HMV Top 50 Greatest Love Films

The Top 20 – With the previous year’s position in brackets

1. (10) Ghost (1990) share of vote 8.7%
Young stockbroker (Patrick Swayze) and girlfriend (Demi Moore) move into a Manhattan loft and look forward to a wonderful life together. But their dreams are cut short when Sam is killed in an apparently motiveless attack. The newly bereft Molly goes into a deep depression... but Sam's a lot closer than she realises. With the help of a ’psychic’ (Whoopi Goldberg), Sam's ghost must convince a sceptical Molly that he was, in fact, murdered by a work colleague, and protect her from impending danger.

2. (5) Dirty Dancing (1987) 8.4%
It's summer, 1963. Frances, seventeen and innocent, is on holiday with her parents in the Catskills. She meets Johnny, the hotel dance instructor, and is mesmerised by him and his dance style. She soon becomes his prize pupil, in dance and in love. The film that launched Patrick Swayze’s acting career.

3. (34) The Notebook (2004) 7.8%
As teenagers, Allie (Rachel McAdams) and Noah (Ryan Gosling) begin a whirlwind courtship that soon blossoms into tender intimacy, but the couple are separated by Allie's upper-class parents, who insist that Noah isn't right for her. Several years pass, and, when they meet again, their passion is rekindled, forcing Allie to choose between her soul mate and class order. This tale has a special meaning to older gentleman (James Garner) who reads the love story to his ageing companion (Gena Rowlands).

4. (4) Titanic (1997) 6.8%
A fortune hunter searching for a lost diamond near the wreck of the Titanic brings something else to the surface... a story from the past in which an unlikely romance between a beautiful English socialite and a streetwise Irish lad in steerage is fated to end before it has really begun... The Oscar-laden film that launched the careers of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

5. (9) Pretty Woman (1990) 6.3%
In a ‘Cinderella’ story that made Julia Roberts a star, an LA corporate raider, played by Richard Gere, hires a hooker to pose as his girlfriend for a week... and unwittingly falls in love. Meanwhile, she wonders if the straight life - with him - might be her dream coming true.

6. (11) Love Actually (2003) 6.1%
Christmas is approaching, and a group of people connected in some way, find themselves surrounded by love. The cast includes Hugh Grant as a prime minister who falls for a staff member, Liam Neeson as a widower counselling his son in the ways of love, Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman as a couple faced with infidelity, and Colin Firth as a writer who can’t resist the charms of his Portuguese maid.

7. (1) Romeo + Juliet (1996) 4.6%
Shakespeare's immortal tale of star-crossed young lovers gets an MTV-style updating from Baz Luhrmann in this hip, Florida-set adaptation featuring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the doomed teenaged children of rival industrialists. Visually stunning and a wonderful soundtrack, which includes the famous ‘balcony’ scene.

8. (15) An Officer And A Gentleman (1982) 3.3%
Desperately hoping to earn a naval commission, an ambitious young man, played by Richard Gere, enters officer candidate school. The local factory girls dream of being rescued from their mundane lives by marrying the recruits once they become officers, but are always cruelly discarded after they’ve had their fun with them. Will Zack Mayo’s relationship with Paula Pokrifki be any different?

9. (6) Moulin Rouge (2001) 3.2%
Cross ‘La Boheme’ with ‘Cabaret’, throw in a little bit of ‘Rent’, and you might almost begin to describe Baz Luhrmann's visually opulent, fast-paced, funny, heartrending ‘Moulin Rouge’. Set in 1890’s Paris at the notorious Montmartre club, the movie stars Nicole Kidman as the high-kicking courtesan, Satine and Ewan McGregor as the sensitive poet, Christian.

10. (25) Amelie (2001) 3.0%
Cinema magic from beginning to end, Amelie is an uplifting experience that will soften the hardest of hearts. Amelie works in a Parisian coffee shop, and inhabits a fantasy world. One day she realises how good it is to make people happy and sets out to change the lives of those around her, though it’s Amelie who needs the most help as she's fallen in love with a man who collects discarded photo booth pictures and the two become obsessed with a strange phantom man who keeps appearing in the photos.

11. (3) Sleepless In Seattle (1993) 2.6%
The definitive romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as soul-mates who find each other courtesy of a little boy, a radio phone-in show and the Empire State Building! If only love really could be like this. Inspired in part by the 1957 film An Affair To Remember.

12. (14) Notting Hill (1999) 2.5%
Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant forge memorable chemistry in this charmer about an unassuming bookstore owner in London's Notting Hill and a Hollywood actress who, against the odds, are able to fall in love. After Anna wanders into William's shop while filming in London, the two share an instant attraction and find themselves attempting to forge a relationship despite Anna's megawatt star power.

