Top 40 Music Magazine was an English-languageSouth African monthlymusic magazine published nationwide in print form between 1984 and 2002.
Its content featured coverage of new music across the popularmusic genres of the time and also included articles and snippets on current film and video releases, the generalmusic business, domestic and internationalchart info, exclusive interviews, as well asgame andInternet trends during the latter years.
Furthermore, the magazine hosted a mail order division for miscellaneous music- and video-related products andmerchandise and, for a period in the 1980s, ran the "Record & Video Shack" at Shop 7 Leebram House, Biccard Street in Braamfontein,Johannesburg.
Launched at the "Raffles Nightclub" at the Intercontinental Hotel in Johannesburg, the magazine's first issue featuringMichael Jackson on the cover appeared in September 1984.
As a marketing ploy, early issues of the magazine were given away free byCNA outlets with any "music purchase" made. The initial newsstand price wasR1,00.
Published byJoe Theron,Top 40's offices were originally situated inYeoville, moving toBraamfontein in 1985. The cover of the April 1988 issue proudly claimed "over 2,7 million sold!"[1] By June 1989 they had again relocated, this time toRandburg.
The May 1990 issue introduced a slight change in name toTop Forty Music Magazine, and by October 1990 sales of "well in excess of 4 million units" were boasted.[2]
By late 1993, publishing was undertaken by Pretoria based Promedia Publishing and Colleen Gouws was appointed editor. Mark Bennett briefly took over in 1995, followed by the title being taken over by CoAuto Publishers. In 1997 the magazine moved its base toCape Town and was sold to Thompson Publishing, started by the then editor, Colleen Thompson (née Gouws), who had bought both Top Forty and Jive Magazine. It was during this time that the magazine saw one of its most creative periods, with both a format and logo change. Thompson Publishing eventually amalgamated with ISO Publishing Pty. Thompson remained on as Publisher and CEO, and the company continued to publish Top Forty Magazine, O Magazine and Soap Opera Digest.
April 2002 saw the last printed issue of Top Forty Magazine whereupon the title went "digital-only", disappearing completely by January 2005.
Editors over the years have included Debby Tattersall, Mike Waddacor, Suzanne Ellis, Chris Chapman, Tara Robb, Steve Masters, Colleen Thompson (née Gouws) and Jason Curtis.[3]
While some of the earlier "birthday issues" included a free (regular commercial)7-inch single, the publication is also responsible for at least two compilations of its own; acovermount cassette which came with theTop Forty Music Annual: The First Decade book (1990), and a "free" compilation CD (1991) -- both in conjunction withEMI South Africa.[4]
