It has been revealed that since the turn of the millennium, Snow Patrol’s 2006 hit ‘Chasing Cars’ has become the most played song on UK radio. Despite the fact that it was unable to reach number one, the track has nevertheless accomplished this remarkable feat.

The track was produced for their fourth album, ‘Eyes Open’, which reached number one in the UK album charts. That year, ‘Chasing Cars’ finished as the 14th biggest selling single, and furthermore, was the last song to be played live on Top of the Pops.

Gary Lightbody, the lead singer of the band, acclaimed the track as “the purest love song” that he had ever written. Speaking to the BBC, the singer gave insight into the back story of how the song came to be. The song was created in the garden of his producer’s house, as Gary explained. “Yes, Jacknife Lee had a studio in the shed of his garden and we went down there with a couple of bottles of wine, and we wrote through the night”.

“We were writing a Snow Patrol record, but we were also tasked with writing some songs for some other people, so that might have taken some pressure off. But by the next morning, none of those songs were going to anybody else, that’s for sure!”.

Asked about the songwriting process, Lightbody elaborated, “The lyrics for that song all came that night. They just came out onto the page. And that’s how I used to write – with just a flow. They would generally just sort of come out, and I wouldn’t edit, for better or worse”.

Gary was awarded for the feat by the music licensing group, PPL, the body responsible for tracking all music played on British television and radio. In second and third spots respectively came The Black Eyed Peas ‘I Gotta Feeling’, produced by the group and David Guetta, and Pharrell’s 2013 smash hit, ‘Happy’, in collaboration with Despicable Me 2’s soundtrack album.

Chief executive of PPL, Peter Leather commented, “Chasing Cars is a song that has become a popular anthem, securing huge success across radio, in public and especially TV, where its huge appeal has led to its use in many programmes and especially Grey’s Anatomy.”