Fashionable favourites

As we count down the final days of the decade known as the ‘noughties', new research by smile, the internet bank from The Co-operative Bank reveals how our tastes have changed over the past ten years.

With the X Factor again proving popular this year, it may come as no surprise that the poll results reveal that Cheryl Cole is the nation's favourite celebrity of 2009. However looking back it was only ten years ago when the early days of the ‘girl power phenomenon' began and the members of another girl group, the Spice Girls' were the nations favourite celebrities.

The findings reveal that female artists have provided our favourite songs in both years, with Shania Twain's That Don't Impress Me Much, the nation's song of choice in 1999 and Lady GaGa's Poker Face taking the top spot in 2009.

However the research also proves that some favourites do remain constant, with Italian food remaining as popular today as it was 10 years ago.  Indian food has now leapfrogged into second place, up from fourth in 1999, with Chinese cuisine taking the third spot in both 1999 and 2009.

According to the results the nation's favourite drink has also evolved; whereas during 1999 the UK would have probably preferred a pint of beer the findings reveal we would now rather have a glass of wine, with beer now our third choice of beverage. It seems however that our affection for tea remains as popular as ever, retaining its place as our second favourite drink.  

John Barker, Head of smile, comments: "The findings show that as time moves on inevitably many of our preferences change. However some things do remain constant; a decade ago, smile was the first internet bank to be created, and ten years on internet banking still proves to be one of the most popular ways for people to manage their daily banking activities".