Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops was first broadcast from Dickenson Road Studios in Manchester

Dusty Springfield was the first act to be featured on the show[4]

The Rolling Stones were the first group to appear on the show[4] (group pictured in concert in The Hague in 1967)

Top of the Pops was first broadcast on Wednesday, 1 January 1964 at 6:35 pm. It was produced in Studio A at Dickenson Road Studios in Rusholme, Manchester.[17][18]

The first show was presented by Jimmy Savile, with a brief link to Alan Freeman in London to preview the following week's programme, which featured (in order) Dusty Springfield with "I Only Want to Be with You", the Rolling Stones with "I Wanna Be Your Man", the Dave Clark Five with "Glad All Over", the Hollies with "Stay", the Swinging Blue Jeans with "Hippy Hippy Shake" and the Beatles with "I Want to Hold Your Hand",[19] that week's number one. Throughout its history, the programme proper always (with very few exceptions) finished with the best-selling single of the week, although there often was a separate play-out track over the end credits.

BBC Television Centre in London, home of Top of the Pops 1969–1991 and 2001–present

Later in 1964, the broadcast time was moved to one hour later, at 7:35 pm, and the show moved from Wednesdays to what became its regular Thursday slot. Additionally its length was extended by 5 minutes to 30 minutes.

For the first three years Alan Freeman, David Jacobs, Pete Murray and Jimmy Savile rotated presenting duties, with the following week's presenter also appearing at the end of each show, although this practice ceased from October 1964 onwards. Neville Wortman filled in as director/producer on Johnnie Stewart's holiday break.

In the first few editions, Denise Sampey was the "disc girl", who would be seen to put the record on a turntable before the next act played their track.[20] However, a Mancunian model, Samantha Juste, became the regular disc girl after a few episodes, a role she performed until 1967.[21]

Initially acts performing on the show would mime (lip-sync) to the commercially released record, but in 1966 after discussions with the Musicians' Union, miming was banned.[22] After a few weeks during which some bands' attempts to play as well as on their records were somewhat lacking, a compromise was reached whereby a specially recorded backing track was permitted, as long as all the musicians on the track were present in the studio.[23][24] As a result, Stewart hired Johnny Pearson to conduct an in-studio orchestra to provide musical backing on select performances, beginning with the 4 August 1966 edition.[25][26][27] Later, vocal group The Ladybirds began providing vocal backing with the orchestra.[28]

With the birth of BBC Radio 1 in 1967, new Radio 1 DJs were added to the roster – Stuart Henry, Emperor Rosko, Simon Dee and Kenny Everett.[29]

Local photographer Harry Goodwin was hired to provide shots of non-appearing artists, and also to provide backdrops for the chart run-down. He continued in the role until 1973.[30][31]

After two years at the Manchester Dickenson Road Studios, the show moved to London (considered to be better located for bands to appear), initially for six months at BBC TV Centre Studio 2 and then to the larger Studio G at BBC Lime Grove Studios in mid-1966[32] to provide space for the Top of the Pops Orchestra, which was introduced at this time to provide live instrumentation on some performances (previously, acts had generally mimed to the records). In November 1969, with the introduction of colour, the show moved to BBC TV Centre, where it stayed until 1991, when it moved to Elstree Studios Studio C.[33]

For a while in the early 1970s, non-chart songs were played on a more regular basis, to reflect the perceived growing importance of album sales; there was an album slot featuring three songs from a new LP, as well as a New Release spot and a feature of a new act, dubbed Tip for the Top. These features were dropped after a while, although the programme continued to feature new releases on a regular basis for the rest of the decade.

