Top 40
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219781648
2008-06-16T21:13:18Z
200.45.111.68
{{otheruses4|the generic music industry term|the radio format|Contemporary hit radio}}
The '''Top Forty''' or '''Top 40''' is a [[music business|music industry]] shorthand for the currently most-popular songs in a particular [[musical genre|genre]]. When used without qualification, it typically refers to the best-selling or most frequently broadcast [[pop music]] songs. According to legend, the Top 40 radio format was created by [[Todd Storz]] in [[Omaha, Nebraska|Omaha]] in [[1955]], after observing customers at a bar playing the same handful of [[songs]] on a [[jukebox]] over and over again. Storz realized that treating the [[radio station|radio station's]] [[playlist]] as a jukebox would ensure that listeners would always hear popular songs, regardless of what time of the day they tuned in, if the station made an effort to play a smaller group of songs.{{Fact|date=June 2007}} The music ranged anywhere from [[country & western]] to [[pop music]], [[rock & roll]], even [[instrumentals]] and [[novelty songs]].
[[radio jingles|Jingles]], [[contests]], listener dedications, [[news report|news]] updates, traffic reports, and other features were designed to make Top 40 radio particularly attractive to listeners. By early [[1964]], the era of the [[British Invasion]], Top 40 radio had become the dominant radio format for [[North America|North American]] listeners and quickly swept much of the Western world, being brought into the [[United Kingdom]] by [[offshore radio|offshore stations]] such as [[Wonderful Radio London]], and later adopted by [[BBC Radio 1]]. Some stations tried ''extremely'' "tight" radio playlists, going with the Top 30 or even the Top 20 songs, but most industry experts felt that [[listener fatigue]] would set in more quickly with smaller lists. Top 40 quickly became the dominant radio format of the [[1960s]], [[1970s]], and [[1980s]], although as music formats began to fracture, most stations began to specialize in certain restricted kinds of popular music, usually playing specific types of [[rock (music)|rock]] such as [[mainstream]], the so-called "[[soft rock]]", or other music charted by radio industry [[trade publication|trade publications]].
Other lists of hit songs may include a different number of entries, such as a "Top 50" or "Top 100".
The current top songs are tracked by a variety of trade publications, such as:
*[[Argentina Top 40]], the ranking of the top 40 songs charting in the official argentine chart.
*[[Top 40 Mainstream]], a chart of current popular songs in the [[United States]], compiled by ''[[Billboard Magazine]]'' and its various predecessors
*[[Radio & Records]] magazine, recently purchased by [[Billboard]]
*[[Top Latino]], the Latin American Music Chart.
*[[UK Singles Chart|UK Top Forty]], a [[United Kingdom|British]] version of the same concept.
*[[Dutch Top 40]], the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] music chart.
*[[Ö3 Austria Top 40]], the official [[Austria]]n music chart.
*[[Los 40 Principales]], in Spain.
*[[The Net 40]], a worldwide user generated Top 40 show.
Radio programs that highlight currently popular songs also refer to the "Top 40":
*[[Top 40 (radio format)]], a [[radio format]] based on playing the top 40 popular songs of the week (may or may not be based on ''Billboard'''s chart), also known as "[[contemporary hit radio]]" or "CHR"
*[[American Top 40]], a weekly radio [[Radio syndication|syndicated]] [[countdown]] radio show originally created and hosted by [[Casey Kasem]] from [[1970]] to [[1988]] and again from [[1998]] to [[2004]], and hosted by [[Ryan Seacrest]], as of [[2004]]. <!--Whoever marked this "citation needed" obviously does not live in the United States. Otherwise, who hasn't heard of Casey Kasem, whether you like him or not? Get real.-->
*[[EHR Top 40]], European Hit Radio Top 40 aired in Latvia and Lithuania.
==Further reading==
* Durkee, Rob. "American Top 40: The Countdown of the Century." Schriner Books, [[New York City, New York|New York City]], 1999.
* Battistini, Pete, "American Top 40 with Casey Kasem The 1970s." ''Authorhouse.com'', [[January 31]], [[2005]]. ISBN 1-4184-1070-5.
* Douglas, Susan, "Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination," New York: Times Books, 1999.
* Fong-Torres, Ben, "The Hits Just Keep On Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio", San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 1998.
* MacFarland, David, "The Development of the Top 40 Radio Format", New York: Arno Press, 1979.
* Fisher, Mark, "Something in the Air: Radio, Rock, and the Revolution That Shaped a Generation", New York: Random House, 2007.
* Goulart, Elwood F. 'Woody', "The Mystique and Mass Persuasion: Bill Drake & Gene Chenault’s Rock and Roll Radio Programming[http://www.bossradioforever.com/html/ebook.html]", 2006.
[[Category:Pop music]]
[[Category:Record charts]]
[[Category:radio formats]]