Rocker Ed Sheeran's number one hailed as the Perfect hit of all time

Almost 30,000 votes were cast by Smooth Radio listeners to choose the nation’s All Time Top 500 songs to put the singer-songwriter in pole position for the first time in the annual chart’s five-year history.

Michael topped the list last year with Careless Whisper after booting Imagine by John Lennon from number one after three years.

Sheeran’s Christmas number one hit Perfect has now been hailed as the nation’s favourite, with Careless Whisper in second place.

Sheeran, 27, who is originally from Calderdale, said: “With Perfect, I wanted to write the best love song I could that was 100 per cent me, so I’m over the moon that it’s been voted the number one song in Smooth’s poll.

“The fact that the listeners chose it makes it even more special and I’d like to say a big thank-you to them for their support.”

Perfect spent three weeks at the top of the charts last year.

George Michael may be in second place with his saxophone-heavy 1980s hit, but he has been voted the UK’s most popular artist overall with more tracks in the chart than ever before.

The late singer, who died in 2016, has 20 songs in the top 500, including A Different Corner at number three.

Sheeran has two other songs in the top 20 – Thinking Out Loud at number five, and Supermarket Flowers in 17th place.

Sheeran was born in Halifax and lived in Hebden Bridge as a child before moving away with his family.