During its heyday, it attracted 15 million viewers each week. The peak TV audience of 19 million was recorded in 1979, during the ITV strike, with only BBC1 and BBC2 on air.[34]

A year-end Christmas show featuring a review of the year's biggest hits was inaugurated on 24 December 1964, and has continued every year since.[35] From 1965 onward, the special edition was broadcast on Christmas Day[36] (although not in 1966)[37] and from the same year, a second edition was broadcast in the days after Christmas, varying depending on the schedule, but initially regularly on 26 December. The first was shown on 26 December 1965.[38] In 1973, there was just one show, airing on Christmas Day. In place of the traditional second show, Jimmy Savile hosted a look back at the first 10 years of TOTP, broadcast on 27 December.[39] In 1975, the first of the two shows was broadcast prior to Christmas Day, airing on 23 December, followed by the traditional Christmas Day show two days later.[40]

The 1978 Christmas Day show was disrupted due to industrial action at the BBC, requiring a change in format to the broadcast. The first show, due to be screened on 21 December, was not shown at all because BBC1 was off the air.[41] For Christmas Day, Noel Edmonds (presenting his last ever edition of TOTP) hosted the show from the 'TOTP Production Office' with clips taken from various editions of the show broadcast during the year and new studio footage performed without an audience. The format was slightly tweaked for the Christmas Day edition in 1981, with the Radio 1 DJs choosing their favourite tracks of the year[42] and the following edition on 31 December featuring the year's number 1 hits.[43]

The second programme was discontinued after 1984.

The year 1980 marked major production changes to Top of the Pops and a hiatus forced by industrial action. Steve Wright made his presenting debut on 7 February 1980.[44] Towards the end of February 1980, facing a £40 million budget deficit, the BBC laid off five orchestras as part of £130 million in cuts.[45] The budget cuts led to a Musicians' Union strike that suspended operations of all 11 BBC orchestras and performances of live music on the BBC; Top of the Pops went out of production between 29 May and 7 August 1980.[46][47][44] During the Musicians' Union strike, BBC1 showed repeats of Are You Being Served? in the regular Top of the Pops Thursday night time slot.[48][49]

Following the strike, Nash was replaced as executive producer by Michael Hurll, who introduced more of a "party" atmosphere to the show, with performances often accompanied by balloons and cheerleaders, and more audible audience noise and cheering.[50][51] Hurll also laid off the orchestra, as the Musicians' Union was loosening enforcement of the 1966 miming ban.[51]

Guest co-presenters and a music news feature were introduced for a short while, but had ceased by the end of 1980. The chart rundown was split into three sections in the middle of the programme, with the final Top 10 section initially featuring clips of the songs' videos, although this became rarer over the next few years.

An occasional feature showing the American music scene with Jonathan King was introduced in November 1981, and ran every few weeks until February 1985. In January 1985, a Breakers section, featuring short video clips of new tracks in the lower end of the Top 40, was introduced, and this continued for most weeks until March 1994.

Although the programme had been broadcast live in its early editions, it had been recorded on the day before transmission for many years. However, from May 1981, the show was sometimes broadcast live for a few editions each year, and this practice continued on an occasional basis (often in the week of a bank holiday, when the release of the new chart was delayed, and for some special editions) for the rest of the decade.

The programme moved in September 1985 to a new regular half-hour timeslot of 7 pm on Thursdays, where it would remain until June 1996.

The end of 1988 was marked by a special 70-minute edition of the show broadcast on 31 December 1988, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the first show. The pre-recorded programme featured the return of the original four presenters (Savile, Freeman, Murray and Jacobs) as well as numerous presenters from the show's history, anchored by Paul Gambaccini and Mike Read. Numerous clips from the history of the show were included in between acts performing in the studio, which included Cliff Richard, Engelbert Humperdinck, Lulu, the Four Tops, David Essex, Mud, Status Quo, Shakin' Stevens, the Tremeloes and from the very first edition, the Swinging Blue Jeans. Sandie Shaw, the Pet Shop Boys and Wet Wet Wet were billed in the Radio Times to appear, but none featured in the show other than Shaw in compilation clips.[52]

Paul Ciani took over as producer in 1988. The following year, in an attempt to fit more songs in the allocated half-hour, he restricted the duration of studio performances to three minutes, and videos to two minutes, a practice which was largely continued until May 1997. In July 1990, he introduced a rundown of the Top 5 albums, which continued on a monthly basis until May 1991. Ciani had to step down due to illness in 1991, when Hurll returned as producer to cover for two months (and again for a brief time as holiday cover in 1992).

