The top 40 favourite Elvis singles as voted for by Radio 2 listeners are announced
Published: January 1, 2025 — Radio 2 announces that Suspicious Minds is the nation’s favourite Elvis Presley song. It takes the Number 1 spot in Your Ultimate Elvis Song, the Top 40 chart of single releases by Elvis as voted for by the station’s listeners – with over 100 000 votes cast – to mark what would have been his 90th birthday on 8th January 2025.
Hosted by Vernon Kay, Your Ultimate Elvis Song is broadcast on Radio 2 from 3-5pm and on BBC Sounds on New Year’s Day, and also features some special words for the listeners from Priscilla Presley who introduces the Number 1 track. In the Number 2 spot is In The Ghetto, Number 3 is If I Can Dream, Number 4 is Always On My Mind and Number 5 is Can’t Help Falling In Love. The full Top 40 chart is listed below.
For the vote, which launched in November in Vernon’s mid-morning show (9.30am-12 noon) – the UK’s most listened to radio programme with 6.8m weekly listeners (RAJAR Q3 2024) – and closed on 13th December, listeners were asked to select up to five of their favourite tracks from Elvis’s 90 Top 20 UK hits. In Your Ultimate Elvis Song, Vernon counts down the listeners’ Top 40 chart and reveals more extraordinary facts and stats and behind-the-scenes insights from BBC Archive interview clips with Elvis himself.
Vernon says: “The King has earned another crown! Radio 2 listeners have had their say and I couldn’t be happier with their favourite hit, and to have it introduced by Priscilla Presley is such an honour. I’m a huge Elvis fan so I can’t wait to bring you two hours of the very best from his incredible catalogue of unforgettable songs.”
In the show, Priscilla Presley, says: “Hello everyone this is Priscilla Presley, and I want to thank you. To everyone who has voted and shown this outpouring of love ahead of such a special anniversary, it’s wonderful knowing just how much Elvis’ music means to you all and that he lives on through the beautiful memories that remind you of him and his amazing career, and I send you all my love. To pick out one track from his vast catalogue is such a big decision. But between you, that’s what you’ve done. So let’s play Your Ultimate Elvis Song.”
Helen Thomas, Head of Radio 2, says: “We love to showcase the broad musical tastes of our listeners at Radio 2 and, as more than a hundred thousand votes have been cast, the enduring appeal of Elvis’ music, decades after he first serenaded his way into our hearts in the 1950s, is more than proved. These seminal songs have crossed through to new generations ever since, and I’m looking forward to tuning in on New Year’s Day.”
Elvis is also celebrated on the station on New Year’s Day with Elvis Presley, My King (7-8pm) presented by the host of the Radio 2 Blues Show, Cerys Matthews, and When Wales Welcomes The King (8-9pm), presented by Radio 2’s weekday early breakfast presenter, Owain Wyn Evans – further details below. All the programmes are available on BBC Sounds from New Year’s Day in a new Radio 2 Celebrates Elvis collection which includes Johnnie Walker Meets Priscilla Presley (first broadcast in 2015) where Priscilla talks about her life with one of the world’s greatest figures and the love of her life. Highlights include her childhood, their first meeting in Germany, Elvis’ love of gospel and opera, his career and the ’68 comeback special
There is also an Elvis Night on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer (Saturday 4th January 2025) featuring Elvis Presley: ’68 Comeback Special (8.20pm), Jailhouse Rock (9.35pm), Tales Of Rock And Roll: Heartbreak Hotel (11.10pm), and …Sings Elvis (11.45pm).
The Top 40 favourite Elvis singles as voted for by Radio 2 listeners are:
Suspicious Minds
In The Ghetto
If I Can Dream
Always On My Mind
Can’t Help Falling In Love
The Wonder Of You
An American Trilogy
Burning Love
I Just Can’t Help Believin’
Jailhouse Rock
Love Me Tender
A Little Less Conversation (Elvis vs JXL)
Are You Lonesome Tonight?
