Britain's ultimate group has finally been crowned - and it might not come as a surprise

Hundreds of thousands of votes have been cast by Radio 2 listeners and will provide countdown for new show Your Ultimate British Group

Radio 2 listeners have crowned their favourite British band - with an unsurprising fab four taking the number one spot in the Your Ultimate British Group poll.

The vote gave listeners the opportunity to pick their five favourite groups to mark the annual all-day musical celebration of National Album Day on Saturday October 19. And hundreds of thousands of votes were cast by music fans. Perhaps unsurprisingly, The Beatles ended up coming out on top. In the No.2 spot is Queen, No. 3 is The Rolling Stones, No. 4 is Pink Floyd and No. 5 is Fleetwood Mac. Others in the top 30 include Oasis, The Kinks, Duran Duran, Girls Aloud and The Who.

A star-studded panel, including Radio 2 presenters, Jo Whiley, Sara Cox, OJ Borg, Vernon Kay, Scott Mills, Trevor Nelson, DJ Spoony, and Owain Wyn Evans had voted from a long list of nearly 100 bands to produce a final list of 54, which spans the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s and 10s.

The list was compiled from the timeless melodic music that is played on Radio 2 and the Most Successful British Groups on the Official Albums Chart. A British group is any band of 2+ members that is made-up wholly or the majority are people who were born, live or hold British citizenship. The chairman of the selection panel is Radio 2 and 6 Music’s Head of Music, Jeff Smith, who is also the chairman of the Mercury Prize judging panel.

Jeff Smith, Head of Music for Radio 2 said: "We have absolutely loved seeing the Radio 2 listeners cast hundreds of thousands of votes for their Ultimate British Group, and this Top 30 chart reflects some of music’s biggest selling, most loved and established British artists who have achieved incredible success globally across the decades."

The full Top 30 chart is below and a run down featuring their music is available to hear now on BBC Sounds, presented by Mark Goodier, as part of a National Album Day Collection. Mark Goodier said: “Radio 2 listeners have chosen their best of the best British world-beating groups. I can’t wait to count down this chart. It promises to be quite a listen!”

* Your Ultimate British Group is available now on BBC Sounds and will be played on BBC Radio 2 1-3pm on Saturday October 19.

The full chart is:

1 The Beatles

2 Queen

3 The Rolling Stones

4 Pink Floyd

5 Fleetwood Mac

6 Led Zeppelin

7 Take That

8 Coldplay

9 Oasis

10 Electric Light Orchestra

11 The Who

12 Depeche Mode

13 The Jam

14 Radiohead

15 The Smiths

16 Genesis

17 Pet Shop Boys

18 The Cure

19 Duran Duran

20 Madness

21 Girls Aloud

22 The Beautiful South

23 The Kinks

24 Bee Gees

25 Wham!

26 The Clash

27 Blur

28 Spice Girls

29 The Police

30 Manic Street Preachers

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