A Night At The Opera was Queen's first number one album

The 1975 LP, which featured Bohemian Rhapsody, topped a poll for Virgin Radio.

The Beach Boys album Pet Sounds was runner-up in the list, compiled from 3,500 votes, with Oasis's biggest seller (What's The Story) Morning Glory? at number three.

Sting's album Ten Summoner's Tales proved the most unpopular with listeners, finishing in 50th position and attracting just two votes.

Top 10 1. A Night At The Opera - Queen 2. Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys 3. (What's The Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis 4. The Joshua Tree - U2 5. Nevermind - Nirvana 6. By The Way - Red Hot Chili Peppers 7. Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd 8. Bat Out Of Hell - Meat Loaf 9. Revolver - The Beatles 10. Automatic For The People - REM

The Beatles highest entry was at number nine, with Revolver.

That came in a place below Meat Loaf's rock epic Bat Out Of Hell.

Virgin DJ Daryl Denham featured the countdown on his show on Tuesday after profiling his shortlist of "50 albums you really should own" over the past few weeks.

Listeners were asked to rank them in order of preference.

A Night At The Opera was Queen's first number one album and the release which gave the band their biggest break.

"The Beatles' stranglehold on these polls seems to have been broken but you can't complain about the albums that beat them," said Denham.