From 1967, the show had become closely associated with the BBC radio station Radio 1, usually being presented by DJs from the station, and between 1988 and 1991 the programme was simulcast on the radio station in FM stereo (that is, until BBC's launch of NICAM stereo for TV made such simulcasts redundant). However, during the last few years of the 1980s the association became less close, and was severed completely (although not permanently) in a radical shake-up known as the 'Year Zero' revamp.

Following a fall in viewing figures and a general perception that the show had become 'uncool' (acts like the Clash had refused to appear in the show in previous years), a radical new format was introduced by incoming executive producer Stanley Appel (who had worked on the programme since 1966 as cameraman, production assistant, director and stand-in producer[53]) in October 1991, in which the Radio 1 DJs were replaced by a team of relative unknowns, such as Claudia Simon and Tony Dortie who had previously worked for Children's BBC, 17-year-old local radio DJ Mark Franklin, Steve Anderson, Adrian Rose and Elayne Smith, who was replaced by Femi Oke in 1992. A brand new theme tune ("Now Get Out of That"), title sequence and logo were introduced, and the entire programme moved from BBC Television Centre in London to BBC Elstree Centre in Borehamwood.

The new presenting team would take turns hosting (initially usually in pairs but sometimes solo), and would often introduce acts in an out-of-vision voiceover over the song's instrumental introduction. They would sometimes even conduct short informal interviews with the performers, and initially the Top 10 countdown was run without any voiceover. Rules relating to performance were also altered meaning acts had to sing live as opposed to the backing tracks for instruments and mimed vocals for which the show was known. To incorporate a shift towards USA artists, more use was made of out-of-studio performances, with acts in America able to transmit their song to the Top of the Pops audience "via satellite". These changes were widely unpopular and much of the presenting team were axed within a year, leaving the show hosted solely by Dortie and Franklin (apart from the Christmas Day editions, when both presenters appeared) from October 1992, on a week-by-week rotation.

By 1994, much of the 'Year Zero' revamp was quickly undone and the arrival of Ric Blaxill as producer in February 1994 signalled a return to presentation from established Radio 1 DJs Simon Mayo, Mark Goodier, Nicky Campbell and Bruno Brookes. Blaxill expanded the use of "via satellite" performances, taking the acts out of studios and concert halls and setting them against landmark backdrops. As a consequence, Bon Jovi performed Always from Niagara Falls and Celine Dion beamed in Think Twice from Miami Beach.

The last remnants of the Year Zero revamp were replaced in 1995, when a new title sequence, logo and theme tune were introduced (the logo having first been introduced on the new programme Top of the Pops 2 some months previously), coinciding with the introduction of a new set. Blaxill also increasingly experimented with handing presenting duties to celebrities, commonly contemporary comedians and pop stars who were not in the charts at that time. In an attempt to keep the links between acts as fresh as the performances themselves, the so-called "golden mic" was used by, amongst others, Kylie Minogue, Meat Loaf, Des Lynam, Chris Eubank, Damon Albarn, Harry Hill, Jack Dee, Lulu, Björk, Jarvis Cocker, Stewart Lee and Richard Herring. Radio 1 DJs still presented occasionally, including Lisa I'Anson, Steve Lamacq, Jo Whiley and Chris Evans.

TOTP was traditionally shown on a Thursday night, but was moved to a Friday starting on 14 June 1996,[54] originally at 7 pm, but then shifted to 7.30 pm, a change which placed the programme up against the soap opera Coronation Street on ITV. This began a major decline in audience figures as fans were forced to choose between Top of the Pops and an episode of the soap.[55]

In 1997, incoming producer Chris Cowey phased out the use of celebrities and established a rotating team (similar to the 1991 revamp, although much more warmly received) of former presenters of youth music magazine The O-Zone Jayne Middlemiss and Jamie Theakston as well as Radio 1 DJs Jo Whiley and Zoe Ball. The team was later augmented by Kate Thornton and Gail Porter.