13. (12) Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961) 2.4%
Audrey Hepburn plays Holly Golightly in this romantic comedy translated to the screen from Truman Capote s best-selling novella. Holly is a deliciously eccentric New York City playgirl determined to marry a Brazilian millionaire. George Peppard plays her writer next-door neighbour. Guessing who’s the right man for Holly is easy, but seeing just how that romance blossoms is one of the enduring delights of this gem-like treat set to Henry Mancini s Oscar winning score and featuring the classic song "Moon River".

14. (24) Pride & Prejudice (2005) 2.2%
With Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet, a witty and headstrong young woman in 19th century England, who meets standoffish Mr. Darcy (Colin Firth). They initially clash, but there may be something deeper. Firth sets the standard for period film heroes with his heroic portrayal of Mr. Darcy. The classic novel of manners, society, and love includes much of Jane Austen's rich commentary on human nature.

15. (16) Gone With The Wind (1939) 2.0%
Self-centred Southern beauty Scarlett O'Hara (Vivien Leigh) loves gentlemanly Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard). Rebellious, blockade-running profiteer Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) loves Scarlett, but Ashley suppresses his love as he feels they are incompatible, leaving the sparks to fly between Rhett and Scarlett, who eventually wed, even though Scarlett continues to pine for Ashley. Set against the Civil War, this tragic love quadrangle offers the burning of Atlanta as part of its vivid scenery.

16. (8) Brief Encounter (1945) 1.8%
Noel Coward's poignant tale of two ordinary people – a suburban housewife played by Celia Johnson and a married doctor portrayed by Trevor Howard, caught up in the extraordinary power of love following a chance encounter in a railway station waiting room. Directed by David Lean, a quintessential English film from a bygone age.

17. (26) Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) 1.7%
Charles (Hugh Grant), a confirmed British bachelor meets the perfect woman, Carrie (Andie MacDowell), at a friend's wedding. However, his hopes of romance are dashed when she announces she must return to America. The two continue to cross paths at other people's weddings, never finding each other at a time when both are single. As all of Charles's friends find love, he's left wondering if he will ever make it to the Altar. With subtle and light-hearted storytelling, director Mike Newell makes viewers feel intimate with characters in their happiest and saddest moments.

18. (2) Casablanca (1942) 1.7%
The ultimate love story set against the backdrop of WW2, filled with passion, actioned-pack drama and some of the most memorable dialogue in cinematic history. Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman give career-defining performances in this classic tear-jerker film.

19. (7) When Harry Met Sally (1989) 1.5%
Harry and Sally are friends, but only out of the bedroom. Their last eleven years of friendship have been purely platonic. Now they've fallen in love with each other. But can they remain true friends if they start having sex? The film tracks a star-crossed pair as they repeatedly drift apart and meet again over a span of 13 years and gradually fall madly, deeply, passionately into friendship, a friendship ever teetering on the edge of love.

20. (New) Mamma Mia (2008) 1.5%
Meryl Streep leads an all-star cast in the feature-film adaptation of the hit musical. An independent, single mother who owns a hotel on an idyllic Greek island, Donna (Streep) is about to let go of Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), the spirited daughter she's raised alone. For Sophie's wedding, Donna has invited her two lifelong best girlfriends from her one-time backing band, Donna and the Dynamos. But Sophie has secretly invited guests of her own in a quest to discover the identity of her father to walk her down the aisle, she brings back three men from Donna's past. Over 24 chaotic, magical hours, new love will bloom and old romances will be rekindled on this lush island full of possibilities.

The rest of the top 50:

21. (28) Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind (2004)
22. (32) Grease (1978)
23. (45) You’ve Got Mail (1998)
24. (29) Love Story (1970)
25. (new) Gregory’s Girl (1981)
26. (21) West Side Story (1961)
27. (22) Dr Zhivago (1965)
28. (37) Secretary (2002)
29. (19) Brokeback Mountain (2005)
30. (30) The English Patient (1996)

31. (20) An Affair To Remember (1957)
32. (23) The Bridges Of Madison County (1995)
33. (new) Sex and the City – The Movie (2008)
34. (33) Wuthering Heights (1939)
35. (18) Atonement (2008)
36. (42) My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997)
37. (13) Sense and Sensibility (1995)
38. (new) My Girl (1991)
39. 17) Jerry Maguire (1996)
40. (new) The Way We Were (1973)

41. (39) Shakespeare in Love (1988)
42. (46) Out Of Africa (1985)
43. (27) Moonstruck (1987)
44. (38) Roman Holiday (1953)
45. (41) Annie Hall (1977)
46. (new) My Fair Lady (1964)
47. (new) Remains of the Day (1993)
48. ( 35) Working Girl (1998)
49. (44) From Here To Eternity (1953)
50. (new) Last Tango In Paris (1972)