrison and Katy B will get just one chance to record their tracks direct to vinyl at London’s famous Metropolis Studios.
Every showcase will also see the artists record a unique cover version as part of their set.
10,000 copies of each track will then be made available as a free download from
