Britpop on top as Oasis edge out Beatles for best album

When it was released, it was the fastest-selling debut album ever in the UK, and nearly 12 years on Definitely Maybe has been named the greatest album of all time.

The Oasis album pushed the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band into second place in a poll of more than 40,000 fans.

Released on 30 August 1994, Definitely Maybe reached No 1 in the UK albums chart a week later, Hits from the album include "Live Forever", "Cigarettes & Alcohol" and "Supersonic". It cost £85,000 to produce, and sold several million copies worldwide. The album's iconic cover depicted members of the band lounging in a stylish sitting room, surrounded by guitars and glasses of wine.

The book British Hit Singles and Albums and NME.com conducted the survey of the greatest 100 albums to mark 50 years of the official UK albums chart. Votes were submitted from as far afield as Colombia and New Zealand.

The Beatles album Revolver came third in the poll, followed by Radiohead's OK Computer and Oasis's second album, What's The Story? (Morning Glory). Nirvana's Nevermind, Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Radiohead's The Bends also feature in the top 10 list.

Up The Bracket, by Pete Doherty's former band The Libertines, is the most recent album in the top 20, at number 15.

No pre-ordained list of album titles was provided, making the poll even more representative of public opinion.

David Roberts, the editor of British Hit Singles and Albums, said: "Usually these polls are full of records that people have only just bought because they are freshest in the mind. But this poll shows that the truly great albums always have longevity. Only two albums in the Top 20 were released in the past five years, so the voters have clearly thought long and hard about their decisions."

Top ten

1. Definitely Maybe - Oasis

2. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles

3. Revolver - The Beatles

4. OK Computer - Radiohead

5. (What's The Story) Morning Glory? - Oasis

6. Nevermind - Nirvana

7. The Stone Roses - The Stone Roses

8. Dark Side Of The Moon - Pink Floyd

9. The Queen Is Dead - The Smiths

10. The Bends - Radiohead