The Big Top 40 Show: Map

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The Big Top 40 Show is a chart show broadcast on commercial radio stations in the UK. The chart is based on a combination of airplay and music download figures provided by iTunes.

Format

The Big Top 40 Show claims to be the first real-time chart ever to be broadcast in the United Kingdom and broadcasts on 140 commercial UK radio stations. Like previous charts such as The Network Chart Show and The Pepsi Chart, The Big Top 40 Show introduces a sponsorship, but is also partnered with iTunes. The show, which was launched following the demise of Hit40UK, is produced by Global Radio and broadcast from their studios at Leicester Square

in the city of London. The show's presented by Rich Clarke and Kat Shoob, who also present an evening show on 95.8 Capital FM in London.

Launch

The first show was broadcast on Sunday 14 June 2009 at 16:00.Some of the stations that take the chart are both Heart and Galaxy networks, Global's Hit Music Network, Bauer Radio's Big City stations, GMG's Real Radio and UTV Radio stations.

In 1993, on The Pepsi Chart's first show, Dr. Fox produced an interview with Mark Owen from Take That and a similar interview with Owen was broadcast on The Big Top 40's first show too. This has since been stated as a coincidence.

The chart

During the week, the live iTunes top 10 can be seen being updated on the website. The updates occur every five minutes until 6pm on Sunday when the chart is frozen during the live show.

The show starts at 4pm with a shortened version of top 10 downloaded tunes from the the week. Then, starting at 4:30pm, numbers 40 to 11 (based on a combination of downloads and airplay) are broadcast. Some songs are skipped. The tracks in the top 10 are broadcast between 6pm and 7pm.

The first ever Big Top 40 number 1 was "When Love Takes Over" by French DJ David Guetta and American R&B singer Kelly Rowland.

Number-ones

List of number-one singles on The Big Top 40 Show

Michael Jackson's death

Legendary pop singer Michael Jackson, dubbed The King of Pop, died on 25 June 2009, just three days before the third edition of the networked Big Top 40 went on air. This resulted in a massive change within the UK chart and Jackson's hit from 1988, "Man in the Mirror", got the number 1 spot on the show on Sunday 28 June 2009. It is the second number 1 on The Big Top 40 Show. The sudden and unexpected death caused fans to buy and download his music, therefore many other hits, including "Black or White" and "Thriller" made an impact on the chart too.

In total, 13 Michael Jackson singles were featured in the Top 40 and eight of his albums succeeded in the album chart due to his death. His album, Number Ones, claimed the top spot.

Image

The Big Top 40 Show is known for its high powered, noisy and somewhat wacky imaging and jingles. The presenters give artist and other information on the music in the chart, but do not engage in any other conversation apart from interviews. The show is described as a fast-paced chart show, concentrating on the hit music and powerful jingles instead of talk. Local content is also used, such as the station name and the phrases Your Number 1 Station and The UK's Hottest Stations - they are used as sweepers and are placed on the main jingles as well.

Production

The imaging is produced by the production team behind Capital FM and the main voiceover is Howard Richie (a former presenter for the "Heart" radio network).

On the day, the show is produced in real time by Redefined Media.