My Way’ has topped the funeral song chart for the third year running according to SunLife’s 2023 Cost of Dying report with one in every 30 funerals playing Frank Sinatra’s 1969 hit. SunLife’s report reveals that, after Frank Sinatra’s 1969 hit, the most popular song is ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ by Gerry & The Pacemakers followed by ‘Time to Say Goodbye’ by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli.
Coming in at number four is Tina Turner’s classic ‘Simply the Best’ while the ‘Monty Python comedy song ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’, AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’ and ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams all make the top 15. However, if we were to choose our own funeral music ‘My Way’ would not be the top choice; we’d rather have Norman Greenbaum’s uplifting 1969 hit ‘Spirit in the Sky’ – a song that doesn’t even make it into the top 15 most played songs at funerals.
In fact, there are quite a few songs in the top 15 songs we would choose that do not appear in the ‘actual most played’ list, including Meatloaf’s ‘Bat out of Hell, ‘Comfortably Numb’ by Pink Floyd and Blue Oyster Cult’s ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’, a list that reveals Brits’ sense of humour when it comes to thinking about their own send-off.
