1 February 2013 Last updated at 14:42

6 Music counts down best songs of the decade

From our very small sample, Elbow takes the popularity crown

6 Music has a lot to celebrate.

This week's Rajars show that the specialist music station continues to grow its discerning audience, reaching a record high of 1.9m, a year-on-year rise of 31%.

The news comes just a month before the station reaches a decade of broadcasting.

To celebrate this milestone, 6 Music listeners have been asked to vote on their favourite song since the station first hit the airwaves on March 11 2002. They had to pick their top track from a shortlist of 100, selected by 6 Music DJs.

The winner will be revealed in Steve Lamacq's show on Friday evening after an entire day dedicated to counting down the top 100 songs of the last ten years in the order of popularity.

A live blog is posting the songs being played out on the radio, culminating with tonight's champion. Already, the Chemical Brothers, Goldfrapp, the Shins, Klaxons and Underworld have featured in the top 100.

Listeners have been tweeting their responses. One said: 'Enjoying my mummy break. Olive, could you please nap for the next 4 hours?'

Another said: 'I don't think any other radio station would dare to play Bat For Lashes followed by Mclusky - great stuff.'

Ariel asked for your top music picks - and this is what you said:

I recently walked down the aisle to the instrumental version of Elbow's One Day Like This so that's very special to me.

Alice Bruggen, programme executive, Broadcasting House

Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor - gets my vote. It blew me away at the time and still sounds as fresh and as powerful now as it did back then.

Bill Rice, broadcast journalist, Radio Manchester

From the 6 Music shortlist I would have to pick The Rat by The Walkmen. Even the epic sax solo in M83's Midnight City can't trump its soaring guitars and exhilarating, anthemic desperation. It's also great to dance to.

Adam Bambury, content editor, BBC Academy

Elbow - One Day Like This - brilliant inspirational music with a beautiful lyric. Doctors should prescribe this to their patients. Play at least once a day …. and very loudly.

Gerald Main, editor, BBC Essex

Morrissey's Irish Blood, English Heart is my choice because it promises a freer, more democratic England: "I've been dreaming of a time when the English are sick to death of Labour and Tories, and spit upon the name Oliver Cromwell." It's a great tune.

Gary Lonergan, digital design executive, Broadcast Centre

Can't make up my mind so:

Goldie Lookin' Chain - Your Mother's Got a Penis - inventive hilarious synonym-filled lyrics, complete with the best sample from an early 80s synth ever.

Goldfrapp - Strict Machine - relentless amazing beat and breathy vocals from Ms Goldfrapp.

White Stripes - Seven Nation Army - a drumbeat that just will not give up

And for pure power ballad sentimentality, the best in its genre - Take That's Rule The World.

Andrew Wong, product lead, Media Centre

Beyonce - Crazy in Love - almost exactly 10 years old, but still as tight as Beyonce's thighs. The last decade has seen people trying and failing to make something as brilliant as this. So good you can almost forgive the lip-synching.

Colin Paterson, correspondent arts and ents, Salford

A tough question - but no song in the past decade has given me more lasting pleasure than Elbow's One Day Like This. Memories of living in Brussels when it came out, singing it in the car on road trips with the family, running in the Foret de Soigne with the album on my MP3 player, seeing Elbow at the Ancienne Belgique just as they went HUGE. Happy Days.

Dominic Hughes, BBC News Health Correspondent

What would get your vote and why? Email Ariel Team