BBC News Online: Entertainment

Sex Pistols cover tops chart

Second on the list was Closer by Joy Division with Nirvana's Nevermind third - but the widely acclaimed Sergeant Pepper by the Beatles only came tenth in the top 100 list.

God Save The Queen reached number one in the UK in 1977 despite being banned by the BBC and marked a defining moment in the punk revolution.

The cover, designed by Jamie Reid, shows a picture of the monarch with the words "God Save The Queen" and "Sex Pistols" obscuring her eyes and mouth.

The single was first released on the A&M label after the band signed a record deal outside Buckingham Palace. But that contract only lasted a few days before A&M dropped them.

That version was then withdrawn and most copies destroyed - original copies now sell for £2,000 ($2,900).

But it was re-released by Virgin Records to coincide with the Queen's jubilee several months later.

The cover of Joy Division's Closer album, showing a black-and-white photograph taken in an Italian cemetery, was put at number two in the list, with Nevermind by Nirvana - which shows a naked child swimming under water - at number three.

Many regard the cover of Sergeant Pepper by The Beatles, a collage of many twentieth century icons, as the best album cover of all time.

But Q writers only put it at number ten in their list.