Chris Cowey in particular instigated a set of 'back to basics' changes when he took over the show. In 1998, a remixed version of the classic "Whole Lotta Love" theme tune previously used in the 1970s was introduced, accompanied by a new 1960s-inspired logo and title sequence. Cowey also began to export the brand overseas with localised versions of the show on air in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy by 2003.[56] Finally, the programme returned to its previous home of BBC Television Centre in 2001, where it remained until its cancellation in 2006.

On 28 November 2003 (three months after the appointment of Andi Peters as executive producer), the show saw one of its most radical overhauls since the ill-fated 1991 'Year Zero' revamp in what was widely reported as a make-or-break attempt to revitalise the long-running series. In a break with the previous format, the show played more up-and-coming tracks ahead of any chart success, and also featured interviews with artists and a music news feature called "24/7". Most editions of the show were now broadcast live, for the first time since 1991 (apart from a couple of editions in 1994). The launch show, which was an hour long, was notable for a performance of "Flip Reverse" by Blazin' Squad, featuring hordes of hooded teenagers choreographed to dance around the outside of BBC Television Centre.

Although the first edition premièred to improved ratings, the All New format, hosted by MTV presenter Tim Kash, quickly returned to low ratings and brought about scathing reviews.[57][58] Kash continued to host the show, but Radio 1 DJs Reggie Yates and Fearne Cotton (who had each presented a few shows in 2003, before the revamp) were brought back to co-host alongside him, before Kash was completely dropped by the BBC, later taking up a new contract at MTV. The show continued to be hosted by Reggie Yates and Fearne Cotton (usually together, but occasionally solo) on Friday evenings until 8 July 2005.

On 30 July 2004, the show took place outside a studio environment for the first time by broadcasting outside in Gateshead. Girls Aloud, Busted, Will Young and Jamelia were among the performers that night.[59]

Figures had plummeted to below three million, prompting an announcement by the BBC that the show was going to move, again, to Sunday evenings on BBC Two, thus losing the prime-time slot on BBC One that it had maintained for more than forty years.[60]

This move was widely reported as a final "sidelining" of the show, and perhaps signalled its likely cancellation. At the time, it was insisted that this was so the show would air immediately after the official announcement of the new top 40 chart on Radio 1, as it was thought that by the following Friday, the chart seemed out of date. The final Top of the Pops to be shown on BBC One (barring Christmas and New Year specials) was broadcast on Monday 11 July 2005, which was edition number 2,166.

The first edition on BBC Two was broadcast on 17 July 2005 at 7.00 pm with presenter Fearne Cotton. After the move to Sundays, Cotton continued to host with a different guest presenter each week, such as Rufus Hound or Richard Bacon. On a number of occasions, however, Reggie Yates would step in, joined by female guest presenters such as Lulu, Cyndi Lauper and Anastacia. Viewing figures during this period averaged around 11⁄2 million. Shortly after the move to BBC Two, Peters resigned as executive producer.[61] He was replaced by the BBC's Creative Head of Music Entertainment Mark Cooper, while producer Sally Wood remained to oversee the show on a weekly basis.

Snow Patrol, the last live act to appear on TOTP (pictured in concert in America in 2006)

On 20 June 2006, the show was formally cancelled and it was announced that the last edition would be broadcast on 30 July 2006. Edith Bowman co-presented its hour-long swansong, along with Jimmy Savile (who was the main presenter on the first show), Reggie Yates, Mike Read, Pat Sharp, Sarah Cawood, Dave Lee Travis, Rufus Hound, Tony Blackburn and Janice Long.

The final day of recording was 26 July 2006[62] and featured archive footage and tributes, including the Rolling Stones – the very first band to appear on Top of the Pops – opening with "The Last Time", the Spice Girls, David Bowie, Wham!, Madonna, Beyoncé, Gnarls Barkley, the Jackson 5, Sonny and Cher and Robbie Williams. The show closed with a final countdown, topped by Shakira, as her track "Hips Don't Lie" (featuring Wyclef Jean) had climbed back up to number one on the UK Singles Chart earlier in the day. The show ended with Savile ultimately turning the lights off in the empty studio.

