The Official Big Top 40 is a radio chart show broadcast every Sunday afternoon from 4-7pm on Global's Capital and Heart networks, presented by Will Manning. It is the most-listened to chart show in the UK with a weekly audience of 2.2 million listeners, more than the Official Chart on BBC Radio 1. The show replaced The Network Chart Show, which started in September 1984 and had been broadcast on 140 commercial radio stations in the UK.
Format
The Official Big Top 40 begins with a recap of the previous week's Top 5 songs, followed by a countdown of the 40 biggest songs from the last seven days. A recap is broadcast after every ten songs. Interviews with the artists making that particular week's chart, competitions, calls with listeners and advertisements make up the remaining airtime. The Number 1 song is announced just before 7pm. The chart is compiled based on downloads, streaming, and radio airplay from the stations that broadcast the show. It is the only UK chart which includes radio airplay, much like the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. The algorithm differs to that of the Official Singles Chart, which also includes downloads, plus physical salesbut does not take radio airplay into account. Will Manning is the programme's current host. He started on the show in January 2019. The show is produced by Paul Phelps and broadcast from Global's studios in Leicester Square, London.
History
The show began on 30 September 1984 as The Network Chart Show. It was originally presented by David Jensen and was unique in that it was a cross-industry show, broadcast on competing commercial radio stations across the UK. The Network Chart Show aired on Sundays from 5-7pm, as competition to BBC Radio 1's own Top 40 chart show. 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 show became hit40uk on 5 January 2003 with Fox initially remaining as the host.. It was relaunched as The Big Top 40 Show on 14 June 2009. Between 2010 and 2018, the programme was sponsored by Vodafone, becoming The Vodafone Freebees Big Top 40 (later The Vodafone Big Top 40 and The Official Vodafone Big Top 40. For the first time, listeners could change the chart during the show by downloading tracks on iTunes. Songs 40 to 11 were played before the new Top 10 was finalised at 6:10pm, with iTunes sales from during the show taken into account. This made it the first real-time chart show broadcast on UK radio. In September 2018, Bauer announced that their Hits Radio Network would stop carrying the show after the expiration of its contract at the end of 2018. Global, which produced the show, made the decision to withdraw the programme from syndication to the wider commercial radio network. The final show across the commercial radio network aired on 30 December 2018.
List of radio stations that broadcast The Official Big Top 40. ;National ;Scotland ;Wales ;East Midlands ;East of England ;Greater London ;North East England ;North West England ;South East England ;South West England ;West Midlands ;Yorkshire and the Humber
