History of the UK Singles Chart

On the 14th November 1952 the music scene in the United Kingdom changed forever.  It was the birth of a new phenomenon; it was the birth of the UK Singles Chart.

The very first chart published, by New Music Express, was only a Top 12 with the honour of Al Martino claiming the 1st number one song with “Here In My Heart”.  From then on every week publishers would announce which artist had the biggest selling single in the United Kingdom.

The first official Top 20 chart was published in 1954.  It then increased to a Top 30 chart two years later in 1956 and finally went on to what we know as The Top 40 chart in 1966.  Then in 1978, the music industry decided to increase the size of the chart to a Top 75.

In 1983 the company Gallup took over the reins of compiling the chart from over 500 retail outlets and announced the weekly figures in the Radio 1 Top 40 chart.  In the same decade The Official Charts Company were now responsible to collating the weekly figures.

Then at the beginning of 2004, digital downloads were included in the weekly chart rundown

Top 40 and Radio 1

On 30th September 1967 BBC Radio 1 broadcasted the very 1st UK Top 30 Singles Chart and has always been the only radio station for listeners to find out which song was atop of the chart each week.  To this day it is still the most listened to radio show across the country with millions of listeners tuning in every Sunday from 4pm to hear the chart rundown.  There have been many DJ’s that have had the prestigious honor of presenting the chart.  And they are:

Alan Freeman – 1962 – 1963 & 1964 – 1972

Don Moss – 1963 – 1964

Tom Browne – 1972 – 1978

Simon Bates – 1978 – 1979 & 1982 – 1984

Tony Blackburn – 1979 – 1982

Tommy Vance – 1982 – 1984

Richard Skinner – 1984 – 1986

Bruno Brookes – 1986 – 1990 & 1992 – 1994

Mark Goodier – 1990 – 1992 & 1995 – 2002

Wes Butters – 2002 – 2005

JK & Joel – 2005 – 2007

Fearne Cotton & Reggie Yates – 2007 – 2009

Reggie Yates 2009 – Present

Out of all of the above DJ’s I would have to say that during my time listening to the Top 40 each week, Bruno Brookes has been my favourite.  It’s also worth mentioning that after Mark Goodier’s departure in 2002 various Radio 1 DJ’s took to the decks to present the Top 40.  These include Chris Moyles, Scott Mills, Jo Wiley and even Tim Westwood.  Nowadays the presenters of the chart normally only play snippets from number 40 – 21 and will play the top 20 in full.