Record Retailer (now Music Week) became the official UK charts publisher from this week in 1960.

It took over the reigns from NME (who published the charts from the beginning in November 1952) and became Top 50.

 

The chart stayed as Top 50 (with few exceptions) until 6 May 1978 when it became Top 75.

The chart then stayed as Top 75 until 1983 when it became Top 100 until April 1991 when due to a decline in singles sales it reverted back to Top 75.

From 17 April 2005, the official UK Singles Chart incorporated legal downloads as well as physical sales and reverted back to Top 100.

 

The chart is now actually Top 200 but only the Top 100 are published as the official charts by the OCC.

 

Anyone interested in this chart from March 1960 can see it HERE

Edited March 6, 201015 yr by Dave Taylor

The official chart did not start until February 1969, no arguments. Before then there wasn`t a proper official one.

The Guinness chart books stopped using NME charts from March 1960, and began using Record Retailer. Which now as a result has been adopted as the official chart for the 60's, though as Dave Taylor correctly says there was no official chart at that time.

How do we know the chart is a Top200? The OCC has a Top 100 only.

How do we know the chart is a Top200? The OCC has a Top 100 only.

 

Ever heard of ChartsPlus? :P

 

http://www.ukchartsplus.co.uk/

 

They publish the full T200 singles/albums charts every week - a number of us here are subscribers.

The Guinness chart books stopped using NME charts from March 1960, and began using Record Retailer. Which now as a result has been adopted as the official chart for the 60's, though as Dave Taylor correctly says there was no official chart at that time.

 

It was always known as the official chart as there were other charts around at the time.

This chart was published in the now defunct Record Mirror magazine from 1962 until its demise in 1991.

Other charts that were around at the time included the BBC chart until 1969 also in magazines such as Disc & Music Echo, Melody Maker and NME still have their own chart.

 

There were big discrepancies between the charts. the most famous one was from 1963. Single in question was Beatles - Please Please Me.

The Record Retailer chart had it peaking at #2 whilst the other 3 magazines has them peaking at #1.

Edited March 6, 201015 yr by euro music

It was always known as the official chart as there were other charts around at the time.

This chart was published in the now defunct Record Mirror magazine from 1962 until its demise in 1991.

Other charts that were around at the time included the BBC chart until 1969 also in magazines such as Disc & Music Echo, Melody Maker and NME still have their own chart.

 

There were big discrepancies between the charts. the most famous one was from 1963. Single in question was Beatles - Please Please Me.

The Record Retailer chart had it peaking at #2 whilst the other 3 magazines has them peaking at #1.

It was only known as the "Official" chart from 15th Feb 1969, when the British Market Research Bureau, joined forces with the BBC for the first computerised chart, that sampled 300 shops.. It was only a decision by Paul Gambaccini, to use it in Guiness, as it was the first to use a top 50. Being over a certain age, I should know. In the 60s, it counted for nowt because sampling was really small (only 25 shops). All the major record stores used Melody Maker on their walls (with 150 shops polled), and of course the BBC`s own chart was most followed, and more fairer. It also has to be said that NME Charts were not followed by Stores in the 50s either. Again, Melody Maker appeared on walls. Infact, Melody Maker was the first paper to feature a chart based on singles in the late 40s, but stopped it prematurely before starting it again in March 1956. NME was not the first to use a chart entirely based on Record sales.

 

Tell you what old boy, give me an email and i`ll share the Disc/MM/BBC Charts with you, not something uncredible for the time.

Ever heard of ChartsPlus? :P

 

http://www.ukchartsplus.co.uk/

 

They publish the full T200 singles/albums charts every week - a number of us here are subscribers.

I didn't word that well. What I meant is how do we know the OFFICIAL chart is a top200, when the OCC publish a Top100.

I didn't word that well. What I meant is how do we know the OFFICIAL chart is a top200, when the OCC publish a Top100.

 

The official chart ISN'T a top 200 - just a top 100. The top 200 is compiled and available to those who want it.

The official chart ISN'T a top 200 - just a top 100. The top 200 is compiled and available to those who want it.

It`s still called an Official top 200, though Bray.

It`s still called an Official top 200, though Bray.

 

It is, but the name is misleading - it's official data, not the official chart.

 

...

 

Right? :unsure:

It is, but the name is misleading - it's official data, not the official chart.

 

...

 

Right? :unsure:

Right! The problem being...Once you get lower in the chart, figures start becoming so close, it`s hard to decifer them. Returns in the 60s were so low in the 31-50 in all the charts that had a top 50, that half were hyped in by Radio Stations & Record companies.

 

Music Papers would advertise a minor new release, and the next week it would appear in the top 50, regardless of any sales!

A couple of points to add to Euro Music's first post :

 

The top 75 began on 13 May 1978, not 6 May 1978. This was an error that appeared in one of the early editions of Guinness Hit Singles and was repeated for many years and is often then repeated on many websites, even to this day.

 

The chart did extend to a Top 100 in January 1983 (though positions below #75 were never regarded as official by Record Mirror and more importantly Music Week due to exclusion rules that removed certain singles with falling sales). However, it isn't correct to say (as I've posted in the past in response to you asserting this) that the chart reverted to a top 75 in April 1991 due to falling sales. The reason why the top 100 suddenly vanished in April 1991 was simply because the only publication that carried the Top 100 chart by then (Record Mirror) ceased publication. Music Week had ceased printing #s 76 to 100 in November 1990 as by then hardly any singles were climbing from that part of the chart (which was always designed to be a glorified Breakers chart through the use of exclusion rules) into the main top 75. Indeed by then hardly anything was climbing from #s 41 to 75 to the top 40.

 

After Record Mirror closed the chart compilers continued to make available for licensing for publication a top 100 and continued to apply the same exclusion rules to #s 76 to 100. Three publications did publish that "official" top 100 in the years from 1991 until the all new chart began in April 2005 - ChartsPlus (not to be confused with the current ChartsPlus, the original ChartsPlus was published by the owners of the then recently closed Record Mirror as well as Music Week) from summer 1991 to summer 1994 and nme.com from around 2000 to 2003 or 2004. The new (and still current) ChartsPlus, which began publication in September 2001, carried a fuller top 200 of which the top 100 matched exactly the Top 100 as published on nme.com. That is the Top 100 with exclusions for 76 to 100, the same exclusion rules that had been introduced when the first Top 100 was published in January 1983.