Radio Times: Review by:; Jack Seale

Mark Radcliffe counts down the ten most successful songs of all time, in terms of money earned — so that’s cover versions, re-releases and licensing for adverts and movies, as well as record sales by the original artist. This makes for a great guessing game. Most of the bestselling singles aren’t there; an American act that isn’t Michael Jackson has two entries, and if you predict the number one you can award yourself a small prize.

It’s a slightly low-budget presentation, with a limited roster of talking heads: music hack David Hepworth should really push to have his name included in the title. But on top of the list, the chat and the clips are great tales of the day a classic song was composed, as well as juicy facts about how royalties are divvied up.

About this programme

Mark Radcliffe presents a countdown of the 10 songs that have earned the most money of all time, along with the stories behind them. He also explains how music royalties work and reveals the biggest winners and losers in the history of popular music.