0:00:02 > 0:00:05This is where the hit parade is compiled, at the BMRMB headquarters in Ealing.
0:00:05 > 0:00:10When the chart is compiled on a Tuesday morning, it's phoned through to the BBC.
0:00:10 > 0:00:12Good morning.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15Are you all ready? Right 19,
0:00:15 > 0:00:17title, Winner Takes It All.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Artist, Abba.
0:00:22 > 0:00:24For 60 years, the singles chart
0:00:24 > 0:00:29has been the ultimate expression of what makes pop music.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32Since 1952, we have bathed in chart bliss.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35Loathed and secretly adored, chart Babylon.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38But scratch below the surface
0:00:38 > 0:00:42and what the charts reveal is surprising,
0:00:42 > 0:00:47a story that's neither about hit records, nor famous musicians,
0:00:47 > 0:00:51but about us, and the ever-changing ways in which we have loved
0:00:51 > 0:00:55and consumed the Top 10.
0:00:55 > 0:01:00# The winner takes it all... #
0:01:02 > 0:01:06The charts are a complete democracy.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08They don't account for musical taste.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10It is the soundtrack in a cheesy way
0:01:10 > 0:01:13to your life, especially when you're a teenager.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16The charts were a way for kids to connect with each other.
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Basically, we didn't have a lot of shared experiences,
0:01:18 > 0:01:23we went home, we had dinner, we went to bed and did our homework.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25You would sit in your bedroom
0:01:25 > 0:01:28and you would literally just have that time to yourself,
0:01:28 > 0:01:31rebelling against everything else that was going on downstairs.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35The charts were where we measured out our lives
0:01:35 > 0:01:40to a wonderful churn of pop music. Driven by our enthusiasms
0:01:40 > 0:01:43in a clandestine world of music biz hustle.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48Welcome to the story of the Top 10.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03NEWSREEL: The King dies, but England lives on
0:02:03 > 0:02:05and a new hand takes the wheel of state.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09The Queen of England passes by and her subjects salute.
0:02:09 > 0:02:12Britain lives on safe in her young and gracious keeping.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19In 1952, we entered the Elizabethan era.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24And it wasn't just the Palace where the guard was changing.
0:02:24 > 0:02:29In the first half of the 20th Century Britain's love affair
0:02:29 > 0:02:31with popular music had been based around sheet music.
0:02:31 > 0:02:35# When you are in love
0:02:37 > 0:02:43# It's the loveliest night of the year... #
0:02:43 > 0:02:49And from 1935, charts reflecting sales had appeared occasionally
0:02:49 > 0:02:51on the BBC and in the press.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57However, by 1952, technology had moved on.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Introduced by RCA,
0:03:00 > 0:03:05the seven-inch 45 rpm single had entered production
0:03:05 > 0:03:09and it was time for a new era in pop to begin.
0:03:12 > 0:03:18My father was Percy Charles Dickins and he was a musician, a music lover.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22He had a friend called Maurice Kinn, who was an entrepreneur.
0:03:22 > 0:03:28Maurice was offered the Accordion Times And Music Express.
0:03:28 > 0:03:30They bought the paper
0:03:30 > 0:03:33and they didn't want to call it the Accordion Times And Musical Express
0:03:33 > 0:03:35so they called it the New Musical Express.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39The charts that they printed, as was normal for the day,
0:03:39 > 0:03:41were sheet music charts.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44Percy, who is in charge of advertising,
0:03:44 > 0:03:46and getting advertising for the brand-new paper,
0:03:46 > 0:03:50though that if they had a British chart, like an American chart,
0:03:50 > 0:03:54then this burgeoning record industry would be able to take adverts
0:03:54 > 0:03:57because they would have number one records,
0:03:57 > 0:04:00they would actually have some activity.
0:04:00 > 0:04:05It was with that in mind he thought, "let's do a chart of the British records".
0:04:05 > 0:04:10And he rang up several record stores, I think around about 50,
0:04:10 > 0:04:15and then he asked them to phone in Top 10 best selling records.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21Now, especially for BBC Four, the first ever chart,
0:04:21 > 0:04:27let's travel back 60 years to 14 November 1952.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30Here they come.
0:04:30 > 0:04:35I've got a copy of the first Top 10 ever.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39There's a Top 10 with 13 records in there. If you understand that.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42At number 12, Johnnie Ray, Walkin' My Baby Back Home.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44At 11, Mario Lanza, Because You're Mine.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47Equal 11, Cowpuncher's Cantata by Max Bygraves.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50Who can sing that?
0:04:50 > 0:04:53Here come the Top 10, Vera Lynn straight in at number Ten, Auf Wiedersehen.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56# Auf wiedersehen... #
0:04:56 > 0:04:58She was at number nine.
0:04:58 > 0:05:03Ray Martin, Blue Tango at number eight. We've got another number eight coming up in a moment.
0:05:07 > 0:05:09And it's a good one from Doris Day and Frankie Laine,
0:05:09 > 0:05:11Sugarrush, at eight.
0:05:11 > 0:05:13# The sugarbush, I love you so... #
0:05:13 > 0:05:17Frankie Laine, on his own at number seven in High Noon.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19Also at number seven, Forget Me Not by Vera Lynn.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22At six, Half As Much, Rosemary Clooney.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26What you know, here come the very first ever Top Five in a moment.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31At number five, Guy Mitchell, Feet Up.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Isle Of Innisfree, Bing Crosby at number four.
0:05:34 > 0:05:35Here's the terrific three.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39Nat King Cole, Somewhere Along The Way at number three.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42# I used to walk with you, along the avenue
0:05:42 > 0:05:44# My heart was carefree and gay... #
0:05:46 > 0:05:48At number two, You Belong To Me, Jo Stafford
0:05:48 > 0:05:52and here it is, the first ever number one Here In My heart,
0:05:52 > 0:05:56that's from Al Martino and that's the first ever chart,
0:05:56 > 0:05:59the 14 November 1952.
0:06:14 > 0:06:19# Here in my heart
0:06:19 > 0:06:21# I'm alone... #
0:06:21 > 0:06:25Here in my heart, I'm alone and so lonely.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Enough to get me crying, I can't believe it.
0:06:27 > 0:06:32# Here in my heart
0:06:32 > 0:06:36# I just yearn... #
0:06:36 > 0:06:38And at number one, Here In My Heart
0:06:38 > 0:06:43Al Martino on Capitol Records in the very first British chart,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46put together by my dad.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Maybe I am an old-fashioned bubbler,
0:06:54 > 0:07:00but I just spoke about nearly every song from the Top 10 in 1952
0:07:00 > 0:07:04and every song I know, that's when the charts was a chart.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08# I believe for every drop
0:07:08 > 0:07:11# Of rain that falls
0:07:11 > 0:07:15# A flower grows... #
0:07:15 > 0:07:17The imperial Top 12 was up and running,
0:07:17 > 0:07:20but there wouldn't be a rush to market just yet.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23The chart was characterised by American records
0:07:23 > 0:07:26of a sweetly sentimental nature
0:07:26 > 0:07:29and the BBC didn't see fit to broadcast it at first.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33# For everyone who goes astray... #
0:07:33 > 0:07:36Instead, pioneering commercial station, Radio Luxembourg,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40gave British listeners their first regular taste of the charts
0:07:40 > 0:07:43with a show that dated back to 1948.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46# I believe, I believe... #
0:07:46 > 0:07:49It was always on a Sunday night at 11 o'clock.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52Between 11 and 12 we did the whole Top 20.
0:07:52 > 0:07:59It turned out to be the most popular night radio programme
0:07:59 > 0:08:03on any radio station in the world.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08MUSIC PLAYS
0:08:12 > 0:08:14Well, of course, it was mostly middle of the road.
0:08:14 > 0:08:18You had people like Frankie Laine, Guy Mitchell, Johnnie Ray...
0:08:18 > 0:08:21# You sweetheart... # ..and all that rubbish.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26But in 1954, everything came to an extraordinary change.
0:08:26 > 0:08:31This is Radio Luxembourg, your station of the stars broadcasting on 208 metres...
0:08:31 > 0:08:35When we were at Radio Luxembourg, we got people coming over,
0:08:35 > 0:08:36all plugging their wares.
0:08:36 > 0:08:41This guy suddenly turned up, he was the epitome
0:08:41 > 0:08:45of an American, with a large cigar, talking very like that.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49He said, "I've got the new music here."
0:08:49 > 0:08:50I said, "Oh, really?"
0:08:50 > 0:08:53He said, "This is something like you never heard in your life".
0:08:53 > 0:08:57He said, "This is going to be the biggest thing in the whole, wide world".
0:08:58 > 0:09:00He put the record on the turntable.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03It certainly was different.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08# One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock
0:09:08 > 0:09:10# Five, six, seven o'clock, eight o'clock rock
0:09:10 > 0:09:13# Nine, 10, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock rock
0:09:13 > 0:09:15# We're gonna rock around the clock tonight
0:09:15 > 0:09:18# Put your glad rags on... #
0:09:18 > 0:09:22Rock Around The Clock was the single that thrust the charts
0:09:22 > 0:09:27firmly into the hands of a new pocket money-empowered youth market.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31The first million-selling single, it hit number one in late '55,
0:09:31 > 0:09:36a year that saw single sales pass 50 million for the first time.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40It wasn't until the rock 'n' roll era begins,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43the 45 rpm record is popular,
0:09:43 > 0:09:46the teen market lives for the day
0:09:46 > 0:09:49and there's an urgency to the charts.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53So things start to move quicker in the late '50s.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58You have the first primitive attempts at chart construction on the radio.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01The Light programme, which gives
0:10:01 > 0:10:04scant exposure to recorded popular music,
0:10:04 > 0:10:09nonetheless introduces a programme called Pick Of The Pops.
0:10:09 > 0:10:13'Let us just find out here that we over here have produced our own
0:10:13 > 0:10:16'indigenous rock 'n' roll with instinctive humour, indeed.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20'May we bring to your attention, if you've not already heard it,'
0:10:20 > 0:10:25this record by Gale Warning & The Weathermen of Met Rock.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29# Shannon, Cromarty, Dover
0:10:32 > 0:10:35# Dogger, Humber, Sole
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Rockall, Tyne, Forth... #
0:10:41 > 0:10:44This is the earliest known audio of Pick Of The Pops,
0:10:44 > 0:10:46dating back to '56.
0:10:48 > 0:10:52# Dogger, Dover, Fair Isles, Finisterre... #
0:10:52 > 0:10:55The BBC, though a guardian of the nation's morals,
0:10:55 > 0:10:57could no longer afford to ignore the chart
0:10:57 > 0:11:00and entrusted one charmingly, avuncular,
0:11:00 > 0:11:0432-year-old to present this brash upstart to the nation.
0:11:05 > 0:11:09It's 11 o'clock and time for Pick Of The Pops, presented by David Jacobs.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13- PRESENTER:- 'Hello, there. Once again, it's welcome to music, the Pick Of The Pops.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15'We welcome, in the first half of the programme,
0:11:15 > 0:11:18'several new discs to the hit parade.'
0:11:19 > 0:11:21As a professional broadcaster,
0:11:21 > 0:11:25presenting a lot of programmes around records and music,
0:11:25 > 0:11:28it seemed a natural progression
0:11:28 > 0:11:30for me to take over Pick Of The Pops.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35It was very exciting each week to see which way the records
0:11:35 > 0:11:38were going and what the public was liking,
0:11:38 > 0:11:41and also perhaps helping them choose what they didn't think
0:11:41 > 0:11:44they necessarily would like.
0:11:44 > 0:11:46# Doo-doo, doo, doo, doo, doo... #
0:11:46 > 0:11:49- PRESENTER:- I love the singing bit every week, you know.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54Frankie Vaughan and the Kaye Sisters have gained just a little ground during the past seven days
0:11:54 > 0:11:56but so far they've not caught up with these.
0:11:56 > 0:12:01# I speak softly, darling
0:12:01 > 0:12:05# Hear what I say... #
0:12:05 > 0:12:10He had a very, you could say it was a very cool style.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13There was an authority about him which he's always had, David.
0:12:13 > 0:12:18There's a warmth, too. I used to love watching him on Juke Box Jury.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Juke Box Jury was BBC television's first concession
0:12:25 > 0:12:28to the singles chart in 1959.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34Patrician-like in tone, it sought to render the latest 45s
0:12:34 > 0:12:36acceptable to all the family.
0:12:39 > 0:12:43Well, we look forward to seeing that one in the charts. What about this?
0:12:48 > 0:12:52'There is no doubt that we had a very broad audience.'
0:12:52 > 0:12:55Mum and Dad would like to listen to the music
0:12:55 > 0:13:01and discuss it with their teenage children, or even smaller.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04Juke Box Jury was a real family programme.
0:13:07 > 0:13:11So I'd go to the Television Centre in the afternoon
0:13:11 > 0:13:15and Juke Box Jury went on the air, which I would present...
