Hymns down, Rihanna up in the funeral music charts

Psalm 23 has got nothing on 'Diamonds'

Rihanna's 'Diamonds' is popular in the pop genre

It’s hard not to be morbidly interested in what music people choose to have their body laid to rest to, and that curiosity can be satisfied thanks to Co-op Funeralcare’s 2016 Funeral Music Chart.

The research was conducted using its funeral arrangers and directors and is based on 30,000 funerals conducted in the last 12 months.

The biggest trend in the data is the UK’s move towards non-religious music, with 54% of funeral directors saying that hymns are declining in popularity the quickest, while pop has now become the most request genre at services.

Wiz Khalifa, Rihanna and Adele are all new entrants to the contemporary pop category, though across all genres Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ is the most popular choice.

Coronation Street rather depressingly is the TV theme played most at funerals, though a secondary poll revealed that the Game of Thrones one might soon make an appearance in the chart.

The full #FuneralMusic chart for 2016:

No	Song name	Artist	Movement since last chart
1	My Way	Frank Sinatra	Up 4 places
2	Time to say goodbye	Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman	Up 12 places
3	Over the rainbow	Eva Cassidy	Up 15 places
4	Wind beneath my wings	Bette Midler	New entrant
5	The lord is my shepherd	Psalm 23/ Crimond	Down 3 places
6	We’ll meet again	Vera Lynn	New entrant
7	All things bright and beautiful	Traditional	Down 1 place
8	Always look on the bright side of life	Monty Python	Down 7 places
9	Abide with me	Traditional	Down 6 places
10	Unforgettable	Nat King Cole	New entrant

By genre -

Contemporary pop:

No	Artist	Track
1	Robbie Williams	Angels
2	Westlife	You raise me up
3	Wiz Khalifa	See you again
4	Westlife	Flying without wings
5	Ellie Goulding	How long will I love you
6	Westlife	I’ll see you again
7	Adele	Hello
8	Rihanna	Diamonds
9	Sam Smith	Lay me down
10	Boyzone	No matter what

Rock:

No	Song name	Artist
1	Stairway to heaven	Led Zepellin
2	Bat out of hell	Meatloaf
3	Live forever	Queen
4	Wish you were here	Pink Floyd
5	Highway to hell	ACDC
6	Another one bites the dust	Queen
7	Bohemian Rhapsody	Queen
8	Don’t wanna miss a thing	Aerosmith
9	Knocking on heaven’s door	Guns and roses
10	Spirit in the sky	Norman Greenbaum

Sport:

No	Song name	Artist	Movement since last chart
1	You will never walk alone	Gerry and the Pacemakers	Up 1 place
2	Theme tune	Match of the day	Down 1 place
3	Soul Limbo / Cricket Theme tune	Booker T and MG	Non mover
4	The Chain	Fleetwood Mac	Up 2 places
5	I am forever blowing bubbles	West Ham United	Up 3 places
6	Z Cars Theme	Everton FC	New entrant
7	Glory Glory	Tottenham Hotspur	New entrant
8	Grandstand theme	BBC	Up 2 places
9	World in Union	Dame Kiri Te Kanawa	Down 5 places
10	Dance of the Knights	Sunderland FC	New entrant

Indie:

No	Song name	Artist
1	Chasing cars	Snow Patrol
2	Wonderwall	Oasis
3	Don’t look back in anger	Oasis
4	Arabella	Arctic Monkeys
5	Live forever	Oasis
6	Hymn for the weekend	Coldplay
7	One day like this	Elbow
8	Coldplay	Yellow
9	Goo goo dolls	Iris
10	Oasis	Champagne Supernova

TV/ Film:

No	Song name	Artist	Movement since last chart
1	Coronation Street	Theme tune	Up 4 places
2	Last of the Summer Wine	Theme tune	Up 2 places
3	Only Fools and horses	Theme tune	Up 1 place
4	Always Look on the Bright side	Monty Python	Down 3 places
5	Eastenders	Theme tune	Up 3 places
6	My Heart Will Go On	Celine Dion	Down 5 places
7	Emmerdale	Theme tune	Up 1 place
8	Going home	Hovis theme tune	New entry
9	Dad’s Army	Theme tune	New entry
10	Bring me sunshine	Morecambe and Wise	Down 4 places

Hymns:

No	Song name	Artist	Movement since last chart
1	Lord is my Shepherd	Psalm 23 / Crimond	Non mover
2	Abide with me	Traditional	Non mover
3	All things bright and beautiful	Traditional	Non mover
4	How great thou art	Traditional	Non mover
5	Amazing grace	Traditional	Non mover
6	Old rugged cross	Traditional	Up 1 place
7	Jerusalem	Traditional	Down 1 place
8	Morning has broken	Traditional	Non mover
9	The day though gavest lord ended	Traditional	Non mover
10	Ave Maria	Traditional	Non mover

Country:

No	Song name	Artist
1	I will always love you	Dolly Parton
2	Islands in the stream	Dolly Parton and Kenny Rodgers
3	Country roads	Jon Denver
4	I love you because	Jim Reeves
5	Annie’s song	Jon Denver
6	Over the rainbow	Eva Cassidy
7	Ring of fire	Johnny Cash
8	My best friend	Don Williams
9	If tomorrow never comes	Garth Brooks
10	Blowin in the wind	Bob Dylan

Classical:

No	Song name	Artist	Movement since last chart
1	Time to say goodbye	Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman	Up 2 places
2	Nimrod	Elgar	Down 1 place
3	Nessun Dorma	Lucianno Pavarotti	Up 3 places
4	Cannon in D	Pachelbel	Down 2 places
5	Four Seasons	Vivaldi	Down 1 place
6	Adagio	Bizet/Albinoni	Non mover
7	Ave Maria	Various artistes	Down 2 places
8	Moonlight Sonartz	Beethoven	New entry
9	Pie Jesu	Faure	Down 1 place
10	The Lark Ascending	Ralph Vaughan Williams	New entry

RnB:

No	Song name	Artist
1	I’ll be missing you	Puff Daddy
2	Dance with my father again	Luther Van Dross
3	One sweet day	Boys 2 men
4	I will always love you	Whitney Housten
5	Fly	R Kelly
6	Halo	Beyonce
7	Turn back the hands of time	R Kelly
8	Bye Bye	Mariah Carey
9	World’s greatest	R Kelly
10	Beyonce	Running

Jazz top 10:

No	Song name	Artist
1	What a wonderful world	Louis Armstrong
2	Moonlight serenade	Glenn Miller
3	Stranger on the shore	Aka Bilk
4	Smile	Nat King Cole
5	In the mood	Glenn Miller
6	A place in the sun	Stevie Wonder
7	Fly me to the moon	Frank Sinatra
8	Sitting on the dock of the bay	Otis Reading
9	Mr Bojangles	Robbie Williams
10	Come fly with me	Frank Sinatra