Top of the Pops

This article is about the BBC television programme. For other uses, see Top of the Pops (disambiguation).

Top of the Pops
Logo used 1973–1986 and 2019–2021
Created byJohnnie Stewart and Stanley Dorfman[1]
Directed by
Presented by
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of episodes2,272 (508 missing)[2]
Production
Executive producers
Producers
  • 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
Running time25–60 minutes
Production companyBBC Studios Music Productions
Original release
NetworkBBC One (weekly)
Release1 January 1964 (1964-01-01) –
11 July 2005 (2005-07-11)
NetworkBBC One (Christmas and New Year)
Release24 December 1964 (1964-12-24)[3] –
31 December 2021 (2021-12-31)
NetworkBBC Two (weekly)
Release17 July 2005 (2005-07-17) –
30 July 2006 (2006-07-30)
NetworkBBC Two (Christmas)
Release24 December 2022 (2022-12-24) –
present
Related
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

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.

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 from 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, Rolf Harris, and Gary Glitter are no longer repeated.[15]

  1. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "TOP OF THE POPS". lostshows.com. Archived from the original on 5 January 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
  3. ^ "BBC One London – 24 December 1964 – BBC Genome". BBC Genome. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  4. ^ a b "BBC says fond farewell to Top of the Pops". BBC. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 21 September 2019.
  5. ^ "And the most-played song on UK radio is ... Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol". BBC News. 17 July 2019. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Status Quo: Top of Top of the Pops". 21 June 2006.
  7. ^ "Episode #42.38". IMDb.
  8. ^ Show's over for Top of the Pops Archived 10 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine, The Guardian, 20 June 2006.
  9. ^ "Top of the Pops – FAQ's". BBC. 24 September 2014. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  10. ^ "Programme Information Network TV Weeks 52/1". BBC Press Office. Archived from the original on 30 November 2007. Retrieved 1 December 2007.
  11. ^ "Entertainment | Top of the Pops back at Christmas". BBC News. 20 November 2008. Archived from the original on 15 February 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2016.
  12. ^ "Looking back at Top Of The Pops, which ended 10 years ago this week". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on 6 August 2020. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  13. ^ Mark Paytress, Bolan – The Rise And Fall Of A 20th Century Superstar (Omnibus Press 2002) ISBN 0-7119-9293-2, pp 180–181.
  14. ^ "Bowie performs 'Starman' on 'Top of the Pops'". Seven Ages of Rock. BBC. 5 July 1972. Archived from the original on 21 March 2013.
  15. ^ Revoir, Paul (27 November 2015). "Top of the Pops will continue on BBC4 – but without Jimmy Savile and Dave Lee Travis episodes". Radio Times. Archived from the original on 14 June 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.