ARTS / MUSIC

List: Top Ten Favourite Karaoke Songs in the UK

Date: November 2009

Source: PRS for Music

Base: PRS monitors karaoke 'plays' by collecting data from clubs, bars and karaoke disc jockeys. Computers in large karaoke establishments automatically store data on how many times each song is played, while the PRS surveys smaller operators and obtains their playlists. Almost 8,000 operators hold PRS licences. The list was compiled from data going back to 1993, as far back as the PRS's records stretch.

Notes: Actual estimated numbers of plays are not released by the PRS because it would breach confidentiality agreements it has with its songwriter members. Waterloo, as originally performed by Abba, came top. The PRS compiled a top 25 list and within that nine were from the 1970s, seven each from the 1960s and 1980s and two - Angels, by Robbie Williams, and Livin' La Vida Loca, by Ricky Martin - were from the 1990s. Karaoke originated in Japan in the 1970s and means 'empty orchestra'. It came to Britain in the late 1980s.