When the folks over at This Exists heard that Natalie Imbruglia’s 1997 smash hit “Torn” has been played on Australian radio over 75 times a day for over a decade, they were amazed. Then, they had a follow up question: What’s the most frequently played song in the world?

It isn’t “Torn” (though seriously, 75 times a day?), but the top ranking tunes might surprise you. “Yesterday” by The Beatles has been broadcast over 7 million times since it was released (OK, not surprising), but The Righteous Brothers actually have the Liverpool quartet beat. Their “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” has been played over 8 million times on radio and television since its release in 1964.

Still, the reigning champion runs circles around even that. Here's a hint: It belongs to a theme park ride and has been played 50 million times.

It should be noted that the metrics for this kind of ranking are tricky. For one, there’s now the internet, where people are doing a lot of their music listening these days. We see you, Psy.

[h/t Digg]