The Top Forty or Top 40 is a music industry shorthand for the currently most-popular songs in a particular genre. When used without qualification, it typically refers to the best-selling or most frequently broadcast pop music songs. 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. 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. The music ranged anywhere from country & western, to pop music, rock & roll, even instrumentals and novelty songs. For popular music (music produced commercially rather than art or folk music), see Popular music. ... Robert Todd Storz (1924 – April 13, 1964) is credited with being the father of the Top 40 radio format, which Gordon McLendon then went on to perfect with great commercial success during the 1950s and 1960s. ... In its most general form, a playlist is simply a list of songs. ... Country music, once known as Country and Western music, is a popular musical form developed in the southern United States, with roots in traditional folk music, spirituals, and the blues. ... For popular music (music produced commercially rather than art or folk music), see Popular music. ... Rock and roll (also spelled Rock n Roll, especially in its first decade), also called rock, is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... A novelty song is a song, usually in a recorded form, that defies the usual categorisation of music, or may not even be music. ...

Jingles, contests, listener dedications, news updates, traffic, and other features were designed to make Top 40 radio particularly attractive to car listeners. 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. Some stations tried even "tighter" 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. Top 40 quickly became the dominant radio format of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1990s, though 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, [soft rock], or other music charted by radio industry trade publications. 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ... The appearance of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show, February 9, 1964, was the breakthrough moment of the burgeoning British Invasion. ... Listener fatigue occurs when the ear tunes out unwanted noises and focuses on the wanted ones. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1960 calendar). ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... MCMXC redirects here; for the Enigma album, see MCMXC a. ... Rock is a form of popular music, usually featuring vocals (often with vocal harmony), electric guitars, and a strong back beat; other instruments, such as the saxophone, are common in some styles, however saxophones have been omitted from newer subgenres of rock music since the 90s. ... Mainstream is, generally, the common current of thought of the majority. ...

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: A trade journal is a periodical, magazine or publication printed with the intention of target marketing to a specific industry or type of trade/business. ...

• Top 40 Mainstream, a chart of current popular songs in the United States compiled by Billboard Magazine, and its various predecessors
• Radio & Records magazine, recently purchased by Billboard
• UK Top Forty, a British version of the same concept.
• Dutch Top 40, the Dutch music chart.

Radio programs that highlight currently popular songs also refer to the "Top 40": Top 40 Mainstream (often also called Mainstream Top 40) is an airplay format from Billboard Magazine. ... Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry. ... Radio and Records (R&R) is a weekly trade magazine that tracks radio airplay from the various genres including Pop, Country, R&B and many others. ... Billboard can refer to: Billboard magazine Billboard (advertising) Billboard antenna In 3D computer graphics, to billboard is to rotate an object so that it faces the viewer. ... The UK Singles Chart is currently compiled by The Official UK Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the British record industry. ... The Dutch Top 40 (: Nederlandse Top 40) is a weekly music chart, which first started as the Veronica Top 40, because the pirate radio channel Veronica first introduced it. ...

• Top 40 (radio format), a radio format based on playing the top 40 popular songs of the week (may or may not be based on Billboard's chart), also known as "contemporary hit radio" or "CHR"
• American Top 40, a weekly syndicated countdown radio show originally created and hosted by Casey Kasem from 1970-1988, and again from 1998-2004, and hosted by Ryan Seacrest as of 2004.

Top 40 is a radio format based on frequent repetition of songs from a constantly-updated list of the forty best-selling singles. ... A radio format or programming format describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Top 40 (radio format). ... American Top 40 (commonly abbreviated to AT40) is an independent internationally-syndicated radio program currently hosted by Ryan Seacrest. ... A countdown is the backward counting to indicate the seconds, days, etc. ... Casey Kasem (born Kemal Amin Kasem on April 27, 1932, in Detroit, Michigan of Palestinian/Lebanese heritage) is an American radio personality and voice actor. ...

Further reading

• Durkee, Rob. "American Top 40: The Countdown of the Century." Schriner Books, New York City, 1999.
• Battistini, Pete, "American Top 40 with Casey Kasem The 1970s." Authorhouse.com, January 31, 2005. ISBN 1-4184-1070-5.
• Douglas, Susan, "Listening In: Radio and the American Imagination," New York: Times Books, 1999.
• Fong-Torres, Ben, "The Hits Just Keep On Coming: The History of Top 40 Radio", San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 1998.
• MacFarland, David, "The Development of the Top 40 Radio Format", New York: Arno Press, 1979.
• Fisher, Mark, "Something in the Air: Radio, Rock, and the Revolution That Shaped a Generation", New York: Random House, 2007.
• Goulart, Elwood F. 'Woody', "The Mystique and Mass Persuasion: Bill Drake & Gene Chenault’s Rock and Roll Radio Programming", 2006.

New York, New York redirects here. ... January 31 is the 31st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

• Top Lyrics - The list of lyrics of US top 40 Lyrics, American Top 40 Lyrics.
• Boss Radio Forever The History of KHJ Radio, Los Angeles.