Fearne Cotton, who was the current presenter, was unavailable to co-host for the final edition due to her filming of ITV's Love Island in Fiji but opened the show with a quick introduction recorded on location, saying "It's still number one, it's Top of the Pops". BARB reported the final show's viewing figures as 3.98 million.[63]

As the last episode featured no live acts in the studio, the last act to actually play live on a weekly episode of TOTP was Snow Patrol, who performed "Chasing Cars" in the penultimate edition;[5] the last act ever featured visually on a weekly Top of the Pops was Girls Aloud, as part of the closing sequence of bands performing on the show throughout the years. They were shown performing "Love Machine".

The magazine and TOTP2 have both survived despite the show's axing, and the Christmas editions also continue after returning to BBC One. However, the TOTP website, which the BBC had originally promised would continue, is now no longer updated, although many of the old features of the site – interviews, music news, reviews – have remained, now in the form of the Radio 1-affiliated TOTP ChartBlog accessible via the remains of the old website.

In October 2008, British Culture Secretary Andy Burnham and Manchester indie band the Ting Tings called for the show to return.[64]

On 29 October 2008, Simon Cowell stated in an interview that he would be willing to buy the rights to Top of the Pops from the BBC. The corporation responded that they had not been formally approached by Cowell,[65] and that in any case the format was "not up for sale".[9] In November 2008, it was reported by The Times and other newspapers that the weekly programme was to be revived in 2009, but the BBC said there were no such plans.[66]

In July 2009, Pet Shop Boys singer Neil Tennant criticised the BBC for ending the programme, stating that new acts were missing out on "that great moment of being crowned that week's Kings of Pop".[67]

In early 2015 there was increased speculation of a return of the show including rumours that Dermot O'Leary might present alongside Fearne Cotton. According to a report in the Daily Mirror, a BBC insider stated that "some at the highest level are massive supporters of the plan [of a return] and have given the go-ahead."[68] The move of the UK charts to a Friday due to take place in summer 2015[69] was also said to favour the possibility of a return, making it "the perfect tie-in"[68] and a "perfect start to the weekend",[68] but no weekly return has occurred.

In April 2011, the BBC began to reshow Top of the Pops on Thursday nights on BBC Four beginning with the equivalent show from 35 years earlier in a 7:30 pm–8:00 pm slot approximating to the time the programme was traditionally shown.[70] The first programme shown, 1 April 1976, was chosen because it was from approximately this episode onwards that most editions remain in the BBC archive. The repeat programmes come in two versions; the first is edited down to fit in the 30-minute 7:30 slot, the second is shown normally twice overnight in the following weekend, and is usually complete. However both the short and longer editions can be edited for a number of reasons. Potentially offensive content to modern audiences is cut (for example The Barron Knights' in-studio performance of "Food For Thought" on the edition of 13 December 1979 including a segment parodying Chinese takeaways using mannerisms that may now be viewed as offensive), and cinematic film footage can be truncated, replaced or removed entirely due to the costs to the BBC of reshowing such footage. The BBC also makes the repeats available on BBC iPlayer. The repeats are continuing as of June 2022 with episodes from 1993.[71]

Since October 2012, episodes featuring Jimmy Savile have ceased to be broadcast due to the Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal and subsequent Operation Yewtree police investigation.[72] Following the arrest of Dave Lee Travis by Operation Yewtree officers, and his subsequent conviction for indecent assault, episodes featuring Travis were also omitted.[73] Following Gary Glitter's conviction for sexual assault, episodes featuring him are not included in the run, or otherwise have Glitter's performances edited out.

Mike Smith decided not to sign the licence extension that would allow the BBC to repeat the Top of the Pops episodes that he presented, with the BBC continuing to respect his wishes following his death. As a result, episodes featuring Smith are also omitted.

In 2021, it was discovered that episodes hosted by Adrian Rose (later Adrian Woolfe) were being skipped, starting with the 28 November 1991 episode featuring Nirvana's famous performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" (mentioned below).[74]

Other edits that have been made to episodes have included Jonathan King's reports from the US during episodes from the early 1980s, sometimes also resulting in the removal of a performance or video introduced as part of the report,[75] and the removal of The Doors' performance of "Light My Fire" from a 1991 episode, due to The Doors not being covered by the BBC's music licensing agreement (which also resulted in another 1991 episode being skipped).[76]

Prior to the 1976 BBC reruns shown in 2011, the BBC produced a special programme, "The Story of 1976".[77] This comprised excerpts from the 1976 programmes, interspersed with new interviews with people discussing the time period.

