Richard Branson picks his three favourite songs for our Top 500 Countdown

Virgin Radio

24 Mar 2023, 16:19

Richard Branson has revealed his top three favourite songs for our Top 500 Countdown.

This Easter Virgin Radio UK will be bringing you with a countdown of the best 500 songs ever, but we need some help to put it together. So, we’ve been asking you, Virgin Radio listeners, to vote on the songs you think deserve a place on the countdown.

>> VOTE FOR THE MUSIC YOU LOVE HERE << 

For some extra help, we decided to ask Sir Richard Branson himself who picked out the three songs he thinks should feature in the top 500 when chatting to Jayne Middlemiss on Virgin Radio UK today.

Here is what he had to say.

Tubular Bells, Mike Oldfield

First on Richard’s list is the 1973 hit that you will probably be recognised from the horror movie The Exorcist and actually marked the beginning of Virgin Records

He explained: “Mike came to us when he was about 15 years old, I was about 17 or 18 years old, and he had a tape that was beautiful and we took it around seven other record companies, nobody wants to sign him. So, we thought screw it, we got to put this out and we formed a little record company to put it out.

“On the back of that. We found lots of great bands and and became I think the main independent record label in the world.”

Don’t You Forget About Me, Simple Minds

Next up is the 1985 hit from Simple Minds that coincidentally also featured in a hit move, The Breakfast Club.

Speaking about the track, Richard said: “They were a Glaswegian band and my wonderful wife is from Glasgow. We were all young. They were unknown band. We saw them in I saw them in a club. We signed them up.

“They're just delightful people and they write great songs. They're great musicians and they're still playing all these years later”.

Karma Chameleon, Culture Club

The third and final choice from Branston is this classic from Culture Club, who he has a long history with.

He recalled: I remember going to some a club called the 100. Club. Yes, on Oxford Street in London and seeing this extraordinary young man, he looked great. He's sang beautifully, he dressed beautifully, he had tremendous personality and that was Boy George.”

Richard continued: “He’s remained a friend over all this time.”

Listen to Jayne Middlemiss on Virgin Radio UK weekdays at 1pm to 4pm. Listen to Virgin Radio UK from Wednesday 5th April 2023 and over Easter to hear the Top 500 Countdown, which will finish on The Graham Norton Radio Show with Waitrose (09:30-12:30) on Easter Sunday!