0:13:16 > 0:13:19..with people like Pete Murray on the team.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22Finish the programme, have a quick bite to eat
0:13:22 > 0:13:26and rush up to Broadcasting House to present Pick Of The Pops.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Without doubt, the pick of the 1960 Pops has been this next one.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35On Guy Fawkes night, it really came into the record world with a bang
0:13:35 > 0:13:37and it rocketed straight up to the top position,
0:13:37 > 0:13:39and it's been there ever since.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43# It's now or never... #
0:13:43 > 0:13:47I remember the first single that really was absolutely massive,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50that just slammed in at number one and you were, "Whoa!"
0:13:50 > 0:13:53It was Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Then he did it again with It's Now Or Never.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00# Tomorrow, will be too late... #
0:14:00 > 0:14:05I mean, we're talking about the absolute mega, huge singles
0:14:05 > 0:14:09that just steam-rollered absolutely everything in front of them.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13Elvis Presley's It's Now Or Never.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15Well, Cliff Richard has rounded off the year well
0:14:15 > 0:14:18with his fifth hit in 12 months.
0:14:18 > 0:14:22As far as his fans are concerned, he has good reason to sing...
0:14:22 > 0:14:24# The young ones
0:14:24 > 0:14:28# Darling, we're the young ones... #
0:14:28 > 0:14:32Then we got the Young Ones by Cliff Richard.
0:14:32 > 0:14:34It was so big that record with the film and everything else.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38# To live and love... #
0:14:38 > 0:14:42Cliff's early successes helped ensure that by 1961,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45more home-grown acts had topped the British chart
0:14:45 > 0:14:49than Americans for the first time.
0:14:49 > 0:14:52As the new decade dawned, it was clear that the charts
0:14:52 > 0:14:55at now taken off and the BBC's moderating approach
0:14:55 > 0:14:59was not in keeping. It was time for a new voice.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02Within the world of entertainment,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05when you think of how many great actors there have been,
0:15:05 > 0:15:08singers and dancers, you think, "Where can it possibly go?"
0:15:08 > 0:15:12And sure enough, somebody comes along that just smacks of something else
0:15:12 > 0:15:14and takes it on further.
0:15:14 > 0:15:18And certainly Alan Freeman did that with radio.
0:15:18 > 0:15:22Before we do spin those top three discs of the day, let's meet the man
0:15:22 > 0:15:25who'll be in charge of Pick Of The Pops as of next week, Alan Freeman.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27- All right, Fluffy? - HE LAUGHS
0:15:27 > 0:15:29- Hi, David. - We look forward to listening to you
0:15:29 > 0:15:32and I'd like to wish you every possible success with what, to me,
0:15:32 > 0:15:34has been a jolly fun programme to do.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36Thank you very much, David.
0:15:36 > 0:15:38And may I say, congratulations on five years of magnificent
0:15:38 > 0:15:41- Pick Of The Pops programmes.- In conclusion...- Can I say one thing?
0:15:41 > 0:15:43- You may. - What about all this rock then?
0:15:43 > 0:15:45Dun-dun-dun-ga-ga-ga!
0:15:45 > 0:15:48PICK OF THE POPS TUNE PLAYS
0:15:50 > 0:15:52We've got a twist here and there.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54Also, some of the Song For Europe melodies.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57All included in unit one, the newcomers to the Top 20.
0:15:57 > 0:15:58Unit two, the new releases.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01Unit three, the Pick Of The Pops LP spot,
0:16:01 > 0:16:02while unit four highlights the names
0:16:02 > 0:16:06of Billy Fury, The Everly Brothers, Elvis Presley, Chubby Checker
0:16:06 > 0:16:10and Cliff Richard because they're your choice in this week's Top 10.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16Fluff and his theme tune At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbal
0:16:16 > 0:16:20would take full ownership of the charts from 1961,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23and Pick Of The Pops would move to its abiding home of
0:16:23 > 0:16:28Sunday afternoons, in an era when the singles chart went into overdrive.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32Greetings, pop pickers, it's Pick Of The Pops.
0:16:32 > 0:16:38In the 1960s, Alan Freeman becomes a must listen for the nation.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Peaking with about a quarter of the population.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44It's hard to believe now there was a time
0:16:44 > 0:16:47when a quarter of the population was doing the same thing.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51It was the social network of its era.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53The line-upincludes
0:16:53 > 0:16:57Norma Tanega, The Righteous Brothers, Stevie Wonder and Gene Lata.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01There were four of us in my little club
0:17:01 > 0:17:03and we used to listen to the chart show.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06It was the only time you'd get to hear the records you'd heard about.
0:17:06 > 0:17:08The Beach Boys, Christie and St Peters...
0:17:08 > 0:17:09The radio had one little earphone.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Now they have two, but they only had one.
0:17:12 > 0:17:16And we had a system whereby the radio was rotated every two minutes.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24- MIMICS FREEMAN - Uppers, the downers, the just hanging arounders, the non-movers.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26All right. Right.
0:17:26 > 0:17:28Stay bright.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36MUSIC: "House Of The Rising Sun" by The Animals
0:17:36 > 0:17:39Whilst the '60s was a decade of singles heaven,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42it would also be a time of chart contention.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48In the '50s and '60s, there were various charts around
0:17:48 > 0:17:50after the NME started them.
0:17:50 > 0:17:52Then other music papers and decided to do their own charts.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57There was Disc, Melody Maker and various other newspapers.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00Papers had their own top 20s or top 40s which they compiled.
0:18:00 > 0:18:03And they varied.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09Now, for instance, about a month ago, the record by The Animals
0:18:09 > 0:18:13called The House Of The Rising Sun was first published.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16Immediately, it shot into the charts.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20But into the chart compiled by the New Musical Express,
0:18:20 > 0:18:22it came in at number ten.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25The Melody Maker showed it at number 19
0:18:25 > 0:18:28and the Record Retailer at number 31.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30All of these mark you on the same day,
0:18:30 > 0:18:35and all of these are national charts. Now, who is correct?
0:18:35 > 0:18:36I don't know.
0:18:36 > 0:18:39But two and possibly all three of these charts
0:18:39 > 0:18:41must be hopelessly inaccurate.
0:18:43 > 0:18:48The BBC would actually take all the charts from the music papers
0:18:48 > 0:18:51and take an average and make up their own Top 20.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54One of the biggest anomalies The Beatles' Please Please Me
0:18:54 > 0:18:57was number one on the BBC chart and wasn't number one
0:18:57 > 0:19:01on the national...the actual national chart that's recognised now.
0:19:01 > 0:19:05MUSIC: "The Wayward Wind" by Frank Ifield
0:19:05 > 0:19:09Frank Ifield deprived The Beatles
0:19:09 > 0:19:12of their first official number one in 1963.
0:19:12 > 0:19:18If you asked anybody who was alive and a fan of music back in 1963,
0:19:18 > 0:19:22they will tell you they loved seeing that at number one.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25It was The Beatles' first ever number one.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28Open up a chart history book and look at the entry for The Beatles,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31you will see that Please Please Me is listed as a number two single.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34It wasn't their first number one at all,
0:19:34 > 0:19:37simply because the chart that was compiled by
0:19:37 > 0:19:39the industry magazine Record Retailer,
0:19:39 > 0:19:43and what the chart bibles all use, didn't list that at number one.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46It's the great anomaly I don't think's ever actually
0:19:46 > 0:19:47going to be corrected.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50'This is BBC One.
0:19:50 > 0:19:53TOP OF THE POPS INTRO
0:19:58 > 0:20:01'Yes, it's number one. It's Top Of The Pops.'
0:20:04 > 0:20:10This is the earliest surviving Top Of The Pops opening sequence from 1964.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Unfortunately, little remains.
0:20:13 > 0:20:19# Baby, baby, I'd get down on my knees for you
0:20:24 > 0:20:30# If you would only love me like you used to do, yeah
0:20:30 > 0:20:32I've dug that young lady ever since I first saw her
0:20:32 > 0:20:35in good old Glasgow town about four years ago, wasn't it, Lulu?
0:20:35 > 0:20:36Four years ago. Marvellous.
0:20:36 > 0:20:37When we first started,
0:20:37 > 0:20:42it was done in a church hall in Dickinson Road in Manchester.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44Everything was mimed.
0:20:44 > 0:20:46# Baby Baby
0:20:46 > 0:20:48# Baby Baby... #
0:20:48 > 0:20:53Some people think Top Of The Pops influenced the charts.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Top Of The Pops was not innovative,
0:20:56 > 0:21:01it did not ever go out on a limb and say, "That's going to be a hit."
0:21:01 > 0:21:03It took the hits from the hit parade.
0:21:05 > 0:21:08But if an artist had gone in at 28,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11if their record company could get them a Top Of The Pops the week
0:21:11 > 0:21:14that single went in, then you knew that single was going to
0:21:14 > 0:21:16climb the charts because of the exposure.
0:21:16 > 0:21:21# And I can't go on
0:21:21 > 0:21:24# Oh-oh-oh. #
0:21:34 > 0:21:37The BBC's chart as featured on Top and Pick Of The Pops
0:21:37 > 0:21:40wasn't the only chart to be broadcast.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44In the mid-60s the really cool kids shunned the BBC
0:21:44 > 0:21:47in favour of pirate radio.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50MUSIC: "I'm A Boy" by The Who
0:21:53 > 0:21:58Based offshore to get round the UK ban on commercial radio,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01pirate stations could essentially do what they liked
0:22:01 > 0:22:03and their charts were ahead of the game.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06# I'm a boy, I'm a boy
0:22:06 > 0:22:08# My ma won't admit it
0:22:08 > 0:22:10# I'm a boy, I'm a boy
0:22:10 > 0:22:12# But if I say I am, I get it... #
0:22:12 > 0:22:15I think it was Sunday morning that Radio London did that chart.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17But the thing was, you know,
0:22:17 > 0:22:20Radio London weren't going by any sales figures, particularly.
0:22:20 > 0:22:24They were getting serviced by the record companies,
0:22:24 > 0:22:29probably even before the BBC, certainly, they were more reactive.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32So, you know, if the new Who single came out,
0:22:32 > 0:22:36they'd slam it straight on air, even two or three weeks before
0:22:36 > 0:22:38it was officially released they'd be playing it.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40# I'm a boy, I'm a boy
0:22:40 > 0:22:42# But my ma won't admit it
0:22:42 > 0:22:44# I'm a boy, I'm a boy... #
0:22:44 > 0:22:48In the corresponding chart that they compiled for that weekend,
0:22:48 > 0:22:49The Who would be in there.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52So it would be in their chart a good two or three weeks before
0:22:52 > 0:22:55it began to climb up the national charts.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59There was a sense of fantastic excitement about that
0:22:59 > 0:23:01because you just knew that you were hearing all these
0:23:01 > 0:23:04brand-new records completely fresh.
0:23:04 > 0:23:07And that was a very exciting feeling.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21# I wanna play cricket on the green
0:23:21 > 0:23:25# Ride my bike across the street
0:23:25 > 0:23:28# Cut myself and see my blood
0:23:28 > 0:23:33# I wanna come home all covered in mud... #
0:23:36 > 0:23:40By the late '60s, the chart in its many guises had journeyed
0:23:40 > 0:23:43from humble beginnings to become a cornerstone
0:23:43 > 0:23:45of the nation's cultural life.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50It now offered us a revelatory picture of who we were as consumers.
0:23:50 > 0:23:531967 was one such year.
0:23:53 > 0:23:58# I'm a boy... #
0:23:58 > 0:24:01MUSIC: "Last Waltz" by Engelbert Humperdinck
0:24:04 > 0:24:09# I wondered should I go or should I stay... #
0:24:09 > 0:24:10I think 1967 is an interesting year
0:24:10 > 0:24:15because most of the number ones are not how people think of 1967.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17It wasn't Jimi Hendrix or Jefferson Airplane.
0:24:17 > 0:24:20It was Engelbert Humperdinck.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23He had of the biggest selling singles of the year.
0:24:23 > 0:24:29# I had the last waltz with you
0:24:29 > 0:24:32All that tells you about the country is that a lot of people
0:24:32 > 0:24:36were really not in favour of the way pop was progressing,
0:24:36 > 0:24:39and were looking to pre-rock 'n' roll.
0:24:39 > 0:24:44# Oh, I fell in love with you... #
0:24:44 > 0:24:48The battle lines between young and old were now etched into the Top 10.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52Who do you think buys the Top 20 records?
0:24:52 > 0:24:56- Little kids about 16 or 17.- Mums and dads.- Dads and things like that.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59Do you prefer records of the Top 20 or those which aren't in?
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Oh, I don't mind, you know.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05If something good comes in the Top 20, you know, I like it.
0:25:05 > 0:25:09But I don't necessarily the Top 20 because it's the Top 20.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12- You know, most of it's a load of rubbish anyway.- Yeah.
0:25:12 > 0:25:13Well, it is, isn't it?
