Frank Sinatra knocked off the top of the funeral song charts
Captain Sir Tom Moore has knocked Frank Sinatra off the top of the funeral music charts, with You'll Never Walk Alone becoming the most popular song played at memorial services in 2021.
Sinatra's My Way had previously been the song most requested for funerals in the UK, according to Co-op’s Funeral Music Charts.
But this year has seen a new entry knock it off the Number 1 spot: You'll Never Walk Alone by Gerry and the Pacemakers.
The Liverpool FC anthem captured the nation's hearts again in April 2020 when Captain Sir Tom Moore released his own version of the 60s hit along with Michael Ball and The NHS Voices Of care Choir, in aid of the NHS.
Captain Sir Tom died aged 100 in February this year, having become a national hero during the coronavirus pandemic for his fundraising efforts for the NHS during lockdown.
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His daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore said: “My father loved the song You’ll Never Walk Alone because, just like him, it was full of hope. Right up until his passing, his priority was always to make sure that no-one should feel alone or helpless no matter their age or life circumstance, and that’s one of the reasons he started to walk his laps of our garden last year.
"That’s what a powerful song can do as well, which is why I’m comforted to know that my father’s collaboration with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir is continuing his legacy of hope at funerals across the UK when families and loved one’s face loss and grief, a feeling that my family knows only too well over the past year.”
Co-Ops Funeral Music Chart 2021 (Position compared to 2019)
You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry And The Pacemakers (New entry)
My Way - Frank Sinatra (Down 1 place)
Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life - Eric Idle (Up 7 places)
Simply The Best - Tina Turner (New entry)
Supermarket Flowers - Ed Sheeran (Up 1 place)
Time To Say Goodbye - Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman (Down 4 places)
The Chain - Fleetwood Mac (New entry)
Over The Rainbow - Eva Cassidy (Down 5 places)
We’ll Meet Again - Vera Lynn (Non mover)
This Is Me - The Greatest Showman (New entry)
Sinatra's My Way is now the second most popular song played at funerals, followed by Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life by Monty Python star Eric Idle, which has climbed seven places to Number 3.
The happy tune from Monty Python's Life Of Brian previously stole the Number 1 spot from Sinatra's My Way back in 2014 — a position it had held on to since 2005.
And this year has seen the entry of three new upbeat tracks - Tina Turner's Simply The Best, in fourth place, as well as Fleetwood Mac's The Chain at Number 7 and This Is Me from Hollywood musical The Greatest Showman at Number 10.
Dame Vera Lynn - who died last year aged 103 - retained her place at Number 9 with her classic We'll Meet Again, which was quoted by The Queen in her speech to the nation during the first lockdown.
Ed Sheeran's Supermarket Flowers, Time To Say Goodbye by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman and Eva Cassidy version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow also remained in the Top 10.
Songs to have fallen out of the funeral chart include Robbie Williams' Angels, Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler and You Raise Me Up by Irish boyband Westlife.
Watch: Captain Sir Tom Moore's family open a walkway in his memory