Queen Top Annual Request Chart for 4th Year in a Row

Queen became the first act ever to top our annual request chart for a fourth year in a row, being confirmed as the most requested artist of 2023 by patients and staff at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital. We played over 2,000 requests in 2023 – the highest total since 2018 – and Queen once again led the way, topping our annual chart for the fifth time in total (1992, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023). They have been on our annual chart every year since 1990, and have never missed our Top 20 in that time. They overtake the record of Robbie Williams for the most consecutive years at the top. They also overtake Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra for the most number of times at number one (each have four).

Ed Sheeran finished in second place for the third year running, becoming the first artist to ever finish runner-up for three consecutive years. He topped our chart in 2015 and 2017.

Abba remained in the same position at No.3, matching their best ever position, and making it 31 consecutive years in our annual Top 40.

Elvis Presley completed an unchanged top four for the first time in history. He’s been our annual number one three times before (2005, 2018 and 2019). He hasn’t missed our Top 10 since 2012, and hasn’t missed the Top 20 since 1992.

The Beatles rounded off the top five by climbing a place from last year, following the return of Beatlemania and a return to the top of the UK charts in 2023.

Elsewhere in the Top 10, Tina Turner (6) and Fleetwood Mac (7) registered their highest ever positions. Tina Turner passed away in May last year, and has become a request chart favourite.

Taylor Swift was the year’s biggest climber, up 24 places to Number 11, and marking her highest position since 2015. The highest new entry was from Harry Styles at Number 18 – having never previously appeared as a solo artist before.

There were also posthumous first-time appearances from three artists on the chart – George Harrison (21), The Pogues (38) and Dusty Springfield (39).

The chart was announced on Radio Brockley by Alan Joyce for his 32nd year in a row, and live posts on X (formerly Twitter) were sent out by Macie Lewis. Here’s the full Top 20.

MOST REQUESTED ARTISTS OF 2023
1     (1)   Queen
2     (2)   Ed Sheeran
3     (3)   Abba
4     (4)   Elvis Presley
5     (6)   The Beatles
6    (21)  Tina Turner
7    (15)  Fleetwood Mac
8    (re)   George Michael
9     (5)   Elton John
10  (22)  Frank Sinatra
11  (35)  Taylor Swift
12  (re)   Pharrell Williams
13   (7)   Remmy Williams
14   (9)   Bob Marley and the Wailers
15  (13)  Rolling Stones
16  (28)  Adele
17  (re)   UB40
18   (-)   Harry Styles
19  (12)  Diana Ross
20  (25)  Eagles