0:25:13 > 0:25:17MUSIC: "Release Me" by Engelbert Humperdinck
0:25:17 > 0:25:221967 would witness the chart's first famous battle for top spot.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25Engelbert vs The Beatles.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32# I don't love you any more... #
0:25:32 > 0:25:35The Beatles, the best band in the world, you know.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38And then along came this little lad from Leicester with a song
0:25:38 > 0:25:43called Release Me and stopped them having their 13th number one.
0:25:43 > 0:25:49# Release me and let me love again... #
0:25:49 > 0:25:53It was very lucky of me to do that. Very lucky.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57The double A-side Strawberry Fields/ Penny Lane
0:25:57 > 0:26:00was one of The Beatles finest moments.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04But in February 1967, it couldn't beat Release Me.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10That was a travesty on an international scale.
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Me and my friends, my three older sisters, were heartbroken.
0:26:13 > 0:26:18We couldn't believe it. It seemed that life could be genuinely unfair.
0:26:18 > 0:26:20The charts were like exam results.
0:26:20 > 0:26:22They weren't something you could apparently argue about.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24That was... They were set in stone.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34Cruel perhaps, but the chart as the ultimate record offers us
0:26:34 > 0:26:36a populist account of music history.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40One that is often at odd with the receiveds.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45If you open up any issue of NME in the mid to late '60s,
0:26:45 > 0:26:47you'll see a story being played out
0:26:47 > 0:26:50that is not often reflected in the history books.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54OK, there's a lot of Beatles and later on The Monkees,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57and psychedeliang.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01But the one band you see in the charts every week,
0:27:01 > 0:27:06week in and week out, a seemingly just inalienable, unstoppable run,
0:27:06 > 0:27:10a chart machine, were Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich.
0:27:13 > 0:27:19# You'll hear my voice
0:27:19 > 0:27:26# On the wind 'cross the sand
0:27:26 > 0:27:28# If you should return... #
0:27:28 > 0:27:33While history remembers the '60s as being The Beatles' decade,
0:27:33 > 0:27:38between 1965 and 1969 these West Country pop sensations
0:27:38 > 0:27:41actually spent more weeks on the chart.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43Wh-wh-wh...
0:27:43 > 0:27:45Where do you start?
0:27:45 > 0:27:49Where do you start? Yeah, I mean, those days, you know,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52they were just churning out the records one after the other.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56So quickly, you know, that even The Beatles couldn't keep up with it.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05I think we had 14 hits in the Top 20.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Hold Tight, Hideaway, Bend It, Save Me, Legend Of Xanadu,
0:28:09 > 0:28:11Touch Me Touch Me,
0:28:11 > 0:28:13The Wreck Of The Antoinette... did I say that one?
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Is that it? I can't...
0:28:15 > 0:28:16Loads more.
0:28:16 > 0:28:17HE LAUGHS
0:28:17 > 0:28:21# In Xanadu... #
0:28:21 > 0:28:26Between '66, early '66 when Hold Tight came out,
0:28:26 > 0:28:31right till the last one which was '69 for Snake In The Grass, was it?
0:28:31 > 0:28:32'69, yeah.
0:28:32 > 0:28:35- It didn't do much that one.- No.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37It stayed in the grass, I'm afraid.
0:28:37 > 0:28:38HE LAUGHS
0:28:40 > 0:28:43MUSIC: "Je T'aime" By Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin
0:28:43 > 0:28:44# Je t'aime
0:28:44 > 0:28:46# Je t'aime... #
0:28:46 > 0:28:511969 would be the year the singles chart finally got its house in order.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55# Oh, mon amour... #
0:28:55 > 0:28:59It would also be notable for a rather erotic chart topper
0:28:59 > 0:29:02by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin -
0:29:02 > 0:29:05the first to make the BBC blush.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09# Je vais, je vais et je viens... #
0:29:09 > 0:29:13The BBC always maintained they didn't ban records,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17they just put them on a restriction list or didn't play them.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21And I think they thought Je T'aime wasn't suitable and I believe
0:29:21 > 0:29:24they played an instrumental version by Sounds Nice in its place.
0:29:24 > 0:29:27MUSIC: Je T'aime (Instrumental) by Sounds Nice
0:29:38 > 0:29:40Saucy chart toppers notwithstanding,
0:29:40 > 0:29:44the BBC, in conjunction with Record Retailer magazine,
0:29:44 > 0:29:48commissioned the British Market Research Bureau
0:29:48 > 0:29:50to compile an official Top 50.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Weekly figures ran to the close of business on Saturday
0:29:53 > 0:29:57and the new chart was published on Tuesdays.
0:29:57 > 0:30:03From 15th February 1969 the charts became an official science.
0:30:06 > 0:30:08Basically we have a panel of...
0:30:08 > 0:30:12This is a fixed panel of about 300 retailers who will send into us,
0:30:12 > 0:30:16every week, a diary which they fill in.
0:30:16 > 0:30:17And into this diary they put every sale
0:30:17 > 0:30:20that they make over the counter to a customer.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24And on Monday night, the computer will analyse the information
0:30:24 > 0:30:26that it gets from the punchcards,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29which in turn have been got from the diaries,
0:30:29 > 0:30:31and it will prepare for us a list
0:30:31 > 0:30:35which will give us, in order, the records that are selling that week.
0:30:36 > 0:30:39Number one will be selling
0:30:39 > 0:30:44anything from 50 to 150,000 in the country in the given week.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47Very high up here. Number two will be considerably less.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50That's number two down there.
0:30:50 > 0:30:53And then as you take the curve down,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56down the Top 50, in fact, you find that...
0:30:56 > 0:31:00- there's a tremendous flattening out. - And down here...
0:31:08 > 0:31:11RADIO STATIC
0:31:11 > 0:31:13THEME FROM PICK OF THE POPS PLAYS
0:31:15 > 0:31:17And that was...
0:31:17 > 0:31:19Pick Of The Pops.
0:31:19 > 0:31:21Tar-aa!
0:31:24 > 0:31:26Oh, I forgot.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30DRAMATIC STING
0:31:30 > 0:31:33THEME FROM PICK OF THE POPS PLAYS
0:31:33 > 0:31:38Next Sunday at four, that's Tom Browne, and Solid Gold Sixty.
0:31:42 > 0:31:44The last edition of Pick Of The Pops.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52BBC Radio Two, good evening. The seven o'clock news summary,
0:31:52 > 0:31:55which will be followed by Sing Something Simple.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00As Fluff signed off after 11 years of picking the pops,
0:32:00 > 0:32:02the new decade would herald an era
0:32:02 > 0:32:05when the charts found a new teenybop audience.
0:32:05 > 0:32:10# She's my woman of gold, and she's not very old, ah-ha... #
0:32:10 > 0:32:12Top Of The Pops was still the only place
0:32:12 > 0:32:17you could regularly see the hits in the new era of colour television.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21What we have recently discovered about the show in the early '70s
0:32:21 > 0:32:23is deeply shocking.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26Perhaps the programme's most powerful DJ, Jimmy Savile,
0:32:26 > 0:32:30is the subject of ongoing criminal and BBC investigations
0:32:30 > 0:32:32following allegations of abuse.
0:32:35 > 0:32:39Yet at a time when the sale of albums had begun to outstrip singles
0:32:39 > 0:32:41by almost two to one,
0:32:41 > 0:32:45glam and Top Of The Pops would help the singles chart fight back.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55TV was the important thing.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57I've always said, give me one Top Of The Pops...
0:32:57 > 0:33:01I'd rather have one Top Of The Pops than 300 radio plays.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04# ..On my pushbike, honey, when I noticed you... #
0:33:04 > 0:33:08First I'd been aware of the charts when watching Top Of The Pops
0:33:08 > 0:33:11and seeing the countdown at the beginning, from 30 to 1,
0:33:11 > 0:33:13which I'm old enough to remember it being
0:33:13 > 0:33:16a series of graphics.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20# Grandad, Grandad You're lovely... #
0:33:20 > 0:33:22Yeah, my whole family used to watch it.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25Course, my mum and dad used to hate everything.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28Me and my little sister Laura thought everything was great.
0:33:28 > 0:33:30So it was like...!
0:33:34 > 0:33:37I remember Slade coming on for the first time, that was amazing.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41And then Bowie, Starman, that was mind-blowing.
0:33:41 > 0:33:43So there's always been great moments.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46No record on Top Of The Pops as a new release
0:33:46 > 0:33:48failed to make the charts.
0:33:48 > 0:33:50Once the record was in the charts and it made Top Of The Pops,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53it jumped, jumped, jumped jumped up that chart.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57That's a fact. That's why it was so important. Great plug.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59Top Of The Pops, Radio One play, made for life.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01MUSIC: "Popcorn" by Gershon Kingsley
0:34:01 > 0:34:04Whilst Top Of The Pops could make a hit,
0:34:04 > 0:34:06there was one other media outlet
0:34:06 > 0:34:09that actually set the chart's agenda in the '70s.
0:34:09 > 0:34:12And it also belonged to the BBC.
0:34:13 > 0:34:18Created in 1957, Radio One was, at the time,
0:34:18 > 0:34:21the only national pop station.
0:34:21 > 0:34:24And what it played was what people went and bought.
0:34:24 > 0:34:30Radio One is just like pop, it's fun. It's entertainment.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34It's a bright, brash, upstart of a channel, aimed at youth.
0:34:34 > 0:34:39Yet its most celebrated son is a 48-year-old vintage pop star,
0:34:39 > 0:34:42who peddles unfashionably corny cheerfulness and sugary sentiments.
0:34:42 > 0:34:44- You tell them, Raymondo. - 'What's the recipe today, Jim?'
0:34:44 > 0:34:47Thought you'd never ask. Apricot mincemeat pie.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50Mindful of its taste-making powers,
0:34:50 > 0:34:55Radio One sought to ratify its approach to new singles in 1972.
0:34:55 > 0:35:00- Who chooses the music? - Doreen Davies, who's executive producer on the show.
0:35:00 > 0:35:06'There were about something like 120 singles being issued every week,
0:35:06 > 0:35:07'by record companies.'
0:35:07 > 0:35:10And I remember having to say to producers,
0:35:10 > 0:35:13come into my office every Tuesday morning.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17We will go through the records that you fancy.
0:35:17 > 0:35:19I will tell you what I fancy,
0:35:19 > 0:35:23and we'll come to some sort of agreement. Which they did.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26'The playlist is a selection of 40 records
0:35:26 > 0:35:29'judged suitable for maximum exposure on the air.
0:35:29 > 0:35:33'The decision at the end of the day is a crucial one for the artists
0:35:33 > 0:35:34'and the record companies.'
0:35:34 > 0:35:38- Bilbo, 100% on that, everybody? - No!- No, I think that...
0:35:38 > 0:35:41'What we didn't know was that it had leaked out'
0:35:41 > 0:35:43that we were doing something
0:35:43 > 0:35:47about records on the network,
0:35:47 > 0:35:51and so the promotion people came in their droves.
0:35:51 > 0:35:56They were... All the small streets around Broadcasting House
0:35:56 > 0:35:59were covered with promotion men,
0:35:59 > 0:36:02wanting to know if these records were on the playlist.
0:36:02 > 0:36:07'There are people called record pluggers, like this girl,
0:36:07 > 0:36:08'snooping round the BBC.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12'There's at least 10 to every disc jockey in Broadcasting House.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16'Everywhere a DJ goes, there's a plugger close behind him, treading on his tail.'
0:36:16 > 0:36:18This is Jenny, the most beautiful plugger...
0:36:18 > 0:36:20- No, you wouldn't!- I would.
0:36:20 > 0:36:23As it was the only national pop network,
0:36:23 > 0:36:26the record industry gave Radio One the hard sell.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28No way!
0:36:28 > 0:36:32You know, Jenny, you can ask me for anything in the world except a record.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34- Come on!- I tell you what, I'll raffle it.
0:36:34 > 0:36:37No! I don't want you to raffle it, I want you to listen to it.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40The decade's biggest number one owed its very chart existence
0:36:40 > 0:36:43to Doreen and one determined plugger.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48MUSIC FADES IN: Bohemian Rhapsody
0:36:48 > 0:36:51I was going to say, if you put that one down,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54put Star Guard in its place, you're in the clear. It's the same tempo.
0:36:54 > 0:36:59What others do you fancy of the new ones to go on?
0:36:59 > 0:37:01I'll check them. Jacksons, do you all agree on that?
0:37:01 > 0:37:03# Open your eyes
0:37:03 > 0:37:08# Look up to the skies and see... #
0:37:08 > 0:37:11So we go into her office, put the record on, she's like me,
0:37:11 > 0:37:12she listens to it.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16She's like, "I love it, love it, love it."
0:37:16 > 0:37:20Then she goes, "Is it finishing soon, Eric?
0:37:20 > 0:37:22"I've got to go to lunch!
0:37:22 > 0:37:25"I've booked my holiday in August! Is it going to finish?"
