In 1999 BBC Radio 2, used a combination of listener
votes, expert opinion and sales figures to determine
the closing millennium's best song - it was the
Beatles' Yesterday





BBC News wrote,

the poll concentrates on individual songs rather than
different artists' versions of them, and lists entries by
songwriter rather than performer. Written in 1965,
Yesterday is the most covered song of all time,
with more than 2,000 different versions . . . Link


The top 10 in BBC Radio 2's list of the 20th century's
best songs were:

1. Yesterday (Lennon/McCartney) 1965
2. Stardust (music: Carmichael/ words: Parrish) 1929
3. Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon) 1970
4. White Christmas (Berlin) 1942
5. Unchained Melody (m. North/w. Zaret) 1955
6. Imagine (Lennon) 1971
7. My Way (m. Francois/Revaux/Thibuat/w. Anka) 1969
8. Summertime (m. Gershwin/w. Heyward) 1935
9. Over The Rainbow (m. Arlen/ w. Harburg) 1939
10. As Time Goes By (Hupfeld) 1931