Viva Las Vegas
Hound Dog
Return To Sender
(You’re The) Devil In Disguise
Wooden Heart
Heartbreak Hotel
(Marie’s The Name) His Latest Flame
It’s Now Or Never
The Girl Of My Best Friend
Blue Suede Shoes
All Shook Up
Way Down
Guitar Man
That’s All Right
Blue Christmas
Crying In The Chapel
Don’t Cry Daddy
King Creole
You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me
Suspicion
(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear
Moody Blue
One Night
Don’t (with The Jordinaires)
Such A Night
She’s Not You
Promised Land
In Cerys Matthews: Elvis Presley, My King (7-8pm), lifelong Elvis fan Cerys delves deep into her memories of growing up in Wales and reveals how Elvis’ music, films and performances influenced her own artistry. She recalls the impact of hearing about Elvis’ death in 1977 and, although just a little girl and not yet fully aware of his legacy, she still understood the loss, scale and cultural impact of this event, and from there on her fascination started. Already interested in the blues, Elvis’ sound and background were hugely appealing and would inspire Cerys to buy his sheet music and learn his songs for the guitar. Further exposure would come through hearing Elvis impersonators in local pubs in South Wales, through her Auntie Jean playing Love Me Tender on her piano, seeing his movies and performances on the television, and notably his legendary ‘68 Comeback Special. Later in life, she would make her own pilgrimage to Nashville and Tennessee, tracing the humble beginnings and rise to fame of the man who would become the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. This programme is a fascinating and captivating detailed insight into how Elvis’ legacy has lived on, as told through Cerys’ personal viewpoint. A Mostest production.
Cerys said: “Elvis… I was hooked immediately! My earliest memories include a mass gathering around a farm piano blasting out Suspicious Minds and Hound Dog. His repertoire is a rich seam of blues, hillbilly, rock ‘n’ roll and so much more. I’ve done the Nashville to Graceland, Memphis, trip more times than I can remember and my son’s middle name is Tupelo. Am I a fan? I reckon so!”
Owain Wyn Evans continues the network’s celebration of Elvis presenting When Wales Welcomes The King (8-9pm). In the small seaside town of Porthcawl in South Wales, Elvis’ legacy has taken on a life of its own. Every year in September, tens of thousands of fans and Elvis Tribute Acts (ETAs) descend on the town, donning jumpsuits, wigs and sideburns to keep the legend’s spirit alive. Owain visits the Porthcawl Elvis Festival where ETAs from Portugal, Canada and even Australia have travelled to perform and where fans have come to pay tribute to the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Discussing everything from his blues, country and gospel periods, to his infamous comeback and iconic Vegas shows, this is a fans’ love letter to Elvis. A Bengo Media Production.
Owain said: “The King of Rock and Roll gave the world hit after hit and I absolutely loved celebrating so many of these songs in one of the most iconic Elvis locations on the globe…. Porthcawl! From world-leading Elvis Tribute Acts to stories of why The King means so much to us, the fans, the Elvis Festival in the Porthcawl is the place to be. Come and celebrate with us on BBC Radio 2.”
BBC Radio 2 is the UK’s most listened to radio station, with a weekly audience of 13.3 million (RAJAR Q3, 2024) and The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show was the most listened to Breakfast show in the UK with 6.3 million listeners (RAJAR Q3, 2024) – Scott Mills will be the new Radio 2 Breakfast Show host. The network’s presenters include Michael Ball, Zoe Ball, Rob Beckett, Tony Blackburn, OJ Borg, Revd. Kate Bottley, Rylan, Fearne Cotton, Sara Cox, Jamie Cullum, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Gary Davies, Paul Gambaccini, Mark Goodier, Angela Griffin, Bob Harris, Vernon Kay, Shaun Keaveny, Cerys Matthews, Paddy McGuinness, Scott Mills, Jason Mohammad, Trevor Nelson, Dermot O’Leary, Elaine Paige, Mark Radcliffe, Romesh Ranganathan, DJ Spoony, Liza Tarbuck, Jeremy Vine, Michelle Visage, Jo Whiley, Phil Williams and Owain Wyn Evans.
At the 2024 Audio and Radio Industry Awards, also known as the ARIAs, Scott Mills won Gold for the Best Music Entertainment Show, 21st Century Folk won Gold for the Best Music Special, Windrush 75 won Gold for Best Coverage of an Event, and The Zoe Ball Breakfast Show won Bronze for the Best Music Breakfast Show. Plus, Cerys Matthews won the Best Blues Broadcaster Award for the third time at the annual UK Blues Awards so she has now been elected into the UK Blues Hall Of Fame.
Source
BBC Radio 2