0:37:25 > 0:37:27Anyway, it did finish.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29"All right, we'll give you a few plays."
0:37:29 > 0:37:33But I don't seem to be able to get it in the playlist.
0:37:36 > 0:37:39As I get back to my office,
0:37:39 > 0:37:44my secretary Louise, "Doreen Davies is on the phone for you."
0:37:46 > 0:37:51Doreen, what's up? "Eric," she said, "Noel Edmonds has just been in."
0:37:51 > 0:37:55Really? I'm hoping, hoping what she's going to say. And she said it.
0:37:55 > 0:37:56Morning.
0:37:56 > 0:38:00'My name's Noel Edmonds. My day starts generally at about 5:30,
0:38:00 > 0:38:04'according to whether or not I'm going to wash my hair.'
0:38:04 > 0:38:07"Played him the record, he loved it, it's his record of the week."
0:38:07 > 0:38:08I thought, we cracked it.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11# Nothing really matters
0:38:12 > 0:38:15# Anyone can see
0:38:15 > 0:38:18# Nothing really matters
0:38:19 > 0:38:24# Nothing really matters to me. #
0:38:29 > 0:38:33Bohemian Rhapsody spent nine weeks on top in 1975,
0:38:33 > 0:38:35thanks to Noel's Breakfast show.
0:38:39 > 0:38:45I think if you studied an audience, north of Watford,
0:38:45 > 0:38:50it really used to be a fact that there were lots of factories.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53Mechanics, in garages.
0:38:53 > 0:38:57Everybody was doing something as well as listening to the radio.
0:38:57 > 0:38:59It's quite important.
0:38:59 > 0:39:05And what we didn't do on Radio One on daytime, we tried not to offend.
0:39:05 > 0:39:08Because if young people were listening to Radio One
0:39:08 > 0:39:11at the crack of dawn while they're getting ready to go to school,
0:39:11 > 0:39:14and the parents are downstairs doing the breakfast or whatever,
0:39:14 > 0:39:18you don't want heavy metal at the crack of dawn.
0:39:18 > 0:39:19You don't want that.
0:39:19 > 0:39:21You don't particularly want punk rock,
0:39:21 > 0:39:25because someone will say to someone else, "Turn that rubbish off."
0:39:25 > 0:39:29# Mull of Kintyre
0:39:29 > 0:39:35# Oh, mist rolling in from the sea
0:39:35 > 0:39:37# My desire
0:39:37 > 0:39:41# Is always to be here
0:39:41 > 0:39:44# Oh, Mull of Kintyre... #
0:39:44 > 0:39:48The combination of Radio One and Top Of The Pops
0:39:48 > 0:39:52ensured that the charts remained by and large a high street affair.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56Just as the summer of love was also about Engelbert,
0:39:56 > 0:40:00the spirit of '77 was not only punk, but Wings,
0:40:00 > 0:40:03who equalled Bohemian Rhapsody's nine weeks on top.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10The other reason there weren't that many punk records in the chart in '77
0:40:10 > 0:40:12is just because there weren't very many punk records.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15Which is easily forgotten now.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18People would literally buy every single one that came out.
0:40:20 > 0:40:21Good morning, Top Of The Pops.
0:40:21 > 0:40:23'Nine o'clock, Tuesday morning.
0:40:23 > 0:40:26'The new charts are phoned through to Television Centre
0:40:26 > 0:40:29'by the British Market Research Bureau.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32'They are compiled weekly from the returns of 450 record shops.'
0:40:32 > 0:40:36I think it's amazing how many punk records did get in the chart.
0:40:36 > 0:40:40The Ramones had hits, The Tubes had a hit. Quite odd acts.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43They just weren't the biggest selling acts.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46The biggest selling acts were obviously David Soul in '77,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49and Boney M in '77-'78.
0:40:49 > 0:40:53Could one of you just check the record of Boney M, please?
0:40:53 > 0:40:54The length of time?
0:40:58 > 0:41:02# By the Rivers of Babylon
0:41:02 > 0:41:05# There we sat down
0:41:06 > 0:41:10# Yeah, we wept
0:41:10 > 0:41:13# When we remembered Zion... #
0:41:13 > 0:41:18'Was Boney M and Mull of Kintyre what was going on in 1977 and '78?'
0:41:18 > 0:41:21For me, they were, yes.
0:41:21 > 0:41:24I definitely knew those songs, I was seven years old.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27Unless it was on Top Of The Pops or on Swap Shop,
0:41:27 > 0:41:29I didn't know anything about it.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33So it was indisputably about Boney M and Mull of Kintyre.
0:41:33 > 0:41:38But does that mean that they were more important than the Sex Pistols?
0:41:38 > 0:41:39No, it doesn't.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42- Good evening, sir, how are you?- All right.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45All right, he said. Laughing. How's business?
0:41:46 > 0:41:491979 would be a boom year for the Top 10.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55With over 89 million singles sold,
0:41:55 > 0:41:58a record for physical sales to this day,
0:41:58 > 0:42:02a chart position was potentially more lucrative than ever.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06As well as influencing what people heard and bought,
0:42:06 > 0:42:10the record companies also sought to get a toehold in the charts,
0:42:10 > 0:42:12via the dark arts of record hyping.
0:42:12 > 0:42:14# We're lost in music
0:42:16 > 0:42:18# Caught in a trap... #
0:42:18 > 0:42:20Please don't tell anyone about this.
0:42:20 > 0:42:23My very first job for the record company was,
0:42:23 > 0:42:27a very small company based in W1, I won't name them.
0:42:27 > 0:42:29They were a small independent company.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33I went in, had the interview and got the job, great.
0:42:33 > 0:42:38Errand boy, coffeemaker, all that, fantastic. In the business.
0:42:38 > 0:42:41After the second week, the guy comes up to me
0:42:41 > 0:42:43with a bunch of five pound notes and said,
0:42:43 > 0:42:45"Here's a list of record shops." I said, "Yeah?"
0:42:45 > 0:42:48He said, "Could you go to all these record shops today
0:42:48 > 0:42:51"and buy three copies of this single?"
0:42:53 > 0:42:56I said, "Yeah, but it's our own single. Why would we be doing that?"
0:42:56 > 0:43:01He said, "We're running short of stock, and we're going to buy them up and recycle them."
0:43:01 > 0:43:06And I just thought, OK, this seems fair, and off I trotted.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09# We're lost in music... #
0:43:09 > 0:43:10I won't mention the guy's name,
0:43:10 > 0:43:13I think he's still alive, we still might do a bit of business.
0:43:13 > 0:43:15You would give him a few grand,
0:43:15 > 0:43:17he would go to certain record shops all over the place,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21and he'd buy up five records here, three here, one there.
0:43:21 > 0:43:25I remember in Virgin Manchester, when it became a megastore,
0:43:25 > 0:43:27you'd see housewives coming in with...
0:43:27 > 0:43:30"Have you got a copy of..." whatever record?
0:43:30 > 0:43:31You'd think, why are they buying that?
0:43:31 > 0:43:36Of course, they were just buying it. They didn't care what it was.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39The other trick, cos I worked for record companies for years.
0:43:39 > 0:43:43They had a record they really, really thought was interesting
0:43:43 > 0:43:45and should be a hit,
0:43:45 > 0:43:49they'd send out boxes of them to chart return shops for free.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52So the chart return shop would sell their box of 25
0:43:52 > 0:43:54then order another 50 or 75.
0:43:54 > 0:43:57There were all sorts of ways the charts were manipulated.
0:43:58 > 0:44:03'Nearly every single stocked at this shop in Birmingham was given to it free.
0:44:03 > 0:44:05'The simple reason is that until August,
0:44:05 > 0:44:09'it was one of 750 shops which sent in sales information for the charts.'
0:44:09 > 0:44:15Often, the reps from record companies would get out of their cars, and just
0:44:15 > 0:44:17stuff a load of records that had stickers already put on them.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21They'd just stuff them in the racks, and the record shop didn't mind
0:44:21 > 0:44:23because they just got records for free.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27They're making 100% profit on each record they sold. It suited everyone.
0:44:27 > 0:44:30And that's often how you got records in the charts.
0:44:30 > 0:44:35Some of these came in during last week. That one I don't know about.
0:44:35 > 0:44:38George Clinton, I don't think I've heard of him either.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42Ben Taylor, no, don't know that one.
0:44:42 > 0:44:45Illusion Orchestra, that's a new one on me, as well.
0:44:45 > 0:44:49No doubt somebody hopes it will catch on.
0:44:49 > 0:44:53Gazebo, no, I don't know that one.
0:44:59 > 0:45:01This is a confidential dealer's diary,
0:45:01 > 0:45:05used for compiling the British Market Research Bureau's chart.
0:45:09 > 0:45:11Incredible as it seems,
0:45:11 > 0:45:15the record company hustle even went as far as cooking the books.
0:45:17 > 0:45:21So, in those days there was a book that you used to have to write down
0:45:21 > 0:45:25the catalogue numbers of every album and every single that you sold,
0:45:25 > 0:45:27which was, of course, a bit laborious,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30particularly on the Saturday when you were really busy.
0:45:30 > 0:45:34But the benefits of being a chart return store,
0:45:34 > 0:45:36of all the free stock and the attention and the T-shirts
0:45:36 > 0:45:40and everything that went with it, were worth that.
0:45:40 > 0:45:43Yes, it was certainly legal to give you gifts.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47There is a fine line, of course, between, um...
0:45:47 > 0:45:51entering real sales and entering imaginary sales,
0:45:51 > 0:45:55which, of course, is what some of the sales reps wanted you to do.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57# Don't bring me down
0:45:57 > 0:45:59# Grus... #
0:45:59 > 0:46:02Did they ever persuade you to tick the diary?
0:46:02 > 0:46:05A couple of times, I do it just to get rid of them,
0:46:05 > 0:46:06just to get them off my back.
0:46:08 > 0:46:10'This chart return shop owner won't be identified
0:46:10 > 0:46:14'because publicity would cost him his place in the BMRB panel.'
0:46:14 > 0:46:20What do the company salesmen offer you in return for false ticks?
0:46:20 > 0:46:24Normally it's free records, sometimes it may be sweatshirts,
0:46:24 > 0:46:27T-shirts, badges, and occasionally it has been bottles of drink.
0:46:29 > 0:46:33"CBS, pushing Charlie Daniels and the Nolan sisters singles..."
0:46:37 > 0:46:40In truth, I don't think that many records became massive hits
0:46:40 > 0:46:43because of manipulation.
0:46:43 > 0:46:46I do believe that, if the public didn't like a record,
0:46:46 > 0:46:49they wouldn't buy it, no matter what you did.
0:46:55 > 0:46:59But what it did do is a record going in the charts at number 39
0:46:59 > 0:47:02and the radio stations will suddenly take a bit more interest in it,
0:47:02 > 0:47:04and therefore might begin to play it,
0:47:04 > 0:47:06whereas they hadn't put it on their play list.
0:47:14 > 0:47:16In what became an epic game of cat and mouse,
0:47:16 > 0:47:19the boffins at the BMRB devoted themselves
0:47:19 > 0:47:22to weeding out the wrong 'uns and ensuring that
0:47:22 > 0:47:25in the new decade the chart remained legit.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27# I tell you once more
0:47:27 > 0:47:29# Before I get off the floor
0:47:29 > 0:47:31# Don't bring me down. #
0:47:35 > 0:47:39Meanwhile, as the '80s dawned, a new era of British pop,
0:47:39 > 0:47:43catalysed by the more creative elements of punk, was upon us.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46And the BBC, as ever, had a little catching up to do.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49- We have a new entry at... - Number 26.
0:47:49 > 0:47:51..from Durren Durren.
0:47:53 > 0:47:55I think it must have been their first record,
0:47:55 > 0:47:57I didn't know how they pronounced the name,
0:47:57 > 0:47:59it looked to me "Durren Durren".
0:47:59 > 0:48:02Anyhow, I said it's up seven places, "Durren Durren".
0:48:02 > 0:48:04# This is planet Earth...
0:48:04 > 0:48:07# Ba, ba-ba, ba-ba, ba, ba-ba
0:48:07 > 0:48:10# Calling planet Earth... #
0:48:10 > 0:48:12Straight in, the Radio One top 40, position number 26,
0:48:12 > 0:48:16that's a new entry, Durren Durren and a number called Planet Earth.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18I've never lived that one down.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21I think Durren Durren's a better name than Duran Duran, anyway.
0:48:21 > 0:48:24- JINGLE:- Radio One, Britain's favourite.
0:48:24 > 0:48:26Thank you very much for a couple of people who rang up,
0:48:26 > 0:48:28and I didn't realise I'd said it,
0:48:28 > 0:48:31but I mispronounced a name, I said Durren Durren and Planet Earth
0:48:31 > 0:48:35at number 26, when of course it should be, as everybody knows, Duran Duran.
0:48:35 > 0:48:38When you're doing a tight-schedule play list,
0:48:38 > 0:48:40sometimes you mispronounce things, I do apologise.
