Radiohead: The band are critically acclaimed

The Beatles and Radiohead go head to head with two albums apiece in the top four, which will be published as part of the latest edition of the Virgin All Time Top 1,000 Albums.

The fab four polled more than twice as many votes in total as any other pop act but in the seven years since the poll was started Radiohead have risen greatly in popularity.

Author Colin Larkin said: "I think we've been searching for many years to look for a proper legitimate replacement to the dinosaur bands.

"I think it's Radiohead who have done it right and followed on from those giants like The Beatles, REM and Pink Floyd, moving into that status of bands who will last the course. They haven't really put a foot wrong."

Top 10 albums

1 Revolver - The Beatles 2 The Bends - Radiohead 3 Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles 4 OK Computer - Radiohead 5 The White Album - The Beatles 6 Automatic for the People - REM 7 Blood on the Tracks - Bob Dylan 8 Abbey Road - The Beatles 9 Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd 10 The Queen is Dead - The Smiths

The poll has become widely-recognised as an accurate barometer of musical taste and as a guide to which bands are maintaining their importance and which are failing.

The founders of Britpop, Blur and Oasis, fare badly in the poll - Oasis plunge from 36 to 459 for their Be Here Now release and Blur's Parklife album drops 60 places to 95.

The influence of the 1960s and 1970s remains as strong as ever.

Artists such as Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Van Morrison and the Beach Boys all figure in the Top 20 of the survey.

Musical fashion is represented also - the biggest bands of 1999, Stereophonics and Travis, both have albums figuring in the Top 100.

Oasis: The band's musical importance seems to be falling

The poll will boost publicity ahead of the release of Radiohead's new album Kid A, out in October.

The band have a curiously non-rock and roll background, having met in an Oxfordshire public school.

They formed in 1991, taking their name from a Talking Heads' song.

The highest ranking American album is REM's Automatic for the People at number six.

Joni Mitchell is the highest-ranking female singer at number 24 with her album Blue.