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The very first UK Chart published was by N.M.E. Magazine on 14th November 1952 and was a Top 12:

The charts were extended on 1st October 1954 to a Top 20:

On 13th April 1956 the charts were extended further to a Top 30:

From 10th March 1960 the chart was compiled by the retail music magazine Record Retailer (later to become MUSIC WEEK), although N.M.E. continued to publish its own independent charts as other magazines such as Melody Maker and Disc& Music Echo had theirs.

From this date the charts them became a Top 50. Although Music Week (Record Retailer) was an RECORD INDUSTRY magazine sent to record shops, their charts became available to the public when printed in the magazine RECORD MIRROR, from March 1962 right up until the day it went out of print in April 1991.

US records where the sounds of the time until the arrival of The Beatles, and for the first time in March 1964 UK acts dominated all the Top 10 positions.

This could be perhaps due to the arrival of Pirate Radio in Britain of which the first was Radio Caroline on Good Friday 1964.  1st January 1964 saw the first ever edition of the TV show TOP OF THE POPS from the BBC, it was first broadcast on Wednesday evenings at 18.35 hrs. It was intended to only last for 6 weeks, with an option for another 6, but due to its popularity they kept it going, though; now in a slightly different format it is still being broadcast.  After the initial broadcasting it then went out on Thursday evenings at 19.00 hrs (7pm) for years, but now it goes out at 19.30 hrs (7.30pm) on Fridays.

It also now has sister programs (still called Top Of The Pops) in Germany, Holland and indeed in over 80 countries worldwide. Germany's version started in October 1998.  There, it is recorded in Berlin and can be seen in the UK by anyone who has analogue Satellite TV through the ASTRA SATELLITE Transponder No.2 on the German station R.T.L. on Saturday evenings at 16.45 hrs (4.45pm) UK time. Both in Germany & Holland they are longer shows than that of the UK (1 hour) and Germany's also has a competition and News of Artists and Bands.  In the USA they had a licence to broadcast their own Top Of The Pops in the late 80s but was dropped after about a year.

The original TOTP in the UK was broadcast from an old BBC building which was a disused church in Dickenson Road, Manchester. This building has long since been demolished.  There were 4 original presenters:  Pete Murray, Alan Freeman, David Jacobs and the man who presented the very first was Sir Jimmy Saville.

It was completely live in those days with no pre-recordings and the artists performed both instrumentally and vocally LIVE.  Artists who did not have a backing band were accompanied by the BBC Top Os The Pops Orchestra.

The artists appearing on that very first show, in order were:-
ROLLING STONES - I Wanna Be Your Man, DUSTY SPRINGFIELD - I Only Want To Be With You, DAVE CLARK FIVE - Glad All Over, HOLLIES - Stay, SWINGING BLUE JEANS - Hippy Hippy Shake and THE BEATLES - I Want To Hold Your Hand which was at number one. The show always ends with the number one single although this had 2 exceptions, 1 was in 1969 when Je'Taime... by Jane Birkin and the other in 1984, Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood were number ones. At those times those 2 records were banned by the BBC.  As far as the Jane Birkin song was concerned their was a twist in the tale as an instrumental version called Love At First Sight by group Sounds Nice was played but this version only peaked at number 18.

Around this time Germany has its own pop shows, one of which, similar in format to TOTP was BEAT CLUB.  This was a great show and lasted well into the 70s and featured mainly UK and US acts, also one of the presenters was British DJ, Dave Lee Travis.  Lots of editions of this show still survive today, and clips can sometimes be seen on the UK version of satellite TV station VH1.

The previous year ITV started its own pop show on Friday nights and its catchphrase was The Weekend Starts Here. On this show though, (which featured the gorgeous Cathy McGowan) most acts mimed to their records. This show was called READY STEADY GO.  The rights to all the recordings of this show that are known to still exist are owned by Dave Clark formerly of top 60s band DAVE CLARK FIVE.