0:48:40 > 0:48:42None of us are too big to apologise.
0:48:42 > 0:48:44Sorry about that, Duran Duran, of course.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46Thank you very much for taking the trouble.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48Meanwhile, back to the top 40.
0:48:51 > 0:48:54At the age of 11, at the very apex of my childhood obsession,
0:48:54 > 0:48:57I decided to start my own music magazine, Pop Scene,
0:48:57 > 0:49:01which I wrote myself using paper from my parents' fish and chip shop.
0:49:01 > 0:49:07At number 54 we've got One In Ten by UB40, which I call,
0:49:07 > 0:49:10"The most depressing group on vinyl, typical of UB40."
0:49:14 > 0:49:17"Seriously, if you're thinking of committing suicide,
0:49:17 > 0:49:19"this is the disc to do it, too."
0:49:20 > 0:49:22Now we're inside the Top 40,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25and we've got Siouxsie And The Banshees here
0:49:25 > 0:49:27with Arabian Knights.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29"Usual crap."
0:49:29 > 0:49:31Then one up, Memory, by Elaine Paige,
0:49:31 > 0:49:33which I think is brilliant.
0:49:33 > 0:49:36"It's good to have a bit of this in the charts," I say.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39Can't argue with that. What have we got here?
0:49:39 > 0:49:43Bill Wyman was launching an abortive solo career at the time,
0:49:43 > 0:49:45with (Si, Si) Je Suis Un Rock Star, which did rather well,
0:49:45 > 0:49:48and I've written, "I can see what he's trying to get at.
0:49:48 > 0:49:53"It's terrible, though. I don't know how it got in the Top 75."
0:49:53 > 0:49:55# Je suis un rock star
0:49:55 > 0:49:57# Je avais un residence
0:49:57 > 0:49:59# Je habiter la A la... #
0:50:00 > 0:50:01Then going on to the Top 10,
0:50:01 > 0:50:05I'm devoting more space here as we get nearer to the top spot.
0:50:05 > 0:50:07We've got Bad Manners, The Specials...
0:50:07 > 0:50:10Getting to the number one spot, and Stevie Wonder's at number two.
0:50:10 > 0:50:12"This song is brilliant.
0:50:12 > 0:50:15"In honour of Martin Luther King - happy birthday, of course -
0:50:15 > 0:50:19"he should grab the number one spot in the next two weeks."
0:50:19 > 0:50:22But he never did. Not with that one, anyway.
0:50:22 > 0:50:27And then at number one at the top spot we have Shakin' Stevens, with Green Door.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30"I like it, it's good, but it's just not right
0:50:30 > 0:50:34"how he can pick one old song, sing it and sell it.
0:50:34 > 0:50:37"How about some new stuff, Mr Stevens?"
0:50:38 > 0:50:40# Midnight
0:50:40 > 0:50:44# One more night without sleepin'... #
0:50:44 > 0:50:48I think it was so exhausting doing one, I don't think I did another.
0:50:48 > 0:50:50# Till that morning comes creepin'
0:50:52 > 0:50:54# Green door
0:50:54 > 0:50:59# What's that secret you're keepin'?
0:50:59 > 0:51:03# There's an old piano And they play it hot
0:51:03 > 0:51:05# Behind the green door... #
0:51:07 > 0:51:09In the true age of consumerism,
0:51:09 > 0:51:13the Top 10 remained, for everybody, a family-friendly affair.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16But it had begun to develop a split personality,
0:51:16 > 0:51:18as, in the wake of punk,
0:51:18 > 0:51:22pop with a useful edge and purpose had crept back in.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28This was epitomised by perhaps the greatest battle for top spot
0:51:28 > 0:51:31since Engelbert and the Beatles.
0:51:31 > 0:51:33# A voice reaching out In a piercing cry
0:51:33 > 0:51:36# It stays with you until... #
0:51:36 > 0:51:38Waged along similar battle lines,
0:51:38 > 0:51:43Grandma's favourite, Joe Dolce, took on Ultravox in 1982.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46# The feeling has gone only you and I
0:51:46 > 0:51:49# It means nothing to me
0:51:51 > 0:51:56# This means nothing to me
0:51:56 > 0:52:01# Oh, Vienna... #
0:52:03 > 0:52:07Now, with hindsight, you know, Vienna by Ultravox
0:52:07 > 0:52:10is one of the greatest singles ever written,
0:52:10 > 0:52:12and still to me it is a karaoke classic.
0:52:12 > 0:52:17I mean, it's a bit like teargas if you try to sing it yourself!
0:52:17 > 0:52:20But it is a wonderful song and so beautiful and dramatic,
0:52:20 > 0:52:24and the fact that it was prevented from having a number one
0:52:24 > 0:52:27by Joe Dolce is absolutely ridiculous.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31# This means nothing to me
0:52:34 > 0:52:38# This means nothing to me... #
0:52:38 > 0:52:40I love Vienna but, you know,
0:52:40 > 0:52:43by its own admission, it means nothing.
0:52:43 > 0:52:44It just...
0:52:44 > 0:52:49It's lovely, it has this kind of romantic, kind of Hapsburg Empire,
0:52:49 > 0:52:52sort of dry ice, sort of romance about it,
0:52:52 > 0:52:56but you know, I don't think it was any great injustice, really,
0:52:56 > 0:53:00that Vienna was kept off the top spot by Joe Dolce.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03Uno, due, tre, quattro!
0:53:03 > 0:53:04# When I was a boy
0:53:04 > 0:53:07# Just-a about eighth-a grade
0:53:07 > 0:53:08# Mamma used to say
0:53:08 > 0:53:11# Don't-a stay out late
0:53:11 > 0:53:13# With the bad-a boys
0:53:13 > 0:53:16# Shoot-a pool, Giuseppe Going to flunk-a school... #
0:53:16 > 0:53:18But you know, at the time, when I was a child,
0:53:18 > 0:53:23Joe Dolce, Shaddap You Face, was one of the funniest things I'd ever heard.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25You know, these kind of novelty singles
0:53:25 > 0:53:29coming along that your entire family could all sing and shout
0:53:29 > 0:53:33and get into together - it seemed perfectly just.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35# What's-a matta you, hey!
0:53:35 > 0:53:36# Gotta no respect
0:53:36 > 0:53:38# Whatta you think you do
0:53:38 > 0:53:40# Why you look-a so sad?
0:53:40 > 0:53:42# It's-a not so bad
0:53:42 > 0:53:44# It's-a nice-a place
0:53:44 > 0:53:46# Ah, shaddap you face... #
0:53:46 > 0:53:47That's my mamma...
0:53:47 > 0:53:48I like both songs.
0:53:48 > 0:53:52but I think Shaddap You Face, if you want to talk about meaning,
0:53:52 > 0:53:56that's a song, essentially, about the contrast
0:53:56 > 0:54:01between first generation immigrant values and second-generation values.
0:54:03 > 0:54:08There's something still funny about Shaddap You Face by Joe Dolce,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11because it's so brainless.
0:54:11 > 0:54:14# Ah, shaddap you face... #
0:54:14 > 0:54:17We need these lovely, brainless moments in the charts
0:54:17 > 0:54:20that are just completely naff.
0:54:20 > 0:54:22It draws us all together.
0:54:22 > 0:54:24# Why you look-a so sad?
0:54:24 > 0:54:26# It's-a not so bad... #
0:54:26 > 0:54:29The pattern of chart consumption had been well-established.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33You heard a single on the radio, saw it on the telly, and you bought it.
0:54:33 > 0:54:35I don't know, I just see it advertised and I think,
0:54:35 > 0:54:37"I've got to get that," so I have to get it.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40If I see a good record on the television
0:54:40 > 0:54:43or hear it on the radio, I save up and buy it.
0:54:43 > 0:54:47My favourite group's Genesis, I just hear them on the radio.
0:54:47 > 0:54:49I haven't bought any of their records.
0:54:54 > 0:54:56But as technology advanced,
0:54:56 > 0:55:00that pattern of consumption would be modified.
0:55:00 > 0:55:02# It ain't what you do, it's the way that you do it... #
0:55:03 > 0:55:05Home taping.
0:55:05 > 0:55:10An estimated 4 million of us did it to the Chart Show in the '80s.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13It was the illegal downloading of its day.
0:55:13 > 0:55:16Our own secret life of the Top 10.
0:55:16 > 0:55:18So, this is...
0:55:18 > 0:55:21something I used to do every week, taping off the radio.
0:55:21 > 0:55:23I'll show you what I did.
0:55:23 > 0:55:25MUSIC
0:55:26 > 0:55:28Make sure it's the right way round.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31I'm teeing it up with my finger to make sure...
0:55:31 > 0:55:33Oh, hang on, we're starting.
0:55:33 > 0:55:38- DJ:- 'Up 10 places, it's the band from Boston Massachusetts, The Cars at number five...'
0:55:38 > 0:55:41I missed the cue there, so that's ruined.
0:55:41 > 0:55:43Luckily, I'm not a massive Cars fan,
0:55:43 > 0:55:45but if I was, that was it for a week.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52Here we go, that's fading out, I'm going to pause it there...
0:55:52 > 0:55:53DJ SPEAKS
0:55:53 > 0:55:54Oh, perfect!
0:55:54 > 0:55:57'They're off to America for a five-week tour...'
0:55:57 > 0:55:59The song hasn't just started, has it?
0:55:59 > 0:56:01No, that's the jingle.
0:56:03 > 0:56:04Oh, yeah, I remember this one.
0:56:04 > 0:56:07- Ray Parker Jr is number four... - Oh, Ghostbusters.
0:56:07 > 0:56:09Right, time it.
0:56:09 > 0:56:10MUSIC STARTS
0:56:10 > 0:56:11Perfect.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22When I was a child, I definitely loved the singles charts so much,
0:56:22 > 0:56:28because it was a weekly slice of the world outside where I was.
0:56:28 > 0:56:33You know, I grew up in Carlisle, it wasn't very glamorous...
0:56:33 > 0:56:35# Ghostbusters! #
0:56:35 > 0:56:40..so that part of the week on a Sunday when the charts were playing,
0:56:40 > 0:56:44that was kind of so much like new vibes and influence
0:56:44 > 0:56:47coming into my world, and I personally think
0:56:47 > 0:56:51that without the charts playing on Radio One on a Sunday,
0:56:51 > 0:56:54I don't know whether I would have left Carlisle,
0:56:54 > 0:56:59because it was that idea that there's a big world out there.
0:56:59 > 0:57:00# Who you gonna call?
0:57:00 > 0:57:01# Ghostbusters! #
0:57:01 > 0:57:03OK....
0:57:03 > 0:57:05# If you're all alone... #
0:57:05 > 0:57:07Got another chorus.
0:57:07 > 0:57:08# Then call
0:57:08 > 0:57:10# Ghostbusters! #
0:57:11 > 0:57:14You know, you would support a band almost like a football team.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17You know, these were like my football teams,
0:57:17 > 0:57:19and you would want them to go straight in at number one
0:57:19 > 0:57:22or in at number two, or they would go in at one and stick,
0:57:22 > 0:57:25or they would go at number one and then they'd get knocked off.
0:57:25 > 0:57:28- Ray Parker Jr... - Oh, no! Missed it!
0:57:30 > 0:57:32He does that every time!
0:57:34 > 0:57:35I'm going to have to rewind that.
0:57:35 > 0:57:37MUSIC STARTS
0:57:37 > 0:57:38Oh!
0:57:38 > 0:57:40Actually, it's Wham!, doesn't matter.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47That wonderful idea that, you know, you were either into Duran Duran
0:57:47 > 0:57:50or you were into Spandau Ballet, and if you were into Duran
0:57:50 > 0:57:53you were just kind of absolutely in fear that Spandau or Wham!
0:57:53 > 0:57:56would come along and knock them off the top of the charts.
0:57:56 > 0:57:59And Stevie Wonder is still at the top.
0:57:59 > 0:58:00Britain's number one!
0:58:00 > 0:58:02Superstition?
0:58:02 > 0:58:04No.
0:58:04 > 0:58:06No. I Just Called To Say I Love You.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08Brilliant.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10# No New Year's Day
0:58:12 > 0:58:14# To celebrate
0:58:16 > 0:58:22# No chocolate-covered Candy hearts to give away... #
0:58:22 > 0:58:25This might possibly be, as a chart fan, my secret shame.
0:58:25 > 0:58:27Everybody recorded the Top 40 show
0:58:27 > 0:58:30off the radio to listen to in that particular week.
0:58:30 > 0:58:34I was no different, I just never got around to throwing any of them away.
0:58:34 > 0:58:37So, this is just a small part of the collection,
0:58:37 > 0:58:41dating late '80s, early '90s, when I was about 15, 16.
0:58:41 > 0:58:44# I just called
0:58:44 > 0:58:46# To say
0:58:46 > 0:58:48# I love you... #
0:58:49 > 0:58:54It wasn't just Stevie who thought phones were cool in the '80s.
