Iron Maiden‘s The Number of the Beast was voted top album and Danny Boyle‘ s Trainspotting best film of the last 60 years, in polls conducted by entertainment retailer HMV.

Over 54,545 votes were counted on its Facebook app taken across the months of April and May, making it the largest poll of its type, in celebration of the Queen‘s Diamond Jubilee this weekend.

Sixties iconic pop band, The Beatles secured four positions in the top ten albums of Her Majesty‘s reign, gaining a fifth of the overall votes, Stanley Kubrick and Danny Boyle were the most voted for directors, as Colin Firth was considered one of most notable actors.

However, The Number of the Beast, which gave Iron Maiden its first number one in the charts when it was released in 1982, garnered 9.2 per cent share of the overall album vote.

Head of Press & PR for HMV, Gennaro Castaldo, commented: “The beginning of Elizabeth II‘s reign, and the bright new future it represented, didn‘t just coincide with a flowering of British popular culture, it helped to provide the very spark that lit the touch-paper for an explosion in music and film talent.”

This unprecedented response helped to boost HMV‘s social media presence with more than 330, 000 ‘likes‘ occurring along with the voting process.

Perhaps due to the votes taking place via social media, the majority who took part were 34 or less with over a third aged 24 or under, while 60 per cent of those who choose their favourite film or album were male.

Castaldo added: “The Queen has presided over the richest period of cultural achievement in our nation‘s history, so it‘s only right that her Diamond Jubilee, which ironically also encapsulates sixty years of the official charts, should be a period when we reflect on the greatest British albums and films of the past six decades.”

At the beginning of the month it was reported that HMV predicted full year losses of £16 million as its sales continued to plummet, and the retailer has closed down 30 shops in the last year due pressure from online competitors.

HMV‘s top 10 British albums of the past 60 years

  1. Iron Maiden / The Number of the Beast (9.18%)
  2. Depeche Mode / Violator (6.30%)
  3. The Beatles / Sergeant Pepper‘s Lonely Hearts Club Band (5.69)
  4. The Beatles / Abbey Road (5.67%)
  5. Pink Floyd / The Dark Side of the Moon (5.23%)
  6. The Beatles / Revolver (4.01%)
  7. Queen / A Night at the Opera (3.98%)
  8. Oasis / (What‘s the Story) Morning Glory? (3.91%)
  9. Adele / 21 (3.07%)
  10. The Beatles / White Album (2.60%)

HMV‘s top 10 British Films of the past 60 years

  1. Trainspotting (6.00%)
  2. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (5.48%)
  3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two (4.79%)
  4. Monty Python‘s Life Of Brian (4.78%)
  5. A Clockwork Orange (4.37%)
  6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (4.29%)
  7. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (3.69%)
  8. The Italian Job (3.11%)
  9. Shaun Of The Dead (2.95%)
  10. The Kings Speech (2.66%)