When TOTP was launched on 1st January 1964.  The week's chart was:

Good Friday 1964 saw the first broadcast by a British Pirate Radio Station RADIO CAROLINE later to become Radio Caroline South and broadcast from a ship moored just over 3 miles off the Essex coast. As pop music was in very short supply on radio in the UK except for the evenings when Radio Luxembourg was broadcasting. Due to this station's broadcast coming from Luxembourg on Medium Wave Band (AM), the signal used to fade in and out very badly.

Radio Caroline was started by Irish businessman Ronan O'Reilly. This prompted the start of many pirate radio stations all just outside British territorial waters on both ships and wartime forts. There were over 20 at one period. They played non-stop pop music 24 hours a day. One of the best known DJs to come from Radio Caroline and later Radio London was Tony Blackburn.

When the Marine Offences Act of 1967 came into force all but one of them closed down and the British Government stated that anyone sending supplies to them or advertising on them would be prosecuted.  Also anyone working on them would be prosecuted if they came inside territorial waters after the 14th August 1967 deadline.

The only station to carry on broadcasting was Radio Caroline South (the station that started it all) and at 00.01 hrs on 15th August 1967 the first record played was We Shall Overcome by Joan Baez.

26th January 1967 saw the chart entry for the first week, of the record with the longest number of continuous weeks in the UK chart. This record was Release Me by Englebert Humperdinck which spent a massive 56 continuous weeks in the UK charts, then still a Top 50.

30th September 1967 saw the first broadcast of Radio One from the BBC and at 7.00 on this day the very first record was introduced by DJ Tony Blackburn.  The record being FLOWERS IN THE RAIN by MOVE.

On 21st January 1965, a unique chart occasion happened but unknown at this time but the first of 2 chart entries (the other first charted on 1st November 1967), of the title EVERYBODY KNOWS by DAVE CLARK FIVE. Both had the same title, both by the same artist but were quite different songs.  The only other time to come close to this was the chart entry of 13th October 1984 and 15th December 1990 there were 2 different songs both called Freedom.  The 1984 entry was by WHAM and the 1990 entry was by GEORGE MICHAEL who was also on the single by Wham.

Still on the subject of unique chart occasions the next one was on the charts of 4th October 1969 and the following week on the 11th. This was unique in that they contained a record at 2 different chart positions which were the same song the same artists and the same recorded version.  The only thing different is that they were both on different record labels.  The song in question was JE T'AIME...MOI NON PLUS by JANE BIRKIN & SERGE GAINSBOURG.  It was originally released on the Fontana label but was banned by Radio One at that time due to its erotic sound, so due to its controversy Fontana withdrew the record and was then released on the Major Minor label.

Because there were Fontana singles still in the shops along with the Major Minor release, on 4 October 1969 the Major Minor release was at number 3 and the Fontana single at number 16.  Also at that time it was the biggest ever selling single for a completely foreign language record.

This seemed to be the period of the banned record for on it's way down this chart after peaking at number 10 was reggae record WET DREAM by MAX ROMEO.  Also banned at this time were WRECK A BUDDY by SOUL SISTERS and EROTICA by RITA.

The following chart is for 4th October 1969:

There were 2 instances when at 2 different positions with the same record by the same artists (Leader Of The Pack by Shangri-las) in 1976 and (Shout by Lulu) in 1986, but they were the original version and either a re-recorded or re-mixed version.

On 5th May 1978 the charts were further extended to a Top 75.  At this time they were compiled by the British Market Research Bureau. Later the charts were compiled by Gallup.  Radio One stayed just with the Top 40 as it still does today.  If they played the complete Top 75, their Chart Show rundown on Sunday evenings would last 4 hours!

The first ever Top 75 Chart:

7th February 1981 saw the entry date of the first ever single to hit the charts on import sales alone.  The record: THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT by JAM.  This never happened again until the late 90s.

The chart was increased again on 8th January 1983.  This was the last time the chart increased, this time to a full Top 100:

19th March 1983 was the entry date of the best selling 12inch single of all time which peaked at number 8 and was in and out of the Top 100 for nearly 5 years.  The record: BLUE MONDAY by NEW ORDER.

From May 1991 the charts were still a Top 100 however only the Top 75 was actually published due to a drop in singles sales.

