Talk:Top 40 (radio format)

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I'm not familiar with the use of the term "Top 40" to describe a radio format, so I've put the meaning of a singles chart at the top of the article. Most of the pages which link to the Top 40 article are actually talking about either the UK Top 40 or the US Top 40, rather than about a radio format, so those links should be changed as soon as there are individual articles on those two subjects. -- Oliver PEREIRA 22:21 Jan 17, 2003 (UTC)
 * Sure. As a term, the list may be more common now than the radio format.  I was just tired of putting top 40 in articles and having it come up red.  I do think the radio format was first though.  Having 40 songs in rotation is just about the right number.  I remember some Top 30 stations and they just didn't make it.  Too repetitive even for pop radio.   On the other hand, I noticed the same thing about the links that you did, and stopped making them.  I can't quite imagine the content of the US Top 40 and UK Top 40 articles.  I suppose they could be lists of annual top 40 lists.   The radio format is important for noting all the wack songs that have made it.  The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is not what you usually think of as a Top 40 group, but because of the radio rules, there it was, mixing it up with the pop bands.  Ortolan88

There's some sorting out needed here. there's an articel Hit parade which pop chart is redirected to and then music charts is redirected here. There should be one main article about the history, method etc. of popular music charts and others about specific angles e.g. the radio play thing. Btljs 16:23, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

I belive it should because the contempary hit radio isn't that big, so it could just make wikipedia free of excess pages. Jmclark911 17:48, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Top 40 is a Radio Format, it was the most popular format in the US in the late 50's and early 60's. The closest currently active radio format is Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR), but current CHR does not encompass the breadth of musical styles included in Top 40. Basically, if a song was popular, regardless of genre, it could be played on Top 40 radio. The number of songs actually played was probably never exactly 40. But, the intent of the format is to play only the most popular songs regardless of genre. Boss Radio was a similar, tighter format with a nominal 30 song playlist.

Merger proposal
I proposed merging this article with Contemporary hit radio. Both formats (and variations such as rhythmic, adult top 40, etc.) are basically the same. Stations that carry/carried the format are often referred to as contemporary hit radio (CHR), and the term "Top 40" for describing the format has not been widely used since the 1980s.-- milk the cows (Talk) 20:04, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Top 40 Radio was a Radio format that existed in the US in the 1950's & the 1960's that no longer exists. Top 40 Radio played all the best selling records of the day regardless of genre. A Top 40 station would play Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and The Beatles. The intent was to play "all the hits all the time" and "much more music" in order to capture the widest possible audience. In order to fit more music into an hour, songs were "overlapped" (one song faded while the next started paying), announcers spoke of the song introductions, songs we played at faster than the intended speed or otherwise "edited".

Contemporary Hit Radio, Adult Top 40, Urban Top 40, etc. were the ultimate descendants of Top 40 Radio - playing a single genre of music, but otherwise emulating the style and shortened playlists of Top 40 Radio. — Preceding unsigned comment added by DennisKQV (talk • contribs) 16:46, 26 September 2011 (UTC)