Its haunting organ theme has been a favourite on pub jukeboxes for more than four decades and was the subject of a bitter court case last year. Now A Whiter Shade of Pale has been confirmed as the most-played song in British public places in the past 75 years.

The Procol Harum song, which spent six weeks at the top of the charts during the Summer of Love in 1967, beat Queen’s 1975 hit Bohemian Rhapsody into second place. The Everly Brothers’ All I Have to Do is Dream from 1958 was at No 3.

The chart of 75 songs was published yesterday by PPL, which licenses recorded music on behalf of more than 3,500 record companies, to mark its 75th anniversary. It includes plays on radio, at sports stadiums and on jukeboxes as well as the music heard in lifts and supermarkets.

Appearing in a hit film seems to have been the secret of success in the Nineties. Wet Wet Wet’s Love is All Around — which was featured in Four Weddings and a Funeral and spent 15 weeks at No 1 in 1994 — appears at No 4 in the chart. It is followed by Bryan Adams’s (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, which appeared in the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and spent 16 weeks at the top of the charts in 1991.

Times Archive, 1972: Procol Harum: writing down brave words

'A Whiter Shade of Pale', more than any other pop song, has become the reflection of a period in time

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Gary Brooker, the lead singer of Procol Harum, said yesterday that the news that it had topped the PPL chart was a “great and unsought honour”.

“It isn’t something I could have remotely imagined when I wrote the song and then made that legendary recording with Procol Harum all those years ago,” he said. “Every musician and singer hopes to reach out and communicate to the audience, so it means a great deal that the record has such an indefinable popularity and lasting appeal.”

Brooker won his battle to reclaim full royalty rights to the hit at the Court of Appeal after Matthew Fisher, who played the distinctive organ solo, claimed a share of the money.

The most-played Top Ten has changed little since the chart was last published five years ago. The first new entry is Robbie Williams’s 1997 hit Angels. The former Take That singer also appears at No 16 with Rock DJ and at No 56 with Strong.

Williams shares the highest number of appearances in the chart with the Beatles, who have Hello Goodbye at No 11, Get Back at No 13 and From Me to You at No 51.

Three more hits by former Beatles also featured in the chart: George Harrison’s My Sweet Lord at No 18, John Lennon’s Imagine at No 32, and Paul McCartney’s Mull of Kintyre at No 72.

Other artists with two entries include Elvis Presley, Elton John, the Everly Brothers and John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.

The oldest song is Glenn Miller’s In the Mood from 1939 at No 34 and the most recent is Outkast’s Hey Ya! from 2003 at No 60.

Both of Bing Crosby’s Christmas songs made the chart: White Christmas at No 10 and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town at No 30.

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