Songfacts®:

• Take That's Gary Barlow wrote this classic love song when he was 15 years old.
  
  Speaking to The Guardian in 1996, Barlow said he tried to pitch the song to multiple music executives when he was a teenager, with little success: "I went up to London once a week, and record companies would tell me I wasn't quite what they wanted. At 19, I went to Rocket Publishing and played the guy 'A Million Love Songs,' and he literally threw it out the window and told me never to waste his time again."
  
  Eventually, Barlow played the song for Take That's future manager, Nigel Martin-Smith, who was looking to form a boy band at the time. In his autobiography, A Better Me, Barlow said Martin-Smith was so impressed by the song, he didn't realize it was Barlow who was singing it: "'This tape, who has written the songs?' I told him, me. 'Who wrote the words, then?' Told him again, me. 'And the music and the backing track.' 'Wow, you'd better come back and see me tomorrow.'"
• British session musician Snake Davis played the saxophone on this song, which helped showcase a more sophisticated side to Take That. During an interview with BBC's The One Show in 2011, the jazz instrumentalist said he recorded his parts in one go and was paid "£17 or £18" for the privilege. Davis added it's possible to hear him hitting a bum note in the iconic opening solo before Barlow's lead vocal comes in.
• Directed by Brad Langford, the music video for this song features black-and-white footage of Take That performing beside a piano alongside a pencil-sketch animation depicting the band's attempts to win over an emperor's daughter. An alternative video is available on Take That's YouTube channel that removes the animation, leaving only the performance footage.
• Leona Lewis performed this song alongside Take That on the final of The X Factor in 2006. Lewis ultimately went on to win the singing competition, scooping a £1 million recording contract with Simon Cowell's label, Syco Music.
  
  Barlow also sang "A Million Love Songs" with Coldplay frontman Chris Martin as part of his Crooner Sessions in 2020. Barlow started the remote duet series during the COVID-19 lockdown, with other guests including Brian May, Elton John, and Rick Astley.
• This song soundtracks Gavin Shipman and Stacey West's first dance at their wedding in the BBC comedy series Gavin & Stacey. The show's creator, James Corden, is a massive fan of Take That, with the British host recording a special charity edition of Carpool Karaoke with the band in 2017.
• "A Million Love Songs" was the sixth single released from Take That's debut studio album, Take That & Party, in 1992. It peaked at #7 in the UK, making it the first song written by Barlow to reach the Top 10.