0:58:54 > 0:58:58Telecommunications technology had started to inveigle its way
0:58:58 > 0:59:01into every aspect of life, including the singles chart.
0:59:04 > 0:59:08By 1987, the chart was now in the hands of Gallup,
0:59:08 > 0:59:12an organisation that hoped to use computer wizardry
0:59:12 > 0:59:14to ensure chart legitimacy.
0:59:14 > 0:59:18So, here's the machine which Gallup say will make the charts unriggable.
0:59:18 > 0:59:20How does it work?
0:59:20 > 0:59:22Well, it goes beside the cash register
0:59:22 > 0:59:24at 250 record shops around the country.
0:59:24 > 0:59:26As each record is sold,
0:59:26 > 0:59:29the sales assistant will key in its retail index number -
0:59:29 > 0:59:32ABC 456.
0:59:32 > 0:59:34Every week, the computer here at Gallup
0:59:34 > 0:59:37will phone round the record shops and automatically draw off
0:59:37 > 0:59:39the information that's stored on the machine.
0:59:40 > 0:59:44Well, in a very small way I'm just about to influence
0:59:44 > 0:59:45next week's record charts.
0:59:45 > 0:59:49I know that because this shop is one of the 700 that's used by Gallup
0:59:49 > 0:59:51when they prepare the Hit Parade each week.
0:59:51 > 0:59:55Gallup started introducing electronic point-of-sale machines.
0:59:55 > 1:00:00You'd go, "Oh! Oh, I swiped that twice. Oh, what a mistake,"
1:00:00 > 1:00:02because no-one would check.
1:00:02 > 1:00:05There wasn't a correlation with your till,
1:00:05 > 1:00:09so that's how that was...adjusted.
1:00:09 > 1:00:13# We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
1:00:13 > 1:00:15# And then we'll take it higher... #
1:00:15 > 1:00:18Gallup's automated data collection
1:00:18 > 1:00:21would revolutionise the Sunday Chart Show on Radio One.
1:00:21 > 1:00:23- One!- Good afternoon, it's exactly 5 o'clock
1:00:23 > 1:00:27and this is Bruno Brookes here in London with the brand-new Top 40.
1:00:27 > 1:00:28Our link with Gallup headquarters
1:00:28 > 1:00:31tells us the news as it comes in minute by minute.
1:00:31 > 1:00:34'The new Top 40 format is the fastest and most accurate of its kind
1:00:34 > 1:00:35'anywhere in the world...'
1:00:35 > 1:00:38Pre that, there was something called the midweek charts,
1:00:38 > 1:00:40and generally speaking,
1:00:40 > 1:00:42most of the counting of record sales around the country
1:00:42 > 1:00:44was done sort of midweek
1:00:44 > 1:00:47and that was pretty much the way it would end up on the Sunday chart,
1:00:47 > 1:00:50but it was a bit silly, cos of course, most singles were sold
1:00:50 > 1:00:53on a Saturday. That's when the record shops did most business.
1:00:53 > 1:00:57Europe's most listened-to radio show shares its technology with you
1:00:57 > 1:00:59and here's the first new entry.
1:00:59 > 1:01:03'So on Sunday morning, there was a count from Gallup
1:01:03 > 1:01:07'and we were literally getting the news on Sunday morning
1:01:07 > 1:01:10'and compiling the show ready for broadcast in the afternoon.'
1:01:10 > 1:01:12Off to a good start.
1:01:12 > 1:01:14While it had become much more difficult
1:01:14 > 1:01:17to curry favour with chart return stores,
1:01:17 > 1:01:21record companies fought back by targeting the actual consumer.
1:01:23 > 1:01:25Now released with videos,
1:01:25 > 1:01:29the '80s was the heyday for the single as a colourful commodity
1:01:29 > 1:01:31and record companies got extra creative
1:01:31 > 1:01:38in their attempts to persuade us to part with our cash again and again.
1:01:38 > 1:01:41Anything to make your package look more attractive,
1:01:41 > 1:01:45to give more value, added to it,
1:01:45 > 1:01:48so we had, first of all, we had 12-inch singles, great,
1:01:48 > 1:01:51and then we had gatefold 12-inch singles
1:01:51 > 1:01:55and then we had picture discs. Oh, all sorts of stuff.
1:01:55 > 1:01:57My loft is full of it.
1:01:59 > 1:02:02You would have double packs of records,
1:02:02 > 1:02:04so when you bought one record,
1:02:04 > 1:02:08you got another one free. Who wouldn't want twice The Bangles?
1:02:10 > 1:02:13You think, "Do I like Midnight Of The Lost And Found? I'm not sure,"
1:02:13 > 1:02:17but it's OK, you see, because it's got Bat Out Of Hell on the B-side
1:02:17 > 1:02:19and everyone loves Bat Out Of Hell
1:02:19 > 1:02:23so you'll buy it anyway, and then Meat Loaf has a hit.
1:02:23 > 1:02:25One reason why Happy Birthday did so well,
1:02:25 > 1:02:28apart from being the great song it was,
1:02:28 > 1:02:30was that some copies of it
1:02:30 > 1:02:34came with an iron-on transfer with the sleeve image on,
1:02:34 > 1:02:37and then you'd have silly things like this -
1:02:37 > 1:02:39an Aztec Camera single
1:02:39 > 1:02:43which was supposed to be, the joke is that it's an Aztec camera,
1:02:43 > 1:02:45an archaeological find,
1:02:45 > 1:02:50but I'm not sure that Aztecs used flashes on their cameras.
1:02:53 > 1:02:56Now there's all sorts of different formats of singles you can get.
1:02:56 > 1:02:59If you're a true Wet Wet Wet fan now,
1:02:59 > 1:03:01if you wanted to collect all those singles,
1:03:01 > 1:03:02and I have a sneaking suspicion
1:03:02 > 1:03:05- that's why they produce so many formats...- Yeah.
1:03:05 > 1:03:07It could cost you about 20 quid.
1:03:07 > 1:03:09This week's number two is last week's number one,
1:03:09 > 1:03:11the Time Lords with Doctorin' The Tardis,
1:03:11 > 1:03:14which means that Britain has a brand-new...
1:03:14 > 1:03:17- Number one!- It's Bros!
1:03:17 > 1:03:20MUSIC: "I Owe You Nothing" by Bros
1:03:30 > 1:03:32It really did get out of hand.
1:03:32 > 1:03:36Famously, I think it was in 1988,
1:03:36 > 1:03:37Bros put out a single
1:03:37 > 1:03:41and they had 27 different versions.
1:03:46 > 1:03:48Record companies had got so good
1:03:48 > 1:03:51at marketing and manipulating the charts,
1:03:51 > 1:03:55it was almost as if it didn't matter what the public liked.
1:03:55 > 1:04:00But 1989 would prove that the charts are always a democracy.
1:04:00 > 1:04:02# I'll have my revenge
1:04:02 > 1:04:04# Ooh, ooh, yeah
1:04:04 > 1:04:07# Cos I owe you nothing, nothing at all... #
1:04:07 > 1:04:11September the 3rd, 1989. My 16th birthday
1:04:11 > 1:04:15and if you want to hear what was in the Top 10 on that particular day,
1:04:15 > 1:04:17very simple.
1:04:17 > 1:04:19Just press play.
1:04:19 > 1:04:22'There's a brand-new number one for Black Box, Right On Time.
1:04:22 > 1:04:24'UK's number one!'
1:04:24 > 1:04:27# Gotta get up, gotta get up, gotta get up... #
1:04:27 > 1:04:31Bypassing radio and gaining exposure through nightclubs,
1:04:31 > 1:04:34Black Box's six weeks at number one
1:04:34 > 1:04:38cemented the arrival of dance culture in the charts.
1:04:38 > 1:04:40# Cos you're right on time... #
1:04:40 > 1:04:42It was the biggest hit of the year
1:04:42 > 1:04:46but '89 itself would belong to a different sort of dance music.
1:04:48 > 1:04:49It's really interesting
1:04:49 > 1:04:54that at a time when there was this enormous counterculture brewing
1:04:54 > 1:04:57of MDMA and people going to raves
1:04:57 > 1:05:01and listening to this bizarre music and...
1:05:02 > 1:05:04..kind of stretching their brains
1:05:04 > 1:05:08and fighting with the police for the right to party. At that exact time,
1:05:08 > 1:05:10what was actually big in the charts was Jive Bunny.
1:05:10 > 1:05:13# Come on, everybody C-c-come on, everybody... #
1:05:13 > 1:05:17MUSIC: "Swing the Mood" by Jive Bunny
1:05:26 > 1:05:29The only way I can understand Jive Bunny's appeal
1:05:29 > 1:05:33is a sort of pan-generational thing, where it's records from the past,
1:05:33 > 1:05:37maybe kids haven't ever heard them before - you know, small kids.
1:05:37 > 1:05:39I mean, I think Jive Bunny himself
1:05:39 > 1:05:42is a fairly terrifying-looking cartoon rabbit.
1:05:42 > 1:05:45# One-one-one, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock... #
1:05:45 > 1:05:47Not one, not two,
1:05:47 > 1:05:51not three, but four of Jive Bunny's singles,
1:05:51 > 1:05:53Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers there.
1:05:53 > 1:05:56Jive Bunny, of course, got a lot of the credit
1:05:56 > 1:05:58but the Mastermixers did most of the work.
1:05:58 > 1:06:01In order, it was Swing The Mood,
1:06:01 > 1:06:02followed by That's What I Like,
1:06:02 > 1:06:06then at Christmas, they brought out Let's Party and Auld Lang Syne
1:06:06 > 1:06:08then finally, That Sounds Good To Me.
1:06:08 > 1:06:11I sort of fell off. There was a fifth, and maybe even sixth single
1:06:11 > 1:06:13but I fell off after the fourth one
1:06:13 > 1:06:16and I think that was true of the rest of the population.
1:06:21 > 1:06:25With three number ones spending a grand total of nine weeks on top,
1:06:25 > 1:06:28Jive Bunny would see the '80s out in appropriate style.
1:06:32 > 1:06:36In the new decade, we would fall out of love with the charts.
1:06:36 > 1:06:37MUSIC STOPS
1:06:38 > 1:06:40STATIC
1:06:42 > 1:06:45# I'm too sexy for my love
1:06:45 > 1:06:49# Too sexy for my love, love's going to leave me... #
1:06:49 > 1:06:52MUSIC: "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred
1:06:52 > 1:06:56The '90s would begin auspiciously enough, with a new record
1:06:56 > 1:07:01for most consecutive weeks on top, set in 1991.
1:07:01 > 1:07:03I'm Too Sexy by Right Said Fred,
1:07:03 > 1:07:07in any other year, would have been, you know,
1:07:07 > 1:07:10one of the biggest number one singles of its era,
1:07:10 > 1:07:12but it had the poor fortune
1:07:12 > 1:07:17to be stuck behind Everything I Do, I Do It For You, by Bryan Adams.
1:07:17 > 1:07:20# You know, it's true
1:07:22 > 1:07:24# Everything I do
1:07:25 > 1:07:28# I do it for you... #
1:07:28 > 1:07:34Bryan Adams' 16 weeks atop shattered a record that had lasted since 1955.
1:07:34 > 1:07:35When it got to the ninth week,
1:07:35 > 1:07:37you thought, "He's never going to make ten weeks.
1:07:37 > 1:07:39"No-one's done it in my lifetime."
1:07:39 > 1:07:41And of course, it did get to number one for ten weeks
1:07:41 > 1:07:44and then after that, it just became the sort of surreal situation
1:07:44 > 1:07:47where you thought, "It's never, ever going to be knocked off the top."
1:07:47 > 1:07:49And so it's congratulations to Bryan Adams.
1:07:49 > 1:07:54- For a staggering 12th week, he is...- The UK's number one!
1:07:56 > 1:07:59I think there is some kind of strange musicological reason
1:07:59 > 1:08:02for the fact that it was so successful.
1:08:02 > 1:08:05Because it had a killer key change in it.
1:08:05 > 1:08:08- # There's no love... # - '# There's no love
1:08:08 > 1:08:10'# Like your love.... #'
1:08:10 > 1:08:13And there'd be 30 of us sitting in the TV room at school,
1:08:13 > 1:08:15singing along, "And no other!"
1:08:15 > 1:08:17It was incredible.
1:08:17 > 1:08:20I think, when you're sort of, 14,
1:08:20 > 1:08:25Bryan Adams epitomised, and also the Kevin Costner sort of manliness,
1:08:25 > 1:08:29you know, it's linked to Robin Hood, which was a hugely successful film.
1:08:29 > 1:08:33I think we all thought, "Wow, this is what love should be like.
1:08:33 > 1:08:37"This is what a guy who really is in love with someone would sing."
1:08:37 > 1:08:40The lyrics are actually quite a lovely message
1:08:40 > 1:08:45and it's the perfect thing to buy for somebody that you love.
