Snow Patrol's 'Chasing Cars' is the most-played song in the UK this century

More than 13 years after its release, Snow Patrol have seen their song ‘Chasing Cars’ being awarded the honour of being the UK’s most-played song for the 21st century.

Cast your mind back to 2006 for a minute and think of all the music that you heard that year. Sure, you might recall Eskimo Joe’s ‘Black Fingernails, Red Wine’ scoring a bit of airplay, and Nickelback’s ‘Savin’ Me’ probably got a thrashing too. But one song that will always take you right back is Snow Patrol’s ‘Chasing Cars’.

The second single from 2006’s Eyes Open, ‘Chasing Cars’ was something of a sleeper hit for the band, hitting #53 on the ARIA charts (but #1 on the Digital Charts), and placing similarly or modrately higher around the world at the time.

However, the tune soon found itself as something of a staple on TV and movie soundtracks, with its appearance on Gray’s Anatomy seeing it becoming forever linked with the show.

Now, it appears that all these years of it being a beloved, powerful ballad has seen the track become the most-played song for the 21st century in the UK.

While it was revealed last year that Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ is the most-streamed song from the 20th century, Snow Patrol have now received a similar honour, with ‘Chasing Cars’ receiving its latest achievement recently.

In honour of our 85th birthday, we delved into our data to identify the Most Played Song of the 21st century & we are delighted to reveal it is Chasing Cars by @SnowPatrol. Tonight our CEO @PeterLeathem presented @garysnowpatrol with an award to recognise this amazing achievement pic.twitter.com/lrnbCXxtx0
— PPL (@PPLUK) July 16, 2019

As the BBC reports, UK agency PPL did the math in honour of its 85th birthday recently, discovering the Snow Patrol classic to be the most-played song on British radio for this century so far.

The 2006 tune came in just ahead of The Black Eyes Peas’ ‘I Gotta Feeling’, and Pharrell Williams’ ‘Happy’.

“It’s unbelievable,” Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody explained. “I’m not sure how that happened.”

“It’s an emotionally open song and it’s a simple song. But it’s also unabashedly a love song, and we don’t really have any others,” he added. “The way it unifies an audience is the thing I most cherish about it. It’s a beautiful moment every time you play it.”

Of course, Aussie fans will get a chance to hear Snow Patrol belt out this frequently-played classic just next month when they touch down on Australian shores for an acoustic tour of the country.