Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars revealed as most-played song of 21st century on UK radio

Radio star: Gary Lightbody performs live with Snow Patrol
Getty Images
Harry Fletcher17 July 2019

Snow Patrol’s Chasing Cars has been revealed as the most-played song on UK radio in the 21st century.

Despite the fact that it never reached number one in the UK singles chart, the 2006 ballad racked up the most radio plays over the last 20 years.

Music licensing body PPL also revealed that Black Eyed Peas’ I Gotta Feeling was the second most popular song on UK radio, followed by Pharrell’s Happy.

Chasing Cars is one of the band's most recognisable songs, but the track only reached number six when it was released in 2006. It became an enduring hit, going on to spend more than three years in the charts.

The Northern Irish band’s frontman Gary Lightbody described the track as “an emotionally open song, and it’s a simple song. But it’s also unabashedly a love song, and we don’t really have any others.”

He added: “The way it unifies an audience is the thing I most cherish about it. It’s a beautiful moment every time you play it.”

The song also experienced a spike in popularity after featuring on an episode of Grey’s Anatomy, helping it reach number five in the US.

The news comes after Snow Patrol were recently forced to cancel their European shows, including their performance at Glastonbury. The band pulled out of their scheduled slot on the Other Stage due to guitarist Johnny McDaid requiring neck surgery.

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