Iron Maiden’s ‘Number Of The Beast’ has topped a month long HMV jubilee poll to find the greatest musical releases of the sixty years of the Queen’s reign.
Electronic pop wusses Depeche Mode took second place with ‘Violator’, while the Beatles’ ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ came in at number three.
The 1982 album – Maiden’s third – has sold more than 14million copies worldwide and includes classics such as ‘Run To The Hills’, ’22 Acacia Avenue’, ‘Hallowed Be Thy Name’, ‘Children Of The Damned’ and the definitive title track.
It also marked the debut of singer Bruce Dickinson who said he was “astonished and delighted” to top the poll, which received more than 30,000 votes.
‘The Number Of The Beast’ topped the album poll with a 9.2% share of the total albums vote.
Bruce said: “We’re astonished and delighted to hear ‘The Number Of The Beast’ has been named No.1 in HMV’s Diamond Jubilee survey for the greatest British album category. Some of the most influential and classic albums from the past 60 years were in the running so it’s a testament to our incredibly loyal and ever-supportive fans who voted for us. Iron Maiden is a proudly British band, so to win this category as voted for by the British public, in Jubilee year, is very special. Thank you to all our wonderful fans!”
HMV’s Gennaro Castaldo, commented: “You often tend to see the same artists and albums dominate album polls, but with social media increasingly giving the most ardent and passionate fans a powerful voice, I think that’s all going to change, and so it’s no surprise that Iron Maiden have come out on top as their fans are renowned for being the most loyal and dedicated around. Congratulations to Iron Maiden – we now know The Number Of The Beast is, in fact, ….1.
“The beginning of Elizabeth II’s reign, and the bright new future it represented, didn’t just coincide with a flowering of British popular culture, it helped to provide the very spark that lit the touch-paper for an explosion in music and film talent. Since then, the Queen has presided over the richest period of cultural achievement in our nation’s history, so it’s only right that her Diamond Jubilee, which ironically also encapsulates sixty years of the official charts, should be a period when we reflect on the greatest British albums and films of the past six decades.”
The top 60 albums of the last 60 years:
1. Iron Maiden: The Number of the Beast (9.18%)
2. Depeche Mode: Violator (6.30%)
3. The Beatles: Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (5.69)
4. The Beatles: Abbey Road (5.67%)
5. Pink Floyd: The Dark Side of the Moon (5.23%)
6. The Beatles: Revolver (4.01%)
7. Queen: A Night at the Opera (3.98%)
8. Oasis: (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? (3.91%)
9. Adele: 21 (3.07%)
10. The Beatles: White Album (2.60%)
11. Led Zeppelin: IV (2.50%)
12. The Beatles: Rubber Soul (2.49%)
13. The Clash: London Calling (2.48%)
14. David Bowie: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (2.38%)
15. The Smiths: The Queen is Dead (2.25%)
16. Black Sabbath: Black Sabbath (2.16%)
17. Radiohead: OK Computer (1.99%)
18. Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (1.99%)
19. Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (1.89%)
20. Oasis: Definitely Maybe (1.72%)
21. Take That: Beautiful World (1.66%)
22. Led Zeppelin: II (1.48%)
23. Elbow: Seldom Seen Kid (1.44%)
24. The Who: Who’s Next (1.38%)
25. Coldplay: Parachutes (1.31%)
26. Sex Pistols: Never Mind the Bollocks (1.30%)
27. Muse: Origin of Symmetry (1.25%)
28. Amy Winehouse: Back to Black (1.23%)
29. Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (1.20%)
30. The Stone Roses: The Stone Roses (1.14%)
31. David Bowie: Hunky Dory
32. The Cure: Disintegration
33. My Bloody Valentine: Loveless
34. Arctic Monkeys: Whatever People Say I Am…
35. Pulp: Different Class
36. Mumford And Sons: Sigh No More
37. Blur: Parklife
38. Florence And The Machine: Lungs
39. The Prodigy: Fat of the Land
40. The Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street
41. Kate Bush: Hounds of Love
42. Radiohead: Kid A
43. The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers
44. Portishead: Dummy
45. The Rolling Stones: Let it Bleed
46. The Specials: The Specials
47. Kasabian: Kasabian
48. Manic Street Preachers: The Holy Bible
49. Tinie Tempah: Disc-overy
50. Stereophonics: Word Gets Around
51. Massive Attack: Blue Lines
52. Primal Scream: Screamadelica
53. Dusty Springfield: Dusty in Memphis
54. Aphex Twin: Selected Ambient Works
55. Blur: Modern Life is Rubbish
56. The Streets: Original Pirate Material
57. PJ Harvey: Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
58. Dizzee Rascal: Boy in da Corner
59. Teenage Fanclub: Bandwagonesque
60. Roots Manuva: Run Come Save Me
