 | |
| Genre | Chart |
|---|---|
| Running time | Sundays 4:00pm – 7:00pm |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Home station | 95.8 Capital FM |
| TV adaptations | 4Music,The Box andSmash Hits |
| Starring | Dr. Fox (2003–2004) Katy Hill (2004–2005) Stephanie Hirst (2004–2006)[1] Lucio Buffone (2006–2009) Natalie Brown (2003–2009) Rich Clarke (2009) |
| Created by | Global Radio |
| Original release | 5 January 2003 – 7 June 2009 |
| History of the UKindependent andcommercial radio music chart |
|---|
| The Network Chart Show |
| 1984–1993:The Network Chart Show |
| The Pepsi Chart |
| 1993–1996:The Pepsi Network Chart Show 1996–2002:The Pepsi Chart |
| Hit40UK |
| 2003–2009:Hit40UK |
| The Official Big Top 40 |
| 2009–2010:The Big Top 40 Show 2010–2011:The Vodafone Freebees Big Top 40 2011–2017:The Vodafone Big Top 40 2017–2018:The Official Vodafone Big Top 40 2019–2022:The Official Big Top 40 2022–2024:The Sky VIP Official Big Top 40 2024–present:The Official Big Top 40 |
Hit40UK was a networked Top 40 chart show broadcasting on around 130UKcommercialradio stations every Sunday from 4pm to 7pm. It was also a TV programme shown on4Music. The radio version was produced in house byGlobal Radio (formerlyGCap Media) and Somethin' Else.
The show was cancelled on 7 June 2009 and the last number 1 single wasBoom Boom Pow byThe Black Eyed Peas, played at 6:52pm. It was replaced byThe Official Big Top 40. The chart continued to be compiled, and a TV version was shown on4Music,The Box, andSmash Hits, which was renamedUKHot40.[citation needed]
The radio show counted down the top 40 songs in the chart. Unlike the officialUK Singles Chart broadcast at the same time byBBC Radio 1, theHit40UK chart included only the digital downloads and airplay in theUK, whereas the official chart includes physical and download sales with no radio airplay.[2] The show always enjoyed higher audience figures than Radio 1's Official Chart Show since 1993, however, this was because Hit40UK was broadcast on 130 stations, whereas the Official Chart was (and is) only broadcast onBBC Radio 1, except for a brief period of 2006, when a weak commercial radio sector causedHit40UK's share to fall below that of its rival.
Hit40UK descended fromThe Network Chart Show which began on 30 September 1984 and which was originally hosted byDavid Jensen and broadcast on competing commercial radio stations across the UK.The Network Chart Show aired on Sundays from 5-7pm, as competition toBBC Radio 1's own Top 40 chart show,The Official Chart. In October 1990, the show was extended to start at 4pm and the chart expanded from a Top 30 to a Top 40 countdown.The Network Chart Show had been compiled byMRIB untilPepsi took over sponsorship fromNescafé in August 1993.[3] In 1995, it was called thePepsi Network Chart Show,[4] but in 1996 it was renamed thePepsi Chart.[5] Pepsi ended their sponsorship of the show on 29 December 2002, and theHit40UK name was adopted on 5 January 2003, butDr. Fox remained the host until 30 May 2004.[6] On 6 June 2004Stephanie Hirst andKaty Hill became co-hosts ofHit40UK, from 23 October 2005 Hirst hosted the show on her own.
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In March 2006,Hit40UK began broadcasting worldwide on theU-Pop satellite channel. The international version of the show is hosted byMark Daley. It can be heard on XM Satellite Radio across the US and around the planet on WorldSpace Satellite Radio.
Hirst who during the week hosted the Galaxy Breakfast show in Yorkshire and was enjoying considerable success doing so, had to stand down as presenter of Hit40uk due to objections from Galaxy's rival Yorkshire radio stations Viking FM, Radio Aire and Hallam FM who were due to start broadcasting the chart on 22 October 2006. They were unhappy that a Galaxy Yorkshire presenter would be heard on their station, since they could possibly lose a proportion their breakfast audience to Hirsty's weekday breakfast show.
On 12 October 2006, it was announced that the programme was to be relaunched on 22 October with a new presenter,95.8 Capital FM's Lucio Buffone. A new logo was also introduced to replace their old look.Emap dropped their Smash-Hits! Chart to broadcast the relaunched version of theHit40UK show across theirBig City Network of stations. In the same week, a dance and urban chart, theFresh 40, hosted byDynamite MC, was introduced to commercial radio's dance and urban stations, such as those in theGalaxy Network and theKiss Network.
On 19 April 2009, Lucio's contract withHit40UK ended, therefore a new presenter,Rich Clarke, became the presenter of the network chart show the week after, 26 April 2009, introducing a new image to the chart. The top 40 format also changed in January 2009: instead of charting the most popular tunes from radio airplay, downloads and single sales, the chart consisted of downloads and airplay alone.
After a few months of the revamped show, Hit 40 UK ceased broadcasting and the last show was completed on 7 June 2009, resulting in a new chart show to be broadcast on 14 June 2009. Cover presenter, Matt Wilkinson, fromGlobal Radio’sHeart Network presented the lastHit40UK show, althoughRich Clarke presented a London-centric version on95.8 Capital FM live from theirSummertime Ball.[citation needed]
A similar chart,The Big Top 40 Show replacedHit40UK, with presentersRich Clarke and Kat Shoob launching the show on Sunday 14 June 2009. The new show was based oniTunes downloads, becoming the first real-time chart to be broadcast in theUnited Kingdom.[7] It is now known asThe Official Big Top 40 and is broadcast across Global'sCapital andHeart stations.[8]
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