Beethoven has beaten Mozart for the first time to take the title of the most popular composer in the annual poll conducted by Classic FM, with 19 places in the top 300 chart including three in the top 10 compared with Mozart’s 16 pieces.

The two composers have jointly been voted favourite on three previous occasions.

Classic FM presenter John Suchet said: “Ever since we launched the first Classic FM Hall of Fame in 1996 Mozart has taken precedence – that is until now. I think that Beethoven’s new position as the most popular composer has to do with films such as the Oscar winning The King’s Speech, which famously used his Symphony No 7 – but his music is so universally popular, if you land on any street in any town in any country of the world, someone will know Beethoven’s work.”

The poll has been conducted by Classic FM for the past 21 years, and attracted 170,000 votes this year, making it the biggest public vote in the world on classical music tastes.

The highest new entry was a piece composed for a video game, Shenmue by Yuzo Koshiro and Ryuji Iuchi, among 11 places taken by pieces composed or used as games scores.

The success of the new Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, has helped propel the famous John Williams theme music into its highest position, up 38 to No 44, making him the most popular living composer, although Howard Shore’s Lord of the Rings remains the single best loved film score, at No 28.

Welsh composer Sir Karl Jenkins, and his The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace is the highest placed work by a living composer at No 15.

However, the top favourite piece remains resolutely traditional: voted back at No 1 for the seventh time since 1996 is Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending.