Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops (TOTP) is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1 January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its history, it was broadcast on Thursday evenings on BBC One. Each show consisted of performances of some of the week's best-selling popular music records, usually excluding any tracks moving down the chart, including a rundown of that week's singles chart. This was originally the Top 20, though this varied throughout the show's history. The Top 30 was used from 1969, and the Top 40 from 1984.
This article is about the BBC television programme. For other uses, see Top of the Pops (disambiguation).Top of the Pops
- Stanley Dorfman (1964–1970)[1]
- Johnnie Stewart (1964–1969)
- Mel Cornish (1969–1970)[1]
- Robin Nash (1973–1980)
- Clara Amfo (2017–present)
- (see full list of past presenters)
United Kingdom
2,272 (508 missing)[2]
- Johnnie Stewart (1964–1969)
- Stanley Dorfman (1969–1973)
- Robin Nash (1973–1980)
- Michael Hurll (1980–1988)
- Paul Ciani (1988–1991)
- Stanley Appel (1991–1994)
- Ric Blaxill (1994–1997)
- Chris Cowey (1997–2003)
- Andi Peters (2003–2005)
- Mark Cooper (2005–2018)
- Alison Howe (2019–2021)
- Stanley Dorfman (1964–1970)[1]
- Johnnie Stewart (1964–1969)
- Mel Cornish (1969–1973)[1]
- Robin Nash (1973–1980)
- Neville Wortman
- Colin Charman
- Brian Whitehouse
- Phil Bishop
- Mark Wells
- Jeff Simpson
- Michael Kelpie (Series Producer 2000–2002)
- Barrie Kelly
- Dominic Smith
- Sally Wood
- Stephanie McWhinnie
- Caroline Cullen
25–60 minutes
BBC One (weekly)
1 January 1964 –
11 July 2005
BBC One (Christmas and New Year)
24 December 1964[3] –
31 December 2021
BBC Two (weekly)
17 July 2005 –
30 July 2006
BBC Two (Christmas)
24 December 2022 –
present
Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want to Be with You" was the first song featured on TOTP, while the Rolling Stones were the first band to perform, with "I Wanna Be Your Man".[4] Snow Patrol were the last act to play live on the weekly show when they performed their single "Chasing Cars".[5] Status Quo made more appearances than any other artist, with a total of 87 (the first was with "Pictures of Matchstick Men" in 1968 and last with "The Party Ain't Over Yet" in 2005).[6][7]
Special editions were broadcast on Christmas Day (and usually, until 1984, a second edition a few days after Christmas), featuring some of the best-selling singles of the year and the Christmas number one. Although the weekly show was cancelled in 2006,[8] the Christmas special continued annually. End-of-year round-up editions have also been broadcast on BBC1 on or around New Year's Eve, albeit largely featuring the same acts and tracks as the Christmas Day shows.[9][10][11] In a change of format, the festive specials did not return in 2022 or 2023 and were replaced by an end-of-year review show on BBC Two. It also survives as Top of the Pops 2, which began in 1994 and features vintage performances from the Top of the Pops archives. Though TOTP2 ceased producing new episodes since 2017, repeats of older episodes are still shown.
The Official Charts Company states that "performing on the show was considered an honour, and it pulled in just about every major player".[12] The show has seen seminal performances over its history. The March 1971 appearance of T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan wearing glitter and satins as he performed "Hot Love" is often seen as the inception of glam rock, and David Bowie's performance of "Starman" inspired future musicians.[13][14] In the 1990s, the show's format was sold to several foreign broadcasters in the form of a franchise package, and at one point various versions of the show were shown in more than 120 countries.[4] Editions of the programme from 1976 onwards started being repeated on BBC Four in 2011 and are aired on most Friday evenings – as of 2024 the repeat run has reached 1996. Episodes featuring disgraced presenters and artists such as Jimmy Savile, Dave Lee Travis, Jonathan King, Ian Watkins (Lostprophets), R. Kelly, Rolf Harris, and Gary Glitter are no longer repeated.[15]
Dance troupes[edit]
January to October 1964 – no dance troupes[edit]
In the era before promotional videos were routinely produced for every charting single, the BBC would frequently have neither the band themselves nor alternative footage available for a song selected for the programme. In the first few months of the show in 1964, the director would just scan across the audience dancing in the absence of any other footage, but by October 1964 a decision was made to at least occasionally bring in a dance troupe with a choreographed routine to some of the tracks.[130]
For much of the 1960s, the show's theme music was an organ-based instrumental track, also called "Top of the Pops", by the Dave Davani Four.