1:08:45 > 1:08:49This was in an age when people were just popping into WH Smith's
1:08:49 > 1:08:52or Woolworths or Our Price.
1:08:52 > 1:08:56It was a gift, it was something that you could buy for someone.
1:08:58 > 1:09:02There we go. I was part of the problem, back in the '90s.
1:09:02 > 1:09:05This is in pretty good condition.
1:09:05 > 1:09:08I think, probably, the reason this is in such good condition
1:09:08 > 1:09:11is that I bought it and I think I played it once
1:09:11 > 1:09:14and then turned on Radio One and they played it 15 times
1:09:14 > 1:09:17and I went, "I'll probably just pop it back on the shelf."
1:09:17 > 1:09:22# I do it for you. #
1:09:29 > 1:09:32Back at Radio One, changes were afoot in the early '90s
1:09:32 > 1:09:36- that would have a big effect on the chart.- Oh, yeah!
1:09:38 > 1:09:43In an effort to combat the rising threat of commercial radio
1:09:43 > 1:09:45and to target a youth audience,
1:09:45 > 1:09:49a new broom had been tasked with cleaning out Radio One.
1:09:50 > 1:09:52I want to make Radio One
1:09:52 > 1:09:55an exciting, interesting and original radio station,
1:09:55 > 1:09:56which the BBC can be proud of.
1:09:58 > 1:10:00Matthew Bannister effectively reversed
1:10:00 > 1:10:04Doreen Davies' pan-generational approach to the playlist.
1:10:04 > 1:10:06It was out with the oldies
1:10:06 > 1:10:09- like Quo and Cliff.- Just because a record got into the chart
1:10:09 > 1:10:12didn't mean we needed to playlist it on Radio One.
1:10:12 > 1:10:15Radio One was trying to do something different from commercial radio,
1:10:15 > 1:10:17trying to support new music and new artists
1:10:17 > 1:10:19and trying to develop its musical credibility,
1:10:19 > 1:10:23so just the fact that, you know, Max Bygraves was in the chart or
1:10:23 > 1:10:26Cliff Richard was in the chart didn't mean we had any duty to play it,
1:10:26 > 1:10:29except on The Chart Show, of course.
1:10:29 > 1:10:32If my record is number one in the country,
1:10:32 > 1:10:35the songs that you're playing are not as big as mine,
1:10:35 > 1:10:39so why wouldn't you want to play a really big-selling record
1:10:39 > 1:10:41to your public, cos some of THEM might like it?
1:10:41 > 1:10:43Second week on top, Boom! Shake The Room.
1:10:43 > 1:10:47MUSIC: "Boom! Shake The Room" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince
1:10:47 > 1:10:51Having distanced itself from what the nation had actually been buying,
1:10:51 > 1:10:54Radio One would find itself with a chart battle
1:10:54 > 1:10:57of a very different variety on its hands in '93.
1:10:57 > 1:11:02Since the mid-50s, the British public had turned en masse
1:11:02 > 1:11:04to BBC radio for their chart picks.
1:11:04 > 1:11:07But all that was about to change.
1:11:07 > 1:11:10One of three songs that sticks in this week's Network Top Ten,
1:11:10 > 1:11:13Faces, Faces Everywhere from 2 Unlimited.
1:11:13 > 1:11:16Commercial radio's Network Chat Show
1:11:16 > 1:11:20had been a lesser-known alternative to Radio One since '84.
1:11:20 > 1:11:24When the show was reinvented around a new presenter in '93,
1:11:24 > 1:11:26the battle of the chart shows would commence.
1:11:26 > 1:11:31MUSIC: "Doctor Doctor" by Robert Palmer
1:11:31 > 1:11:33I think at that time, the Radio One chart
1:11:33 > 1:11:37had five times as many listeners as the commercial radio chart
1:11:37 > 1:11:40and our big battle was to find a way of giving us some credibility.
1:11:40 > 1:11:43Seven new entries today and this booms in at hit song seven -
1:11:43 > 1:11:46Radiohead and Creep. They're a five-piece band from Oxford,
1:11:46 > 1:11:49originally released this single last summer,
1:11:49 > 1:11:50but it fell short of the Top 75,
1:11:50 > 1:11:53but it's been a big hit on the American Top 40
1:11:53 > 1:11:58and so they've re-released it here. Radiohead, Creep. Well done, guys.
1:11:58 > 1:12:02From the outset, the BBC had one massive advantage.
1:12:02 > 1:12:04It was the only organisation
1:12:04 > 1:12:08contracted to broadcast the official Top 40,
1:12:08 > 1:12:12but they hadn't reckoned with crafty commercial radio executives.
1:12:12 > 1:12:18"OK, if we can't have the Top 40, can we have the Top 10?"
1:12:18 > 1:12:21And I think they looked at their contracts...
1:12:21 > 1:12:24and going, "Err... It doesn't say anywhere you can't have the Top 10
1:12:24 > 1:12:25"but you can't have the Top 40."
1:12:25 > 1:12:27So they went, "We'll have the Top 10, then."
1:12:27 > 1:12:30# I don't belong here... #
1:12:32 > 1:12:34Bet Radiohead are going to have a few drinks tonight.
1:12:34 > 1:12:37That was problematic for Radio One
1:12:37 > 1:12:38because Radio One's authority
1:12:38 > 1:12:42of being the only place to have the official chart was bit by bit eroded,
1:12:42 > 1:12:44and the Top 10 is the biggest bit
1:12:44 > 1:12:48and it's where people want to see where the latest records are.
1:12:48 > 1:12:51The Top 10 has a non-mover at number ten. It's Erasure...
1:12:51 > 1:12:55The way they did a chart was, "At 40, at 39, at 38,"
1:12:55 > 1:12:58all the way down to, "And at number one, it is blah."
1:12:58 > 1:13:01And what we decided was, "If that's the way they're going to do it,
1:13:01 > 1:13:03"we need to do it in a different way."
1:13:03 > 1:13:06Right, stand in the air, wave your hands around like just don't care.
1:13:06 > 1:13:10The highest climber is up 33 at this week's number three!
1:13:10 > 1:13:15DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince - Boom, Boom!
1:13:15 > 1:13:18Ours was all about hard DJ-ing,
1:13:18 > 1:13:21you know, cranking it to the max and really getting in there.
1:13:21 > 1:13:25- SOUNDS GETS LOUDER:- I think I'm going to get completely naked
1:13:25 > 1:13:28during this song. Let's get radical!
1:13:28 > 1:13:31Neil and I had a definite professional rivalry.
1:13:31 > 1:13:35I was very belligerent about the Radio One chart being best.
1:13:35 > 1:13:37He, I think, was much more relaxed about it.
1:13:37 > 1:13:40When it came to our public voice,
1:13:40 > 1:13:43of course, I wanted to nail Goodier. We wanted to kill him.
1:13:43 > 1:13:45The Top 10 goes like this.
1:13:45 > 1:13:47No change at ten - Mariah Carey, Dream Lover.
1:13:48 > 1:13:50I remember being quietly furious
1:13:50 > 1:13:55that anybody else thought they could broadcast the charts but Radio One,
1:13:55 > 1:13:56especially Foxy.
1:13:56 > 1:14:00Five - SWV, Right Here. Four - Bitty McLean, It Keeps Rainin'...
1:14:00 > 1:14:02You know, moving the charts from Radio One
1:14:02 > 1:14:04is like going to the Tower of London
1:14:04 > 1:14:08and, you know, getting a catapult at the ravens. You can't do that!
1:14:08 > 1:14:10Culture Beat are the number one!
1:14:12 > 1:14:15It worked. Within, I think, about 18 months,
1:14:15 > 1:14:17we had managed to bring the audience levels up.
1:14:17 > 1:14:21By about two-and-a-half years, we were ahead, and we stayed ahead
1:14:21 > 1:14:24for the next ten years. In fact, I think we're still ahead now.
1:14:30 > 1:14:32Although Radio One's position
1:14:32 > 1:14:35as official custodians of the chart had slipped,
1:14:35 > 1:14:40by '95, the effects of the youth policy at the nation's favourite
1:14:40 > 1:14:43were beginning to be felt in a more positive way.
1:14:43 > 1:14:46We were making radical changes to Radio One,
1:14:46 > 1:14:49trying to bring down the average age of the audience,
1:14:49 > 1:14:51trying to emphasise its credentials
1:14:51 > 1:14:54as a station that championed new bands and new music,
1:14:54 > 1:14:58and I think we were alone in the radio marketplace
1:14:58 > 1:15:03in first starting to support Britpop, for example, and a lot of the bands
1:15:03 > 1:15:07that we started supporting uniquely in the music marketplace
1:15:07 > 1:15:08ended up in the charts.
1:15:08 > 1:15:11Matthew Bannister was a genius.
1:15:11 > 1:15:14I probably owe him a good dinner, you know?
1:15:14 > 1:15:18He put all my bands on the radio for about five years, you know,
1:15:18 > 1:15:22so he gave everybody a good time in the '90s, Matthew Bannister.
1:15:25 > 1:15:28Radio One reconnected the chart to youth
1:15:28 > 1:15:31like it was the '60s over again.
1:15:31 > 1:15:33In the most hyped battle of the decade,
1:15:33 > 1:15:36there would be no grandma's favourite,
1:15:36 > 1:15:38just two young bands slugging it out.
1:15:38 > 1:15:43It's been called the biggest battle in pop music for nearly 30 years.
1:15:43 > 1:15:45Two of Britain's leading bands, Blur and Oasis,
1:15:45 > 1:15:47released singles on the same day.
1:15:47 > 1:15:49# You got to take your time
1:15:49 > 1:15:53# You got to say what you say, don't let anybody get in your way... #
1:15:53 > 1:15:59On the 14th of August, 1985, Oasis released Roll With It.
1:15:59 > 1:16:00On the very same day,
1:16:00 > 1:16:06Blur broke the gentleman's agreement and released Country House.
1:16:06 > 1:16:08The battle of Britpop commenced.
1:16:10 > 1:16:13# I think I've got a feeling I've lost inside
1:16:13 > 1:16:14# I think I'm gonna take me away... #
1:16:14 > 1:16:19It wasn't really about what it purported to be about.
1:16:19 > 1:16:21It was about two different sensibilities,
1:16:21 > 1:16:24the slightly art school, bohemian sensibility of Blur
1:16:24 > 1:16:26and what that represented,
1:16:26 > 1:16:29versus the kind of unreconstructed
1:16:29 > 1:16:34real kind of good, honest, meat-and-potatoes values
1:16:34 > 1:16:37that Oasis represented and, you know,
1:16:37 > 1:16:41that you were either the kind of kid at school that did the bullying
1:16:41 > 1:16:44or you were the kind of kid at school that was being bullied,
1:16:44 > 1:16:47and those two factions are very clearly sort of marked!
1:16:48 > 1:16:51Damon Albarn had an altercation,
1:16:51 > 1:16:53as in a slagging match, with Liam,
1:16:53 > 1:16:56who started it, believe it or not,
1:16:56 > 1:17:01outside a, some might say, number one record party I'd arranged
1:17:01 > 1:17:05and I think Liam wound Damon up,
1:17:05 > 1:17:08going, "We're number one," or something, "We're number one,"
1:17:08 > 1:17:10and Damon then responded by moving his single
1:17:10 > 1:17:12but they moved it to the same week
1:17:12 > 1:17:14so that we would be going up against them.
1:17:14 > 1:17:20But tonight, there's no denying Blur are top of the pops!
1:17:20 > 1:17:22MUSIC: "Country House" by Blur
1:17:22 > 1:17:26In the event, Blur won, but the battle was good for both bands.
1:17:26 > 1:17:28So the story begins
1:17:28 > 1:17:31# City dweller, successful fella... #
1:17:31 > 1:17:33I was on holiday with my family in Devon.
1:17:33 > 1:17:37I made my family drive into town so they could take me to a record shop
1:17:37 > 1:17:40so I could buy the Cassingle of Country House, so I could...
1:17:40 > 1:17:41and I was really pleased,
1:17:41 > 1:17:44I remember seeing them on Top Of The Pops when they won,
1:17:44 > 1:17:47and again, it felt like... Because I'm not a big sports fan,
1:17:47 > 1:17:50it felt in the same way that, if you support a football team,
1:17:50 > 1:17:53it felt like I'd backed the winning team. This was my team.
1:17:53 > 1:17:59# And now he lives in a house, a very big house in the country
1:17:59 > 1:18:03# Watching nothing but repeats and the food he eats in the country... #
1:18:03 > 1:18:06But it was all so petty, and it was ridiculous,
1:18:06 > 1:18:08but it was a genius move for us
1:18:08 > 1:18:10because we were the underdogs,
1:18:10 > 1:18:14although it doesn't look like that now, but Oasis at that point
1:18:14 > 1:18:17were 500,000 or 600,000 into Definitely Maybe,
1:18:17 > 1:18:20whereas Parklife was hitting on 2 million
1:18:20 > 1:18:22so they were a much, much bigger band.
