UK TOP 40 HISTORY
Chris Moyles BBC Radio 1 DJ
The UK singles chart was first compiled and published in 1952, originally as a publicity stunt by the New Musical Express to increase circulation sales over another rival newspaper. The Top 12 chart quickly became very popular and soon thereafter record companies incorporated the chart into their press releases.
During the sixties, the singles chart generated many imitators, each vying for the coveted top official chart of the country. This caused major confusion because different sectors of the society such as the general public, the press, and the record industry chose different record charts as their own guide as to what the top singles of the country were. Because of this, an official and more accurate chart emerged in 1969. For the fist time, a professional polling group was organized and they compiled the sales statistics from 500 record companies into the official Top 40 chart. This finally gave a more precise indication of actual record sales from one source.
Today, the UK singles chart is organized by The Official UK Charts Company. The Top 75 and 200 lists are printed in Music Week and ChartsPlus magazines respectively, while the Top 40 list is published online. Approximately 6,500 UK retail stores and most UK online digital download sites contribute the sales data. Although the official chart contains the top 75 singles, the full chart consists of the top 200. Only the Top 40 chart gets exposed to a wider audience via the radio, specifically BBC Radio 1.