They produced similar programmes for subsequent calendar years, each airing before or during the run of repeats from the particular year.[78][79][34][80][81] These specials went on hiatus following "The Story of 1990" in October 2020, but returned in early 2022 as a weekly series, scheduled up to "The Story of 1999" in May 2022.

A series of "Big Hits" compilations have been broadcast with on-screen captions about artists.In December 2016, a festive special using the format of the "Big Hits" programmes, Top of the Pops: Christmas Hits was broadcast on BBC Four, featuring a mix of Christmas music and non-festive songs which had been hits at Christmas time. This effectively replaced the annual Christmas edition of Top of the Pops 2, which did not run that year.

Although the weekly Top of the Pops has been cancelled, the Christmas Specials have continued, hosted by Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates. The Christmas specials are broadcast on Christmas Day afternoon on BBC One. Since 2008[82] (apart from 2010 and 2011), a New Year special has also been broadcast. A new logo and title sequence were introduced on the 2019 Christmas special. The BBC's Head of Music Television, Mark Cooper, continued to oversee the programme as executive producer until 2019 when he was replaced by Alison Howe. Meanwhile, Stephanie McWhinnie, who had replaced Wood as producer with effect from Christmas 2011, was replaced by Caroline Cullen (who had previously worked as assistant producer on the show) from Christmas 2020, when both festive shows were recorded with new studio performances but no live audience physically in attendance. On 4 December 2017, Yates stepped down from hosting Top of the Pops due to comments he made regarding Jewish people and rappers.[83] The BBC later announced Clara Amfo as Yates' replacement, she continues to hold the role.[84] Amfo was joined by Jordan North for the 2021 specials, with him replacing Cotton.[85]

The show was given a one-off revival (of sorts) for Comic Relief 2007 in the form of Top Gear of the Pops, presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. It was filmed at the Top Gear aerodrome studio in Surrey on Sunday, 11 March 2007, although it bore little resemblance to the usual Top of the Pops format.

On 13 March 2009, Top of The Pops was once again revived, this time in its usual format, for a special live Comic Relief edition, airing on BBC Two while the main telethon took a break for the BBC News at Ten on BBC One. As with the Christmas specials the show was presented by Radio 1 duo Fearne Cotton and Reggie Yates with special guest presenter Noel Fielding and appearances from Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Claudia Winkleman, Jonathan Ross, Davina McCall (dancing in the audience and later as a Flo Rida dancer with Claudia Winkleman and French and Saunders) and David Tennant.

Live performances – interspersed with Comic Relief appeal films – included acts such as Franz Ferdinand, Oasis, Take That, U2, James Morrison and Flo Rida (that week's Number 1). Kicking off the show was a performance from Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones in their Gavin & Stacey guises, feat. Tom Jones and Robin Gibb with "(Barry) Islands in the Stream", the Comic Relief single.

In 1991, American rock band Nirvana (left, pictured the year after) infamously performed their 1991 hit single Smells Like Teen Spirit, lead singer Kurt Cobain sung in a low voice, changing some of the lyrics, Cobain later stated that he wanted to sound like Morrissey (right, pictured in 2005)

Throughout the show's history, many artists mimed to backing tracks. Early on, Musicians' Union rules required that groups re-record backing tracks with union members performing when possible.[87][88] However, as The Guardian recounted in 2001: "In practice, artists pretended to re-record the song, then used their original tapes."[89]

The miming policy also led to the occasional technical hitch. In 1967, as Jimi Hendrix prepared to perform "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", the song "The House That Jack Built" by Alan Price was played in studio instead, prompting Hendrix to respond: "I like the voice...but I don't know the words."[90][91] In 1988, All About Eve appeared to perform "Martha's Harbour". Although the song was being played on the television broadcast, it was not being played in studio, so lead singer Julianne Regan remained silent on a stool on stage while Tim Bricheno (the only other band member present) did not play his guitar.[92]

