Dominating this year's coolest brands in the UK list are technology companies, with Apple ruling the top spot and overthrowing prestigious car manufacturer Aston Martin which has been on number one position in six of the last seven CoolBrands surveys.

Apple's prime position in the list comes after its release of the most awaited iPhone 5.

Next to Apple in second place is YouTube while Aston Martin took the third.

 In fourth position was social networking site Twitter, pursued by Google in fifth and BBC iPlayer in sixth, before Virgin Atlantic.

Digital and technology brands included in the top 20 are Sony, Bang and Olufsen, Bose, Nikon and Skype. The latter two, together with Twitter, appeared in the list for the first time.

Most of the brands in the list are free to customers like Skype, Twitter and YouTube. But what was surprising was the absence of one of the biggest networking sites Facebook that is also available to users for free. Stephen Cheliotis, CoolBrands expert council chairman said, "Perhaps reflective of its lack of success since becoming a public company, Facebook has failed to join its peers in the top 20."