Ultravox have the last laugh as Vienna is No1

A GRAVE musical wrong has at last been set right.

Three decades ago Ultravox’s classic track Vienna was held off the No1 spot in the charts by an Australian in a tiny pork-pie hat and a mandolin screeching “Shaddap You Face”.

Today, the track written by the Scots singer Midge Ure will be hailed as an honorary chart-topper after being named Britain’s favourite No2 single.

The song triumphed in a national poll by Radio 2 and the Official Charts Company to find the greatest track to miss out narrowly on the top slot.

Vienna, with its moody, dry- ice-filled, black-and-white video, was held off the No1 spot in February 1981, first by John Lennon’s Woman and then for the next three weeks it was by the novelty track written by Joe Dolce.

However, today the ghost of Mr Dolce and his infernal refrain of “whatsa matter you, gotta no respect” will be banished back to the musical hell whence it came, namely Melbourne, and instead the classic hit by Ultravox will be given its due.

The song tops a countdown of the best No2s of all time to be broadcast from 2pm today, featuring the top 40 songs which were a whisker away from the top spot in their own right.

In an ironic twist, the Ultravox song’s triumph left The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl single Fairytale Of New York as the all-time No2 number two. The 1987 Christmas hit was originally held in check by the Pet Shop Boys’ cover of Elvis Presley’s hit Always On My Mind, but the pain of losing out a second time was sweetened by the announcement that Fairytale Of New York has reached one million sales this year, 25 years after it was first released.

The perennial Christmas favourite, a heartfelt tale of festive excess, reached the seven-figure milestone after getting to No12 in the chart, the Official Charts Company said. The song by the band – led by distinctive singer Shane MacGowan – and singer-songwriter McColl, who died in Mexico aged 41 in 2000, has made the festive top 20 every year for eight years.

The poll was launched to celebrate 60 years of the singles chart. DJ Tony Blackburn will list the songs in his three-hour show The Nation’s Favourite Number Two Single. He was among a panel of experts – including Radio 2’s Ken Bruce and Janice Long, Radio 1’s Annie Nightingale, Official Charts Company managing director Martin Talbot and 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq – who compiled a shortlist from 941 singles which have made it to No2. Radio 2 listeners then voted on their favourites.

Yesterday, Midge Ure said: “We are extremely pleased and very humbled to have been given this honorary No1, especially knowing the outstanding records which were also in the running – Strawberry Fields, Hound Dog and Wonderwall to name just a few.

“A huge thanks to everyone who took the time and effort to vote for Vienna. It has restored our faith in the idea that the public will always recognise the good in music, and that this song has proved this.”

Radio 2’s head of music, Jeff Smith, added: “Vienna is a brilliant track; a true classic. It was up against hits by some of the world’s biggest acts – We Are The Champions by Queen, Rocket Man by Elton John and Rolling In The Deep by Adele. The countdown is packed with some amazing songs.”

Among those listed include The Who’s My Generation, which was 12th in the list, Wonderwall by Oasis at 13, Rolling In The Deep at 34 and Rocket Man no higher than 37th.

Mr Talbot, managing director of the Official Charts Company said: “Ultravox’s Vienna … is probably the most apt winner, given the fact that it was kept from the chart summit in 1981 by Joe Dolce’s Shaddup You Face, which has long been considered one of the biggest chart injustices of all time.”