The Classic FM Hall of Fame is an annual compilation of the 300 most popular classical works as polled by listeners of Classic FM through a public vote. With more than 200,000 voters, each choosing their three favourites in order of preference, Classic FM claim their Hall of Fame is the world's most comprehensive poll of classical music tastes. The countdown, first broadcast in 1996, airs over the four-day Easter holiday weekend. The compilation is notable for featuring a wide variety of classical works. Pieces by composers such as

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

and

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

feature alongside works by contemporary composers such as

Karl Jenkins Sir Karl William Pamp Jenkins, , Honorary Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, HonFLSW (born 17 February 1944) is a Welsh multi-instrumentalist and composer. His best known works include the song "Adiemus (song), Adiemus" (1995, from the Adi ...

and

Ludovico Einaudi Ludovico Maria Enrico Einaudi OMRI (; born 23 November 1955) is an Italian pianist and composer. Trained at the Milan Conservatory, Conservatorio Verdi in Milan, Einaudi began his career as a classical composer, later incorporating other styles ...

. Movie soundtracks by

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

, John Barry and

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

are also regular features of the chart. And, for the first time in 2012, the chart featured two original works from

video game soundtracks Video game music (VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to the ...

. In 2015, 12 pieces of music from video game soundtracks were voted into Classic FM's top 300 chart.

Top twenty

The current top twenty was revealed on 21 April 2025: * 1.

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

– Piano Concerto No. 2 * 2.

– '' The Armed Man'' * 3.

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

– '' The Lark Ascending'' * 4. Ralph Vaughan Williams – '' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis'' * 5.

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

–

Enigma Variations Edward Elgar composed his ''Variations on an Original Theme'', Op. 36, popularly known as the ''Enigma Variations'', between October 1898 and February 1899. It is an orchestral work comprising fourteen variations on an original theme. Elgar ...

* 6.

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

– Piano Concerto No. 2 * 7.

Gregorio Allegri Gregorio Allegri (17 February 1652) was an Italian Catholic priest and composer of the Roman School and brother of Domenico Allegri; he was also a singer. He was born"Allegri, Gregorio" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes ...

– Miserere * 8.

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

– Piano Concerto No. 5 ('Emperor') * 9. Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 9 ('Choral') * 10.

Gustav Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...

–

The Planets ''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...

* 11.

– ''

Schindler's List ''Schindler's List'' is a 1993 American epic historical drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Steven Zaillian. It is based on the historical novel '' Schindler's Ark'' (1982) by Thomas Keneally. The film follows ...

'' * 12. Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No. 6 ('Pastoral') * 13.

Howard Shore Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer, conductor and orchestrator noted for his film scores. He has composed the scores for over 80 films, most notably the scores for ''The Lord of the Rings'' and '' The Hobbit'' fi ...

– ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'' * 14.

– '' The Mission'' * 15.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

–

Requiem A Requiem (Latin: ''rest'') or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead () or Mass of the dead (), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the souls of the deceased, using a particular form of the Roman Missal. It is ...

* 16.

Jay Ungar Jay Ungar (born November 14, 1946) is an American folk musician and composer. Life and career Ungar was born in the Bronx, New York City. He frequented Greenwich Village music venues during his formative period in the 1960s. In the late 1960s ...

– Ashokan Farewell * 17.

Samuel Barber Samuel Osmond Barber II (March 9, 1910 – January 23, 1981) was an American composer, pianist, conductor (music), conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the mid-20th century. Principally influenced ...

–

Adagio for Strings ''Adagio for Strings'' is a work by Samuel Barber arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11. Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year that he wrote the quartet. It was performed for th ...

* 18. Antonin Dvořák – Symphony No. 9 ('From the New World') * 19.

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. ...

–

* 20. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart –

Clarinet Concerto A clarinet concerto is a concerto for clarinet; that is, a musical composition for solo clarinet together with a large ensemble (such as an orchestra or concert band). Albert Rice has identified a work by Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli as possibly th ...

Previous top three

Source

Criticism and controversy

The Hall of Fame reflects voter preferences, rather than public purchases of recordings, so there has been a lack of variation at the top of the chart. The pieces that make up the top ten have changed very little since the chart began. Only five different pieces have ever held the number one position, and only a dozen works have held the top three spots throughout the chart's existence. 2013 provided the most controversial Hall of Fame to date as a result of an organised voting campaign concerning

by UK based games promoter Mark Robins. Several video game soundtracks were voted into the 2013 Hall of Fame, with the highest being

Nobuo Uematsu is a Japanese composer and keyboardist best known for his contributions to the ''Final Fantasy'' video game series by Square Enix. A self-taught musician, he began playing the piano at the age of twelve, with English singer-songwriter Elton Joh ...

's music for ''Final Fantasy'' at number three. This led to more than 200,000 votes being cast, the highest in the chart's history.

John Suchet John Aleck Suchet ( ; born 29 March 1944) is an English author, television news journalist and presenter of classical music on Classic FM. His journalistic career began when he worked as a graduate trainee at the Reuters news agency in 1967 a ...

stated that he was "delighted that we've attracted so many votes for our chart" and that what he finds "truly exciting is the continued increase in a younger audience for classical music - I didn't expect to be thanking the

video game industry The video game industry is the tertiary industry, tertiary and quaternary industry, quaternary sectors of the entertainment industry that specialize in the video game development, development, marketing, distribution (marketing), distribution, ...

for introducing the genre to a new generation of people, but it's wonderful."

References

{{Reflist

External links

The 2021 Hall of Fame

The 2020 Hall of Fame
British record charts Classical music in the United Kingdom Halls of fame in the United Kingdom Music halls of fame 1996 establishments in the United Kingdom Recurring events established in 1996 Annual events in the United Kingdom Classic FM (UK)