1:18:22 > 1:18:26# In touch with his own mortality... #
1:18:26 > 1:18:31But that actual argument, or fight between the two bands,
1:18:31 > 1:18:35made Oasis national, kind of like, news,
1:18:35 > 1:18:38and we were getting on, literally, News At Ten
1:18:38 > 1:18:40and rubbish, like that, you know.
1:18:40 > 1:18:44# He lives in a house, a very big house in the country... #
1:18:44 > 1:18:46'Hello?'
1:18:46 > 1:18:48Hello. Is Mr Gallagher there, please?
1:18:48 > 1:18:50- 'Who's this?'- It's... Is that Liam?
1:18:50 > 1:18:53- 'Yeah.'- Hello, Liam. It's Jeremy Vine from Newsnight here.
1:18:53 > 1:18:56- How are you doing? - 'I'm- BLEEP- sound, how are you?'
1:18:56 > 1:18:59- Not bad. Are you coming out? - 'Am I- BLEEP.- It's raining, mate.'
1:19:00 > 1:19:03Despite the press hysteria, sales were low -
1:19:03 > 1:19:07274,000 versus 216,000
1:19:07 > 1:19:09in Blur's favour.
1:19:10 > 1:19:15The modesty of these figures would be thrown into sharp relief in 1997
1:19:15 > 1:19:20when one particular number one sold over 4.5 million copies.
1:19:20 > 1:19:25FANFARE PLAYS
1:19:28 > 1:19:32And right now, it's time for the bestselling UK singles of all time
1:19:32 > 1:19:34and the Top 10 look like this.
1:19:34 > 1:19:39Mary's Boy Child/Oh, My Lord medley, Boney M at number ten.
1:19:39 > 1:19:43Unchained Melody/There'll Be Bluebirds Over The White Cliffs Of Dover, Robson and Jerome.
1:19:43 > 1:19:46At eight, You're The One That I Want, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
1:19:46 > 1:19:49At seven, She Loves You, the Beatles,
1:19:49 > 1:19:52and at number six, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Relax.
1:19:52 > 1:19:54Top five, they're on the way.
1:19:56 > 1:19:59At number five, Boney M, Rivers Of Babylon / Brown Girl In The Ring.
1:19:59 > 1:20:02At four, Mull Of Kintyre and Girls' School from Wings.
1:20:02 > 1:20:04The terrific three look like this -
1:20:04 > 1:20:07Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen, at number three.
1:20:07 > 1:20:10Band Aid, Do They Know It's Christmas at number two.
1:20:10 > 1:20:12What's number one? Tell you in a moment.
1:20:15 > 1:20:18At number one, it's Candle In The Wind 1997
1:20:18 > 1:20:20and Something About The Way You Look Tonight
1:20:20 > 1:20:23and that comes from the great Elton John.
1:20:25 > 1:20:26# Goodbye England's rose
1:20:26 > 1:20:29# May you ever grow in our hearts
1:20:29 > 1:20:33# You were to grace that placed herself
1:20:33 > 1:20:35# Where lives were torn apart
1:20:37 > 1:20:40# You called out to our country
1:20:41 > 1:20:45# And you whispered to those in pain... #
1:20:45 > 1:20:48The new recording of Candle In The Wind,
1:20:48 > 1:20:50Elton John's tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales,
1:20:50 > 1:20:53has now become the biggest-selling single in the world.
1:20:53 > 1:20:57# And it seems to me, you lived your life
1:20:57 > 1:21:01# Like a candle in the wind
1:21:01 > 1:21:05# Never failing with the sunset
1:21:05 > 1:21:08# When the rain set in... #
1:21:08 > 1:21:11Candle In The Wind was a watershed moment.
1:21:11 > 1:21:13As the millennium drew to a close,
1:21:13 > 1:21:17the chart would find itself in crisis.
1:21:18 > 1:21:21By now, marketing had become a multi-million-pound pseudoscience
1:21:21 > 1:21:26and it gave the Top 10 more than a whiff of implausibility.
1:21:26 > 1:21:28Record companies had finally worked out
1:21:28 > 1:21:31how to make something go straight in at number one and drop the next week,
1:21:31 > 1:21:34so it looked very impressive in theory, but of course,
1:21:34 > 1:21:37it just meant people were losing interest in the chart
1:21:37 > 1:21:39because the charts weren't a consensus
1:21:39 > 1:21:42of what the country was listening to or what the country liked.
1:21:45 > 1:21:50With 43 number ones, 2000 saw almost continual change at the top,
1:21:50 > 1:21:53but by now, the chart's biggest problem
1:21:53 > 1:21:56was what was NOT going on on the high street.
1:21:56 > 1:21:59The rise of the internet was a double whammy.
1:21:59 > 1:22:02It offered kids a host of entertainment options
1:22:02 > 1:22:04that took them away from the Top 40
1:22:04 > 1:22:06and if they craved music,
1:22:06 > 1:22:09well, now, they could fill their boots - for free.
1:22:17 > 1:22:21I think by 2002, we were in an interesting situation
1:22:21 > 1:22:25where the record business was in a mess
1:22:25 > 1:22:29and the record business was in a mess because it didn't see
1:22:29 > 1:22:32and didn't work out what to do with downloading.
1:22:32 > 1:22:36The charts had become certainly a little bit odd.
1:22:36 > 1:22:38The Top 10 was still relevant to a certain extent
1:22:38 > 1:22:40and really, I know Radio One's chart
1:22:40 > 1:22:43was really irrelevant from ten down to 40
1:22:43 > 1:22:47because there were tracks making it in there, having sold 600 copies.
1:22:49 > 1:22:53Good evening. The number of singles bought in the shops
1:22:53 > 1:22:55has more than halved in the last five years
1:22:55 > 1:22:59and back in August, one artist managed to get to number one
1:22:59 > 1:23:02by selling just 23,000 copies.
1:23:02 > 1:23:04Is the single as we know it now dead?
1:23:04 > 1:23:07MUSIC: "Insania" by Peter Andre
1:23:07 > 1:23:09Things were just going in at number one every week
1:23:09 > 1:23:12and the following week, they'd be number ten, number 12 or number 15,
1:23:12 > 1:23:16so it all started to become a bit meaningless.
1:23:16 > 1:23:18It was all over, you know.
1:23:18 > 1:23:22# Take a look around at what technology has found... #
1:23:22 > 1:23:24Peter Andre had three number ones.
1:23:24 > 1:23:26Who knew?
1:23:26 > 1:23:27I bet even he doesn't know.
1:23:29 > 1:23:34The entertainment industry's been reluctant to sell on the internet
1:23:34 > 1:23:37until they're satisfied with the protection against copying
1:23:37 > 1:23:39but whilst they're trying to make that happen,
1:23:39 > 1:23:42technology is making copying even easier.
1:23:42 > 1:23:45Superfast downloading is becoming more widely available.
1:23:45 > 1:23:48It's called broadband.
1:23:48 > 1:23:50MUSIC: "Chasing cars" by Snow Patrol
1:23:50 > 1:23:52# We don't need
1:23:53 > 1:23:55# Anything
1:23:57 > 1:24:00# Or anyone... #
1:24:00 > 1:24:03The chart had become a curate's egg.
1:24:03 > 1:24:102004 witnessed an all-time low of only 31 million physical sales.
1:24:10 > 1:24:14Even the BBC was beginning to have second thoughts.
1:24:14 > 1:24:18# Would you lie with me and just forget the world? #
1:24:20 > 1:24:23Snow Patrol gave the last ever studio performance
1:24:23 > 1:24:25on a weekly Top Of The Pops.
1:24:25 > 1:24:30The show was cancelled in 2006 after 42 years
1:24:30 > 1:24:33but the irony was that the axe fell
1:24:33 > 1:24:37just as things were beginning to turn around.
1:24:37 > 1:24:42What strikes me as tragic about the decision to cease Top Of The Pops
1:24:42 > 1:24:45was that if it had hung on for a bit longer, then
1:24:45 > 1:24:49because of the changing way in which people started buying their music,
1:24:49 > 1:24:52the charts started to behave
1:24:52 > 1:24:55a little bit more like they had done before.
1:24:55 > 1:24:59Things that only every used to happen in the chart a long time ago
1:24:59 > 1:25:02started to happen again, things like, you know,
1:25:02 > 1:25:05Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol spent a year in the chart
1:25:05 > 1:25:09because it just had that thing that some records have
1:25:09 > 1:25:11that just make people want to keep buying them.
1:25:11 > 1:25:13# If I lay here
1:25:15 > 1:25:16CHEERING
1:25:16 > 1:25:19# If I just lay here
1:25:20 > 1:25:22# Would you lie with me
1:25:22 > 1:25:26# And just forget the world? #
1:25:28 > 1:25:32CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1:25:32 > 1:25:36This is the only chart that counts.
1:25:36 > 1:25:39This is the only place where you will find out officially
1:25:39 > 1:25:41who has that number one single right here in the UK.
1:25:41 > 1:25:46MUSIC: "Heatwave" by Wiley
1:25:46 > 1:25:51Since 2006, the pop charts have undergone a transformation.
1:25:51 > 1:25:55The consumer finally got their head around buying music online
1:25:55 > 1:25:57and a renaissance is upon us.
1:25:57 > 1:26:032011 witnessed a record 177 million downloads that counted
1:26:03 > 1:26:08towards what has become a song rather than singles-based Top 40.
1:26:10 > 1:26:12How you doing?
1:26:12 > 1:26:15It's just gone six o'clock and we are live on Radio One.
1:26:15 > 1:26:17We are live online!
1:26:17 > 1:26:20You know, I think a lot of people sort of thought
1:26:20 > 1:26:24that when physical sales started to go through the floor,
1:26:24 > 1:26:27people believed that the charts wouldn't be as important.
1:26:27 > 1:26:29If you're not watching online, what are you doing?
1:26:29 > 1:26:33What are you doing? Sort it out.
1:26:33 > 1:26:36I actually think they've become as important as they once were,
1:26:36 > 1:26:37if not more now,
1:26:37 > 1:26:40because kids are consuming music in a real different way.
1:26:40 > 1:26:43It's time, believe it or not, for another one of these.
1:26:43 > 1:26:47- New entry!- And this actually features one of my biggest pet hates -
1:26:47 > 1:26:50R&B sexy talking at the top of a track.
1:26:50 > 1:26:53You hear a song on an advert and you download it
1:26:53 > 1:26:56and suddenly it's in the chart or it's performed at the Olympics
1:26:56 > 1:26:58and before you know it, straightaway it's in there.
1:26:58 > 1:27:02It's a bit of a weird one, this, because it's not really a new entry,
1:27:02 > 1:27:03it's just a bit of a remix
1:27:03 > 1:27:06that, funnily enough, sounds like the original. Ask your mum.
1:27:07 > 1:27:12MUSIC: "Running Up That Hill - 2012 Remix" by Kate Bush
1:27:12 > 1:27:14I think that we love the charts because on some level,
1:27:14 > 1:27:17literally everyone is a massive control freak.
1:27:17 > 1:27:19We all love the opportunity to say
1:27:19 > 1:27:23what we've decided as being the best is officially the best
1:27:23 > 1:27:24so I think the official chart
1:27:24 > 1:27:26will always have a place in people's hearts.
1:27:26 > 1:27:31So Rita Ora has finally gone and done it with How We Do.
1:27:31 > 1:27:33Everyone's predicting it as a number one record
1:27:33 > 1:27:36and it's made it to the top of your official chart.
1:27:36 > 1:27:39# Cos when the sun sets, baby, on the avenue
1:27:39 > 1:27:43# I get that ... feeling, yeah, when I'm with you
1:27:43 > 1:27:47# So put your arms around me, baby... #
1:27:47 > 1:27:50You know, en masse, we go out and buy songs
1:27:50 > 1:27:53and if you're one of the million people that pick the number one,
1:27:53 > 1:27:56you've done that. That's a really special feeling as a music fan.
1:27:56 > 1:27:59# Out in the streets we're running... #
1:27:59 > 1:28:01MUSIC CHANGES: "Here In My Heart" by Al Martino
1:28:01 > 1:28:03- Aw!- What are you doing?
1:28:03 > 1:28:08# Say that you care
1:28:08 > 1:28:15# Take this heart I give gladly
1:28:15 > 1:28:21# Surely you know
1:28:21 > 1:28:25# I need your love so badly... #
1:28:25 > 1:28:28The era of the single as a physical artefact
1:28:28 > 1:28:32and the traditional ways in which we consumed it may be over,
1:28:32 > 1:28:35but it's not the end, rather a new beginning
1:28:35 > 1:28:37in the constant cycle of reinvention
1:28:37 > 1:28:41that makes the Top 10 so enthralling.
1:28:41 > 1:28:45# Please be mine
1:28:47 > 1:28:48# And stay here
1:28:48 > 1:28:58# In my heart! #
1:28:58 > 1:29:02Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd