Top Of The Pops - History
In this section you can read about the start of the show back in 1964, then end back in 2006, which acts made it on the last ever show, the acts that made it on its comeback show, top gear of the pops - the comic relief spin off, the christmas special in 2007 and some unknown facts about the show! Theres also a link to the best acts ever on Top of the pops.
The Beginning
Top of the pops first aired on 1st January 1964 on BBC television service (now known as BBC 1) and last aired 30th July 2006 on BBC two. Top of the pops got ratings as high as 15 million in its heydays of 1970’s. Originally airing on a Thursday night and ratings hit 15 million. Firstly ratings started declining when Top of the pops moved to a Friday night. People had to chose between top of the pops and Coronation Street.
Ratings continued to decline in the nineties and naughties due to 24-hour music channels. Ratings slightly rose with the re-launch of Top of the pops in 2004 but it wasn’t enough to save the world’s longest music programme. Top of the pops had numerous looks over the years and the final look in 2004 was the look that was the BBC’s hit or miss for the programme.
In 2005 Top of the pops moved to BBC two for the first time in 40 years. Ratings continued to decline in its Sunday slot and eventually got axed.
During the original run of Top of the pops, it had numerous spin offs…. Only one being successful to survive the axe…Top of the pops 2. Other spin offs include Top of the pops plus…Top of the pops Saturday…Top of the pops reloaded…Top of the pops the new chart however have all been axed due to low ratings
In 2005, the BBC axed Top of the pops 2 as both Top of the pops and Top of the pops 2 were on the same channel they decided to combine the two programmes together.
The End
The original Top of the pops ended on 30th July 2006. Sir Jimmy Saville (who presented the very 1st episode on 1st January 1964) came back to present the final episode along with Tony Blackburn, Pat Sharp (the DJ I was talking to on century fm) and Edith Bowmen. Fearne Cotton the current presenter at the time couldn’t film the final episode so she recorded a message from the set of Love Island for the final episode saying its legendary quote “Its still number 1 its top of the pops!” Clips of the best songs from the sixties, seventies, eighties, nineties and naughties were aired. These included Cliff Richard, Tom Jones, The Hollies, Queen, ABBA, Band Aid, Ricky Martin, Prince, Britney Spears, Cold play, James Blunt and Girls Aloud!
Memorable acts that appeared on the final episode were:
- The Rolling Stones – The last time (1965)
- Spice Girls – Wannabe (1996)
- Jackson 5 – Rockin Robin (1972)
- Robbie Williams – Let me entertain you (1998)
- Beyonce – Crazy in love (2003)
- Sonny and Cher – I got you babe (1965)
- Gnarls Barkley – Crazy (2006)
- David Bowie – Starman (1984)
- WHAM! – Wake me up before you go go (1984)
- Madonna – Like a virgin (1984)
- Shakira – Hips don’t lie (2006)
These acts were not live as the bands have either split, are too old are simply because they are dead.
The last ever number 1 on Top of the pops was:
· Shakira – Hips don’t lie (2006)
This wasn’t showed live either. They played the music video for the last number 1.
Sir Jimmy Saville ended Top of the pops by turning the lights off in Studio 3 in the BBC television centre!
Few facts about Top of the pops:
· Only acts that were number 1 or went up in the charts were allowed to perform on the show. This rule was abolished in 1997 to make ratings rise.· Cliff Richards has been on top of the pops 73 times…however only 43 acts remain! (74 of you count his TOTP2 performance in December 2006)· Top of the pops was never recorded until 1965. The show went out live. Very little footage exists of Top of the pops from the sixties because it was lost, recorded over or destroyed.· Snow patrol were officially the last band ever to perform live on the show· Girls aloud were the last band ever to feature on top of the pops…within the closing titles.· Top of the pops was originally aired in a disused church until the late 60’s.· Top of the pops has had over 150 presenters.However 2 months after the original Top of the pops got axed, Top of the pops 2 returned to our screens when it supposedly got axed in 2005. The new series of Top of the pops 2 started on 30th September 2006 and the acts on the show are people who have usually been in the news over the last 2 weeks, if it’s the acts birthday or if they have made a comeback into the charts (because now any song can enter the charts if it is downloaded!) Top of the pops 2 contains old acts as well as 3 new acts from the modern day specially recorded for top of the pops 2. Pretty much the same format as the normal Top of the pops… However due to the BBC saying that TOTP2 is the same format as the original TOTP and the fact that they want to expand the Jools Holland show the programme now gets 6 episodes a year…spaced out throughout the year. As we are now in 2008…the BBC haven’t decomissioned or recomissioned TOTP2 but after contacting the BBC they say they are going to cary out the same process…show TOTP2 specials throught the year!
Christmas number 1 2006
The original Top of the pops made its comeback on Christmas day for a one off episode. Some of the acts that featured on this episode were:
· McFly – Rockin Robin - Not being released. Specially sung for Top Of The Pops· The legendary Girls Aloud – Something kinda ooh – October 2006· Lilly Allen – Smile – April 2006· Gnarls Barkley – Crazy – April 2006· Sandi Thom – I wish I was a punk rocker (with flowers in my hair) – May 2006· Beyonce – De ja Vu – August 2006
As well as this it had clips of the best songs from January to March, April to June, July to September, October to December. These included Pussycat dolls, Madonna, Infernal, Shakira, Keane, All saints, snow patrol and Take That.
The Christmas number 1 was:
- Leona Lewis – A moment like this – December 2006
2 facts about this Christmas special:
- Gnarls Barkley and Beyonce never performed a special performance for the Christmas special. Gnarls Barkley recorded a special message on the set of top of the pops 2 after he’d performed on the spin off. Top of the pops showed his original performance of crazy from April 2006. Beyonce recorded a message from America. Top of the pops showed a special performance of Beyonce performing De ja Vu outside the BBC television centre from August 2006.
