The Top Forty or Top 40 is a music industry shorthand for the currently most-popular songs in a particular genre. The music industry is the business of Music. Although it encompasses the activity of many music-related businesses and organizations it is currently dominated by the "big A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other When used without qualification, it typically refers to the best-selling or most frequently broadcast pop music songs. Pop music as a genre features a noticeable rhythmic element catchy melodies and hooks, a mainstream style and conventional structure According to legend, the Top 40 radio format was created by Todd Storz in Omaha in 1955, after observing customers at a bar playing the same handful of songs on a jukebox over and over again. Robert Todd Storz ( May 8, 1924 &ndash April 13, 1964) is credited with being the father of the Top 40 Radio format, which Year 1955 ( MCMLV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1955 Gregorian calendar) A song is a Musical composition. Songs contain vocal parts that are performed 'sung' and generally feature Words ( Lyrics) commonly followed jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device usually a Coin -operated machine that can play specially selected songs from self-contained media Storz realized that treating the radio station's playlist as a jukebox would ensure that listeners would always hear popular songs, regardless of what time of the day they tuned in, if the station made an effort to play a smaller group of songs. This article is about radio broadcasting for other uses see Radio (disambiguation. In its most general form a playlist is simply a list of Songs The term has several specialized meanings in the realms of Radio Broadcasting and The music ranged anywhere from country & western to pop music, rock & roll, even instrumentals and novelty songs. Country music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains. Pop music as a genre features a noticeable rhythmic element catchy melodies and hooks, a mainstream style and conventional structure Rock and roll (also known as rock 'n' roll) is a form of Music that evolved in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s with roots in mostly African An instrumental is a Musical composition or recording without Lyrics or any other sort of Vocal music; all of the Music is produced by A novelty song is a silly or nonsensical Song, performed principally for its comical effect.
Jingles, contests, listener dedications, news updates, traffic reports, and other features were designed to make Top 40 radio particularly attractive to listeners. A jingle is a memorable Slogan, set to an engaging Melody, mainly broadcast on Radio and sometimes on Television commercials. News is any new information or information on Current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or Word of mouth By early 1964, the era of the British Invasion, Top 40 radio had become the dominant radio format for North American listeners and quickly swept much of the Western world, being brought into the United Kingdom by offshore stations such as Wonderful Radio London, and later adopted by BBC Radio 1. Year 1964 ( MCMLXIV) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the 1964 Gregorian calendar. The British Invasion was the term applied by the news media — and subsequently by consumers — to the influx of Rock and roll, beat and pop performers The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Offshore radio refers to the practice of Radio broadcasting from ships or fixed maritime structures usually in International waters. Some stations tried extremely "tight" radio playlists, going with the Top 30 or even the Top 20 songs, but most industry experts felt that listener fatigue would set in more quickly with smaller lists. Listener fatigue occurs when the Ear tunes out unwanted Noises and focuses on the wanted ones Top 40 quickly became the dominant radio format of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, although as music formats began to fracture, most stations began to specialize in certain restricted kinds of popular music, usually playing specific types of rock such as mainstream, the so-called "soft rock", or other music charted by radio industry trade publications. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989. Rock music is a genre of Popular music often though not necessarily employing Electric guitar, Bass guitar, and Drums. Mainstream is generally the common current of Thought of the Majority. Soft rock, also referred to as light rock or easy rock, is a style of Music which uses the techniques of Rock and roll to compose a softer A trade journal is a Periodical, Magazine or Publication printed with the intention of Target marketing to a specific Industry or type
Other lists of hit songs may include a different number of entries, such as a "Top 50" or "Top 100".
The current top songs are tracked by a variety of trade publications, such as:
Radio programs that highlight currently popular songs also refer to the "Top 40":