6th July 1991 saw the first week at number one for the record that spent the longest number of continuous weeks at number one, this was Everything I Do by Bryan Adams which spent 16 weeks at number one and totalled 24 weeks in the UK Top 75.  Just under a year later was the second highest number of continuous weeks at number one, this was Love Is All Around by Wet Wet Wet which spent 15 weeks and a total UK Top 75 run of 37 weeks.

The Charts are now compiled by CIN.

21st February 1998 saw the second single to make the Top 75 on import sales alone before an official UK release. The record: IT'S LIKE THAT by RUN DMC vs JASON NEVINS.  Following on 21st March 1998 was the next one which was IT'S TRICKY also by RUN DMC vs JASON NEVINS.

1999 exaggerated the situation in the UK charts in that from 1st August to 30th November there were 10 singles that entered the UK top 75 that had not had an official UK release and therefore made the charts on import sales alone.  There have never been so many singles on sales of imports only hit the charts in such a short time before.   All but 2 of them (*) were big European produced hits.

Now we are in the new Millennium the only artist to have a Top 10 hit in 6 decades from the 50s through to 2000 is Cliff Richard.  Though he is not liked by everyone this is still a great milestone.  His first single MOVE IT first entered the UK charts on 12 September 1958 and reached number 2.  He has had 65 Top 10 hits and sold more than 86 million singles worldwide.

Right at the beginning of the new millennium another unique occasion has happened on the UK charts.  On the 10th January 2000, the record MASSES AGAINST THE CLASSES by MANIC STREET PREACHERS was released.  24 hours later the record was deleted but it still made number 1 on the 16th January.  This is something that has never happened before in chart history.

The UK's single releases are behind again!  The charts for 19th & 26th February 2000 see 3 more singles hit the charts on import sales only.

The following is a list of all singles to chart in the new millennium, with no UK Release and have charted on sales of imports only:

Another first in the history of the UK charts has happened for the week 9th to 15th April  2000.  It is the first time ever that the top 6 positions are all new entries on the chart:

Chart History continues to be made.   The latest is a record which entered the UK charts on 15th April 2000.  It has become the longest Top 75 survivor than any other that failed to make the Top 20 -  a full 21 weeks!  The record  is AMAZING by LONESTAR (appropriately titled)!

2000 has seen a new record in the history of the charts as MY LOVE becomes Irish boy band WESTLIFE'S 8th consecutive number one out of their first 8 releases although the follow-up WHAT MAKES A MAN breaks the sequence in December as CAN WE FIX IT by animation character BOB THE BUILDER keeps it at number 2 over the Christmas period.

The charts for week ending 24th February 2001 has seen the first single to top the charts in for more than 3 weeks in this millennium.  This is quite a rare thing these days. The single in question is WHOLE AGAIN by ATOMIC KITTEN.

On 19th March 2000 the brand new UK number one makes another historic record. The single in question is PURE & SIMPLE by HEAR'SAY.  This has become the fastest selling single ever for a debut disc.  A phenomenal 600,000 in just 6 days.  This band was got together on the UK TV show Popstars which showed them auditioning right through to making the big time.  There have also been versions of this show in USA (Eden's Crush), Germany (No Angels) Australia (Bardot), Ireland (Six), France (L5), New Zealand and Sweden (Exellence).  The New Zealand group sank without trace but the Australian group also hit big time and have so far had 4 singles in the Aussie Top 10.

On 6th May 2001 another chart record has been set.  This time the honours go to GERI HALLIWELL who's song IT'S RAINING MEN (a cover of the Weather Girls 1980s hit) became her 4th UK consecutive number one single.  This makes her the first female UK solo singer ever to have 4 solo consecutive number one hits in the UK.

August 2001 sees another piece of chart history made in that OVER THE RAINBOW by EVA CASSIDY becomes the first single ever to chart for more than 25 weeks without ever reaching the Top 40.

The chart for week ending 26th January 2002 sees the next landmark:  It is the first time that posthumous number ones have followed each other.  In this case it is those of the late GEORGE HARRISON & AALIYAH.

When TOTP finished on 30th July 2006.  The week's chart was:

What was number 1 when YOU were born?

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