Frank Sinatra is at number three

It is said he took the record off while it was playing on the show after reading the lyrics printed on the record's sleeve.

Read's personal ban was followed by the rest of Radio 1 and Top Of The Pops, and Relax rocketed to number one. It also rose back up the charts to number two in July when its follow-up, Two Tribes, was at number one.

The Beatles are second with 1963's She Loves You, and Frank Sinatra's My Way - which only reached number five - was third. The song had three spells in the charts between 1969 and 1971.

Crooner Jim Reeves' I Love You Because - a hit in 1964 and 1971 - was fourth, and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody came fifth, after having two spells at number one in 1975 and 1991.

Ballads from the early 1990s also feature in the top ten, with Bryan Adams' (Every Thing I Do) I Do It For You - which spent 16 weeks at number one in 1991 - at number five, closely followed by Wet Wet Wet's Love Is All Around (15 weeks at the top in 1994) at six. Celine Dion's Think Twice, from 1994, is tenth.

Recent acts struggle

Although veteran acts such as Jim Reeves and Englebert Humperdinck get two and three entries in the top 40, more recent acts struggle to make an impression.

Country star LeAnn Rimes' How Do I Live is at 27th after its 1998 chart run, and All Saints' Never Ever is a place below. Steps' 1998 cover of Tragedy is in 30th place.

Bryan Adams' 16 weeks at number one has not been beaten

The chart was calculated by using all the top 40 countdowns on Top of The Pops since it began in 1964 to the present day.

Each track took one point for a number 40 placing, up to 40 points for a number one placing. Those that stay high and stay the longest perfom the best.

The chart marks the launch of BBC Two's Top of The Pops Plus, a music news and gossip show which replaces The O-Zone on Sundays from this weekend.

The first show features Blur talking exclusively about their new internet radio station, which will plug the launch of their "best of" album this month.

Click here to see the full Top of the Pops Top 40 chart.