Spin-offs[edit]
Top of the Pops had a sister show called TOTP2 which used archive footage from as early as the late 1960s. It began on 17 September 1994. The early series were narrated by Johnnie Walker, before Steve Wright took over as narrator. In summer 2004 BBC Two's controller, Roly Keating, announced that it was being "rested". Shortly after UKTV G2 began showing re-edited versions of earlier programmes with re-recorded dialogue. Finally after a two-year break TOTP2 returned to the BBC Two schedules for a new series on Saturday, 30 September 2006, in an evening timeslot. It was still narrated by Steve Wright and featured a mixture of performances from the TOTP archive and newly recorded performances. The first edition of this series featured new performances by Razorlight and Nelly Furtado recorded after the final episode of Top of the Pops. In 2009 Mark Radcliffe took over as narrator. TOTP2 continued to receive sporadic new episodes from this point onwards, most notably Christmas specials, until 2017 when the show ceased producing new episodes, though previous episodes are still repeated on both BBC Two and BBC Four.
Aired on BBC Radio 1 between the mid-1990s and late 2001 was Top of the Pops: The Radio Show which went out every Sunday at 3 pm just before the singles chart, and was presented by Jayne Middlemiss and Scott Mills. It later reappeared on the BBC World Service in May 2003 originally presented by Emma B, where it continues to be broadcast weekly in an hourly format, now presented by Kim Robson and produced by former BBC World Service producer Alan Rowett.
The defunct channel Play UK created two spin offs; TOTP+ Plus and TOTP@Play (2000–2001) (until mid-2000, this show was called The Phone Zone and was a spin-off from BBC Two music series The O-Zone). BBC Choice featured a show called TOTP The New Chart (5 December 1999 – 26 March 2000) and on BBC Two TOTP+ (8 October 2000 – 26 August 2001) which featured the TOTP @ Play studio and presenters. This is not to be confused with the UK Play version of the same name. A more recent spin-off (now ended) was Top of the Pops Saturday hosted originally by Fearne Cotton and Simon Grant, and its successor Top of the Pops Reloaded. This was shown on Saturday mornings on BBC One and featured competitions, star interviews, video reviews and some Top of the Pops performances. This was aimed at a younger audience and was part of the CBBC Saturday morning line-up. This was to rival CD:UK at the same time on ITV.
A number of performers have sent up the format in various ways. This was often by performers who disliked the mime format of the show, as a protest against this rather than simply refusing to appear.
Top of the Pops magazine[edit]
Top of the Pops magazine has been running since February 1995, and filled the void in the BBC magazine portfolio where Number One magazine used to be. It began much in the mould of Q magazine, then changed its editorial policy to directly compete with popular teen celebrity magazines such as Smash Hits and Big, with free sticker giveaways replacing Brett Anderson covers.
A July 1996 feature on the Spice Girls coined the famous "Spice" nicknames for each member (Baby, Ginger, Posh, Scary and Sporty) that stayed with them throughout their career as a group and beyond.[208]
The BBC announced that the magazine would continue in publication despite the end of the television series, and is still running.
An earlier Top of the Pops magazine appeared briefly in the mid-1970s. Mud drummer Dave Mount sat reading an edition throughout a 1975 appearance on the show.
Top of the Pops Awards[edit]
The Top of the Pops Awards (also known as TOTP Awards) was an annual awards ceremony, with winners chosen by BBC One viewers, from 2001 to 2005.[209][210][211] Hosted at the Manchester Arena, the awards was a collaboration between BBC and BBC Worldwide.[212]
Licensing[edit]
In May 2006, following a special Red Hot Chili Peppers concert recorded in the car park of BBC Television Centre, Hammersmith and Fulham Council (which governs the area the centre is located) informed the BBC that it lacked the necessary public entertainment licence (as required by the Licensing Act 2003). Until the BBC could obtain the licence, BBC staff stood-in as audience members for live music programmes.[217]
VHSs and DVDs[edit]
In 2002, a crossover direct-to-video VHS was released between Top of the Pops and Tweenies, containing footage taken from the episodes where the Tweenies themselves had performed on the show, which the characters watched on a TV screen at their playgroup.
In 2004 there was a DVD released called Top of the Pops 40th Anniversary 1964–2004 DVD. It features live performances, containing one song for each year, except 1966. (Two tracks from 1965 are featured instead). Also included as extras are seven opening titles, most notably the one with the flying coloured LP's from 1981. This title sequence had Phil Lynott's song "Yellow Pearl" as the theme. The 1986 and 1989 titles are also featured, with Paul Hardcastle's hit "The Wizard" as the theme. This DVD was to celebrate 40 years since the show started.
There was also a DVD quiz released in 2007 called The Essential Music Quiz. There was also a DVD in 2001 called Summer 2001, a sister DVD to the album of the same name.