Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, the ‘Emperor‘ Concerto, has taken out top place in this year’s ABC Classic 100: Piano countdown poll.

Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata was voted second; Chopin’s Nocturnes third, Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue fourth and Debussy’s Suite bergamasque – which includes the evergreen Clair de lune – earned fifth place. A total of 139,586 votes were cast

Photo © Dolo Iglesias/Unsplash

Beethoven and Chopin had nine works each make the top 100, trailed by Bach with six and Rachmaninov (five).

The win won’t come as much of a surprise to ABC Classic audiences: this is the sixth time the ‘Emperor‘ has ranked in the Classic 100 polls. It was voted fourth in the very first poll in 2001, topped the list in 2007 (Classic 100 Concerto), placed second in 2010 and 2020 and was voted fourth in 2024’s poll, tracking Australia’s favourite “feel-good” works. It proved most popular with voters aged 55 and above. Beethoven also topped last year’s poll (Feel Good) with Ode to Joy. 

A handful of soundtrack works also made the cut, including Nyman’s The Piano (#19), Joe Hisaishi’s Howl’s Moving Castle (#16)...