The competition was first organised by BBC Radio in 1957, originally as a national contest for amateur British choirs under the title Let the People Sing, and ran until 1982 as a weekly series each year.

[1] The final round of the first competition was broadcast in the Light Programme on 23 April 1957 and was followed four days later by a special concert relayed from the Royal Albert Hall.

These were broadcast via the Union's Euroradio satellite network, with the choirs performing in their home cities to listeners across Europe and to the jury.

After the 1982 competition, the BBC ceased broadcasting the national selection and international heats, and for a number of years aired only the final round.

[15] BBC Radio 3 hosted the 2001 and 2003 competitions live from the Queen Elizabeth Hall, in London[16][17] and the 2011 edition was staged at the new MediaCityUK studios in Salford, Greater Manchester.

[18] In 2019, the competition took place in Spain for the first time and was hosted by Catalunya Ràdio, at the 2,049-seat Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona on 13 October.

In 2015 the Young People's Chorus of New York City (YPC) became the first American choir to place first in the competition's history of 54 years.

However, on Monday morning, the judges rethought their initial decision and determined that the American chorus should tie with the Danish choir for first place in the Children's and Youth category.