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Sam Fender's Seventeen Going Under named Radio X Best Of British with Greggs
18 April 2022, 20:19 | Updated: 20 April 2022, 14:20
Sam Fender wins Radio X Best Of British with Greggs
The singer-songwriter's moving anthem has topped our 2022 poll of the Best British Songs Of All Time.
Seventeen Going Under by Sam Fender has been named as Radio X Best Of British with Greggs 2022.
Fender's rallying cry for everyone who's struggled emotionally as a teenager proves that he's currently Britain's most vital artist. Seventeen Going Under is the title track to the North Shields singer-songwriter's second album and has gone straight in to Number 1 with its first appearance on the Best Of British chart!
"I'm absolutely flattered, you know," Sam told Radio X's George Godfrey on hearing the news that he'd won Radio X Best Of British with Greggs 2022. "I mean it's it's lovely that people are voting for it. But there's definitely a bit of imposter syndrome that comes with it! Thank you very much to all the fans out there who voted for us."
Listen to the RadioX Best Of British with Greggs live playlist here
After being told that he'd beaten the likes of Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, David Bowie and Queen to top this year's chart, Sam added: "That's mad. I can actually hear people right now, in their cars, going WHAT!? WHAT!? 'He's an industry plant!' What was what we have is an industry plant! I can hear that right now. I'm sure I'll reciprocate in the comments sections at some point. But you know what, the more haters there are, that's normally a sign that things are going alright."
Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under (Official Video)
Listen back to Radio X Best Of British with Greggs here
Sam has knocked Live Forever by Oasis into the Number 2 position, which won the poll in 2018 and 2021. The band's Wonderwall won the very first Best Of British poll back in 2016.
Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody has fallen to third place after coming second last year and triumphing in 2017, 2019 and 2020.
Speaking about the impact of Seventeen Going Under, Fender told Radio X: ""We've been blown away by the response to that song. It's done far more than we ever expected. We released it and it kind of did its job and then, and then months down the line it had this complete resurgence.
"It's amazing. I'm chuffed because it's a song that's very personal to me, about my growing up. But the fact that it's resonated with so many people. It's been a real joy to go out and sing that to people, you know?"
Sam Fender Seventeen Going Under - Track by Track
The song became a viral hit on the social media platform TikTok when users began to use the track as a way of coming to terms with their own childhood trauma. The powerful lyric came out of a course of therapy that the singer-songwriter had undertaken. He explained: "Because of the way we're raised. It shouldn't be, but it's quite an un-masculine thing to say Oh, I'm in therapy. You feel like that anyway. But I think it's the opposite. I think a bloke who can recognise that some of his behaviours aren't right and should be fixed is definitely more switched on than one who doesn't.
"Then the task after that is actually getting it because I couldn't get therapy when I was a kid. I mean it wasn't available on the NHS and you'd be on waiting lists for God knows how long. I've got to also say I've been very lucky to have enough success with music to be able to do these sort of things. Got to be thankful for it."
See the full Radio X Best Of British with Greggs Top 100 here
Listen back to Radio X Best Of British with Greggs here
Over 14,000 votes were received in the poll which seeks to name the Top 100 best British Indie, Rock or Alternative tracks.
Oasis had the most songs in this year's Top 100 with 15 entries, followed by Arctic Monkeys with 10.
The Manchester band also held the fourth and fifth positions slot with their tracks Slide Away and Champagne Supernova. Also in the 2022 Top 10 were Arctic Monkeys' evocative fan favourite 505, the David Bowie classic "Heroes" and Gimme Shelter by The Rolling Stones, which made Number 9 after a year that saw the veteran band lose their longtime drummer Charlie Watts.
The most recent song on the chart comes from Liam Gallagher, whose tune Everything's Electric was only released in February of this year, while there's been a resurgence of interest in The Beatles following the release of the enormously popular documentary Get Back - the title track makes its first appearance on the Best Of British chart this year at Number 70.
Other new entries on the chart this year include Wolf Alice, whose cinematic 2021 song The Last Man On Earth went straight in at Number 28; West Lothian band The Snuts with their hit Glasgow at Number 61; and a brand new track from Stereophonics, Do Ya Feel My Love which is taken from their latest album Oochya!
The highest climber this year was Biffy Clyro's 2009 track Bubbles, which shot up the chart a massive 52 place to Number 32 in this year's poll.
Listen to the Radio X Best Of British 2022 with Greggs 2022 playlist here
Radio X Best Of British with Greggs 2022 Top 10
- Sam Fender - Seventeen Going Under
- Oasis - Live Forever
- Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
- Oasis - Slide Away
- Oasis - Champagne Supernova
- Arctic Monkeys - 505
- David Bowie - "Heroes"
- Stereophonics - Dakota
- The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter
- Oasis - Don't Look Back In Anger
