Dr Mick Grierson's team analyzed the tracks most often singled out by critics, with the Nirvana smash hit coming out on top ahead of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, Guns N' Roses classic Sweet Child O' Mine and God Save The Queen by the Sex Pistols.

Dr Grierson tells the Daily Mail: "We looked at a range of measures for each song and compared them to see if there were similarities in these recordings which occur less in other songs.

"We found the most significant thing these songs have in common is that most of them use sound in a very varied, dynamic way when compared to other records.