Top Forty
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Top Forty or Top 40 is a music industry shorthand for the currently most-popular songs in a particular genre. When used without qualification, it typically refers to the best-selling or most frequently broadcast pop music songs. 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:
- Top 40 Mainstream, a chart of current popular songs in the United States compiled by Billboard Magazine, and its various predecessors
- UK Top Forty, a British version of the same concept.
- Dutch Top 40, the Dutch music chart.
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."
- American Top 40, a weekly syndicated radio show originally hosted by Casey Kasem.
[edit] The Top 40 Debate
Even though Top 40 songs are considered the best selling music at a particular time it does not in fact mean that it is necessarily the best music of a certain genre at any time. Many believe that Top 40 music is determined not by the listeners themselves but by the following:
- Large record labels with large marketing budgets to continually push what the label thinks is a potential hit.
- Seasoned song writers who are paid to study previous hits in order to duplicate previous successes.
- Tightly connected Music Producers and Entertainment Lawyers who push certain kinds of music for the sake of receiving money for the success of an act.
Many consider popular music an exercise in business and not art where the music artist writes, performs, and enjoys the profits from his or her success.
[edit] Further reading
- Durkee, Rob. "American Top 40: The Countdown of the Century." Schriner Books, New York City, 1999.
- Battistini, Pete, "American Top 40 with Casey Kasem The 1970s." Authorhouse.com, January 31, 2005. ISBN 1-4184-1070-5.
