The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 (such as the BBC) or the Top 75 (such as Music Week Magazine) of this list. Around 6,500 UK retail outlets contribute sales data, as well as most UK online digital download stores. Unlike in the U.S., no airplay statistics are used for the official UK Singles Chart. The chart week runs from Sunday to Saturday, with most UK singles being released on Mondays.
The Top 40 chart is first revealed on Sunday afternoons by BBC Radio 1 (prior even to posting on the OCC’s own website), with the chart subsequently being printed in Music Week magazine (Top 75 only) on the following Monday, and the independent newsletter ChartsPlus (Top 200) on Wednesdays. It is also published online on various sites (generally Top 40 only). Radio 1 broadcasts the Top 40, in reverse order, on Sundays from 16:00 to 19:00. Mark Goodier and Bruno Brookes are famous for having been the presenters of this chart show for many years, though few can rival Alan Freeman whose Pick Of The Pops formed the chart show throughout the 1960s and into the early 70s. Since October 2007, Reggie Yates has presented the chart show and, until September 2009, with Fearne Cotton. Cotton was the first ever permanent female presenter of the Official Chart Show. A rival chart called The Big Top 40 Show, is based on downloads and commercial radio airplay, which is broadcast on 140 commercial local radio stations.
According to the Official UK Charts Company's statistics, as of 22 November 2009, 1,114 singles have topped the UK singles chart. The precise number is debatable due to the profusion of different competing charts during the 50s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, although the usual list used is that endorsed by the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles and subsequently adopted by The Official UK Charts Company.
History
Early charts
Singles charts based on sales of records were first published by the American Billboard magazine as early as 1940. In that respect the United Kingdom could be said to have been slow to pick up on the idea. The first British singles chart based on sales, was published in the 14 November 1952 edition of the New Musical Express ( NME ). Even then, it was at first little more than a gimmick, compared to the more prestigious sheet music charts. These had been produced on and off since 1936, and in their turn formed the basis of the first-ever chart countdown show on Radio Luxembourg. The new sales chart was a tool in the circulation war against NME' s much older (and more popular) rival Melody Maker . The chart, described as a top 12 although the first one actually listed 15 records due to tied positions, was the creation of the paper's advertising manager, Percy Dickins, who compiled it by telephoning around 20 major record stores and aggregating their sales reports. He would continue to personally oversee the compilation of the chart well into the 1960s.
The chart rapidly became one of the paper's most popular features. After only a few weeks, it started being quoted in record company advertisements and press releases. In October 1954 it expanded to a Top 20 and in April 1956 to a Top 30. The chart also spawned imitators; Record Mirror launched its own chart in 1955 and Melody Maker on 7 April 1956. However, none of this meant that the sheet music chart became redundant overnight. For a few more years it was still regarded as important, and was probably more accurately compiled, but the sales chart was the chart of the future.
The forerunner of today's official chart first appeared in the music trade publication Record Retailer (now Music Week ) in March 1960 as a Top 50, but was not immediately recognised as the definitive chart in the country. Arguably, the NME chart was still the most recognised chart, and had the advantage of widespread exposure due to its use by Radio Luxembourg. Throughout the sixties, the various different charts vied for public recognition, leading to some historical anomalies - for example, The Beatles' second single "Please Please Me" was listed at number one on most charts, but not in Record Retailer . To add to the confusion, the chart used by the BBC on their popular shows Pick of the Pops and Top Of The Pops , in an effort to remain impartial, was actually calculated by averaging out all the others, and so did not agree with any of them, and was prone to tied positions, the most notorious example being when three records (The Beach Boys "Do It Again", The Bee Gees "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", and Herb Alpert's "This Guy's In Love With You") tied at Number 1 in Summer 1968. There were also charts, such as that used in the mid 1960s by the "pirate" station Radio London (the "Fab 40"), which, because of the size of the audience, were influential, but were essentially airplay charts (allegedly influenced by payola) and bore no relation to sales.
In February 1969 a more reliable chart emerged, from an alliance between the BBC and Record Retailer. For the first time a professional polling organisation, BMRB, was commissioned to oversee the chart, and a pool of 500 record shops was used, more than twice as many as had been used for any previous chart. The new Official Top 50, computer-compiled for the first time, was inaugurated in the week ending 12 February 1969. Since then it, and its successors, have been published every week by Record Retailer and then Music Week.
In May 1978, the singles chart was expanded from a Top 50 to a Top 75.
Electronic Age
In January 1983 ; BMRB lost their contract to Gallup, who arranged for electronic data gathering to replace the old sales diary method of compilation, which as well as being reliant on the smooth running of the postal service (as had been demonstrated by a two month long postal strike in early 1971), was also vulnerable to anyone wanting to manipulate the charts (as revealed in a 1980 exposé by World in Action ). Although Gallup had been producing the charts since 1983, the first chart terminals appeared in record shops in 1984. As a result, in October 1987, it was now possible for the chart, incorporating sales up to close of business on Saturday, to be announced on Sunday afternoon, rather than being delayed until Tuesday (or even Wednesday following a bank holiday) as was previously the case. From this time on, the Sunday BBC Radio 1 chart show would broadcast a new chart for the first time rather than give the final run-down of a chart that had been around for the past five days.
The chart was still officially a Top 75. However, in January 1983 Gallup started producing a "Next 25" section, i.e. positions 76-100, and this was printed in the official trade magazine Music Week and also Record Mirror from then on. This section was not however an accurate reflection of sales. Discs that that been falling by more than a certain amount were excluded, allowing others to climb to positions they did not really hold. If a former hit showed a small increase in sales (perhaps by being sold at cut-price to clear the remaining copies from stores quickly), it appeared as a re-entry when it had actually only gone back up a few places.
By 1990 costs to produce the charts had risen to over £600,000. Gallup sampled (depending on source) 900 or 1,500 stores each week. The trade association of UK record companies, British Phonographic Industry Ltd. (BPI), announced in January the termination of the contracts with Gallup, Music Week and the BBC for 30 June 1990. On 1 July 1990, the publishing company of Music Week, Spotlight Publications/Link House Magazines, formed a new independent company, Chart Information Network Ltd. (CIN), to commission the charts. CIN co-operated with Gallup, the BBC and the British Association of Record Dealers (BARD). Initially the BPI refused to get involved in CIN's Chart Supervisory Committee (CSC) or to authorise the charts.
In November 1990, the "Next 25" section of the UK singles chart, i.e., positions 76–100 with specially applied rules, ceased to be printed in the official trade magazine Music Week. Between 24 November 1990 and 6 April 1991, only Record Mirror continued to print the "Next 25".
In January 1991, CIN became a joint-venture between Music Week publisher Spotlight/Link House and the BPI. Each part pays 50% of the cost of the charts, which had then risen to £1 million, but also shares equally in the revenue. The CSC now comprised members from Music Week , CIN, Gallup, the BBC, BARD, and the BPI. Subsequently CIN sought to open new marketing opportunities and sponsorship deals; these included premium-rate fax and telephone services and chart newsletters, Charts+Plus (published from May 1991 to November 1994) and Hit Music (published from September 1992 to May 2001).
From May 1991, the newly established newsletter "Charts+Plus" featured the singles charts with positions 76–200 (plus artist albums positions 76–150, Top 50 compilations, and several genre and format charts. In September 1992, a second newsletter was created: "Hit Music" features, among other charts, the singles Top 75 plus a revived "Next 25".
In early 1993, tenders were sought for the chart compilation contract. Gallup's contract was to run out by the end of January 1994. In April 1993, BARD renewed its contract
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