- The Christmas episode of top of the pops that went out on 25th December 2006…even though Fearne Cotton said it was live…the episode was actually filmed late November 2006. You could tell this because of the studio used for Lilly Allen’s performance of “Littlest Things” for top of the pops 2 was the Christmas set. The only performance that wasn’t filmed in November was the Christmas number 1…cause the BBC didn’t know the Christmas number 1. Leona Lewis pre-recorded her performance of “A moment like this” on Top of the pops on 24th December 2006…when she found out she was Christmas number 1.
Comic relief
Top of the pops returned for comic relief night on Friday 16th March 2007…BUT with a massive twist! It was called ‘Top gear of the pops’ Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond presented the programme and made their own charts up including the weeks shortest song…Cascada - Miricle won with the duration of the song being 2:46.
They also created their own opening titles…with past Top of the pops logos and cars and played the original Top of the pops music that aired 43 years ago.
Jeremy Clarkson said the reason why Top of the pops was killed off is because modern music is s**t and people couldn’t see through Fearne Cotton’s dress!
Top Gear of the pops was aired on 16th March 2007 @10pm on BBC two.
Christmas Number 1 2007
25th Decemeber 2007, and a massive shock to the media, Top of the pops was back for 1 day only as they counted down the christmas charts and played the best music from 2007. Acts included:
- The Legendary Girls Aloud – Call the Shots (Nov 07)
- Katie Mellua – Have yourself a merry little Christmas (Specially recorded for top of the pops)
- Rihanna – Umbrella (May 07)
- Take That – Shine (Mar 07)
- Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby (Feb 07)
- Kate Nash – Foundations (Jul 07)
- The Hoosiers – worried about Ray (Sept 07)
- Leona Lewis – Bleeding Love (Nov 07)
- Amy Whinehouse - Rehab (Apr 07)
- Leon Jackson – When you Believe (Dec 07)
And as usual, TOTP had clips from the best music from 2007. This featured The Spice Girls, Gwen stefani, Mika and many more!
Also this year, Top of the pops had a special section for the best christmas songs of all time…put together by top of the pops 2. Acts included:
- WHAM! – Last Christmas (Dec 1984)
- Boney M – Marys boy child (Dec 1978)
- Mariah Carey – All I want for Christmas is you (Dec 1994)
- Band Aid – Do they know its Christmas time (Dec 1984)
- Wizzard – I wish it could be Christmas everyday (Dec 1981)
- Slade – Merry Christmas everyone (Dec 1974)
Some facts about the show:
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This years Top of the pops was recorded in the Top of the pops 2 studios as the BBC tried to save money, hence the 1960’s and the 1980’s Top of the pops Logo…the current Top of the pops logo wasn’t present. The most modern logo to be seen was the logo used between 1997 – 2002.
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Once again, Top of the pops wasn’t live. It was recorded 3 weeks before broadcasting.
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Rihanna, Take That, Leona Lewis, Amy Whinehouse and Leon Jackson’s performances were NOT Top of the pops performances. Rihanna’s performance of Umbrellas was recorded at Radio 1’s big weekend, Take that’s performance of Shine was recorded at the concert for Diana on 1st July 2007, Leona Lewis performance of Bleeding Love was recorded at Children in need 2007, Amy Whinehouse’s performance was from radio 1’s Live Lounge and Leon Jacksons number 1 performance was the music video.
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Rihanna was going to do a Top of the pops performance for the christmas special while she was in the UK on her Good Girl Gone Bad Tour…but due to ill health she prosponed the tour…and cancelled her appearance on Top Of The Pops
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Girls Aloud’s performance of Call The Shots had to be recorded twice…after the fire balls at the side went out of control!
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Usually recording a programme takes the length of the show…Top of the pops started recording at 9pm and ended at 11:30pm due to all the problems they had this year!
Christmas 2008 is cancelled!
2008 and the BBC decided to not broadcast a christmas special of the original Top of the pops! After 43 years it was no more! Artists like The Ting Tings, Girls Aloud, The kaiser chiefs and Adam ant all lashed out at the BBC for this decision. Simon Cowell tried to buy the rights to the show and said he would broadcast it on ITV…however the BBC rejected his offer.
Top Of The Pops - The Radio Show
Top of the pops - The radio show originally started on BBC Radio 1 on Sundays boradcasting at 3pm - 1 hour before the official UK top 40. A few months later the Show re-appeared on BBC World Services in May 2003 - and despite the axe of the BBC TV show - Top of the pops - The Radio show still broadcasts on BBC world Services. Click here to listen
Top of the pops today
So to the present day the original Top of the pops isn’t on anymore.
Top of the pops 2 is comissioned randomly throughout the year with special themes.
Top of the pops - The Radio Show still broadcasts on BBC World Services.
Top of the pops - CD’s are still released. after the axe of the show a CD collection was released with a CD dedicated to each year Top of the pops broadcasted - from 1964 - 2006.
Top of the pops is still shown in different territories around the world - however vast majority of these now ending as they heavily relied on the British version for imports of British music.
Top of the pops is the worlds longest running music programme.
Even though the original run has finished, Top of the pops 2, the official top of the pops website and the Top of the pops magazine still run today. Since the suprise return of the Top of the pops Christmas Special in 2007, critics have been asking for the full weekly chart show to make a comeback! Will the original Top of the pops ever make a comeback?
TO WATCH THE BEST ACTS FROM TOP OF THE POPS CLICK HERE
