Happy by Pharrell is Most Requested Song for 2023
“Happy” by Pharrell Williams was confirmed as the most requested song of 2023 by patients and staff of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. It tops our chart for a second time – the first being in 2014 – and it’s rapidly becoming a firm request chart favourite having appeared on our chart for 9 of the last 10 years.
The runner-up was the highest ever position for “(Simply) The Best” by Tina Turner. Following her sad death in May last year, there was a rush of requests for the song which has now appeared on our chart 17 times!
In third place was a new entry for a track which was first released way back in 1971. “My Sweet Lord” by George Harrison had never appeared before on our request chart, and in fact George Harrison has never appeared as an artist before. He’s only the second former Beatle to make our chart, following John Lennon, as incredibly Paul McCartney never has done either solo or with Wings.
Finishing fourth was “My Way” by the Frank Sinatra. The old favourite seems destined never to reach our number one spot, having finished second on four occasions, and been in our Top Five no less than 15 times before!
Other classic songs to get their highest ever position this year were “I Want to Break Free” by Queen (6), “Careless Whisper” by George Michael (7), “I‘m Still Standing” by Elton John (9) and “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers (10).
Alan Joyce introduced the countdown on Radio Brockley for the 32nd year in a row, with live posts on X (formerly Twitter) being sent out by Macie Lewis.
MOST REQUESTED SONGS OF 2023
1 (re) HAPPY Pharrell Williams
2 (20) DANCING QUEEN Abba
3 (-) MY SWEET LORD George Harrison
4 (19) MY WAY Frank Sinatra
5 (2) DANCING QUEEN Abba
6 (30) I WANT TO BREAK FREE Queen
7 (re) CARELESS WHISPER George Michael
8 (4) HOTEL CALIFORNIA Eagles
9 (15) I’M STILL STANDING Elton John
10 (-) LOVELY DAY Bill Withers
11 (1) THREE LITTLE BIRDS Bob Marley and the Wailers
12 (5) BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY Queen
13 (12) SWEET CAROLINE Neil Diamond
14 (23) WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD Louis Armstrong
15 (re) PAINT IT, BLACK Rolling Stones
16 (-) THANK YOU Petula Clark
17 (-) AS IT WAS Harry Styles
18 (re) ALBATROSS Fleetwood Mac
19 (re) BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER Simon and Garfunkel
20 (-) CALIFORNIA BREEZE Lil’ Baby