MTV's top 10 videos

1. Fatboy Slim - Praise You 2. Michael Jackson -Thriller 3. Eminem - The Real Slim Shady 4. Madonna - Ray Of Light 5. Beastie Boys - Sabotage 6. Weezer - Buddy Holly 7. Blur - Coffee & TV 8. Chemical Brothers - Let Forever Be 9. Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity 10. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody

The Top 100 Videos Of All Time is being broadcast on MTV in three parts, having started on Wednesday, and is just one event organised to celebrate the channel's birthday.

Fatboy Slim - otherwise known as DJ Norman Cook - made his video with Being John Malkovich director Spike Jonze.

It starred a group of formation dancers performing to crowds outside a US theatre.

Last week, Cook also won nine nominations for this year's MTV Video Music Awards for Weapon Of Choice.

Jackson's Thriller video broke new ground because of its length and the quality and ambition of its special effects.

But it also opened the door for black artists to appear on MTV, which had largely ignored anything but white rock and pop until then.

Overall, Jackson had three entries in the top 100 videos list. Madonna - a heroine of the MTV generation - had the most with four entries. They included the videos for Material Girl and Like a Prayer.

Jackson 's Thriller made it to number two

Bjork and U2 had three tracks. George Michael had two as a solo artist and a third with Club Tropicana from Wham.

Eminem was one of many acts which achieved two entries, one of which, The Real Slim Shady, came in at number three.

Queen's classic 1975 hit Bohemian Rhapsody was at number 10 and Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer was in the number 17 slot.

The first video to be shown on MTV was The Buggles' Video Killed The Radio Star. But in the poll it came last, in the 100th position.

But its importance in the history of music broadcasting is undisputed. It began a channel that changed the way pop music was consumed and produced.

MTV - which has channels in Europe, the UK and Ireland - estimates that, in 20 years, it has shown more than 30,000 videos in the US alone.

Mariah Carey will not take part

Many of the stars of these videos featured in a three-hour concert, MTV20: Live and Almost Legal, being put on for the anniversary.

Acts such as Run DMC, Puff Daddy, Bon Jovi and Depeche Mode were part of the event at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York on Wednesday night and shown on MTV UK.