Occasionally bands played live, examples in the 1970s and 1980s being the Four Seasons, the Who, Blondie, John Otway, Sham 69, Eddie and the Hot Rods, Jimmy James and the Vagabonds, The Sweet, The Jackson 5, Heavy Metal Kids, Elton John, Typically Tropical, New Order, Whitney Houston and David Bowie. In 1980, heavy metal band Iron Maiden played live on the show when they refused to mime to their single "Running Free". Solo artists and vocal groups were supposed to sing live to the Top of the Pops Orchestra. Billy Ocean, Brotherhood of Man, Anita Ward, Thelma Houston, Deniece Williams, Hylda Baker and the Nolans all performed in this way.

In 1991 the producers of the show allowed artists the option of singing live over a backing track.[93] Miming has resulted in a number of notable moments.[93] In 1991, Nirvana refused to mime to the pre-recorded backing track of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" with Kurt Cobain singing in a deliberately low voice and altering lyrics in the song, and bassist Krist Novoselic swinging his bass over his head and drummer Dave Grohl playing randomly on his kit.[94][95] In 1995, the Gallagher brothers of Oasis switched places while performing "Roll with It".[93] During their performance of "Don't Leave Me This Way" the Communards singers Jimmy Somerville and Sarah Jane Morris swapped lyrics for part of the song towards the end. Another example of whimsy was John Peel's appearance as the mandolin soloist for Rod Stewart on "Maggie May". The new practice also exposed a number of poor live singers, and was dropped as a general rule.[96]

In its final few years miming had become less and less common, especially for bands, as studio technology became more reliable and artists were given the freedom to choose their performance style. Former Executive Producer Andi Peters said there was no policy on miming and that it was entirely up to the performer whether they wanted to sing live or mime.[97]

From 1966 to 1980, Top of the Pops had an in-studio orchestra conducted by Johnny Pearson accompany select musical performances, with The Ladybirds (later Maggie Stredder Singers) providing backing vocals.[98][28] Credited on the show as musical associate, Derek Warne played piano and provided musical arrangements for the orchestra.[99][100][101] As The Telegraph recounted, Pearson and the orchestra improvised accompaniments with about 20 minutes of rehearsal time per song, and the musicians, "almost all middle-aged, often struggled with the enormous range of rock and pop tunes with which they were presented."[98] In contrast, The Times said upon Pearson's passing in 2011 that the orchestra "often elicit[ed] excellent performances with barely enough time beforehand for a couple of run-throughs."[102]

Other notable members of the orchestra include drummer Clem Cattini,[103][104] trombonist Bobby Lamb,[105] and lead trumpeters Leon Calvert[106] and Ian Hamer.[107][108] From 1971 to 1974, Martin Briley played guitar for the orchestra before joining rock group Greenslade.[109][110]

Following the 1980 Musicians Union strike, the programme resumed broadcast on 7 August 1980 without its orchestra or backing singers.[98][44][111] However, Pearson continued to make occasional contributions as musical director until the 900th episode in the summer of 1981.[98] Afterwards, Warne occasionally made musical arrangements through April 1982.[112] Ronnie Hazlehurst conducted the orchestra from 1982 to 1983.[113]

When an artist or group was unavailable to perform in studio, Top of the Pops would show a music video in place.[114] According to Queen guitarist Brian May, the groundbreaking 1975 music video for "Bohemian Rhapsody" was produced so that the band could avoid miming on TOTP since they would have looked off miming to such a complex song.[115]

In the era before promotional videos were routinely produced for every charting single, the BBC would frequently have neither the band themselves nor alternative footage available for a song selected for the programme. In the first few months of the show in 1964, the director would just scan across the audience dancing in the absence of any other footage, but by October 1964 a decision was made to at least occasionally bring in a dance troupe with a choreographed routine to some of the tracks.[116]

An initial candidate troupe was the existing BBC TV Beat Girls, but an ex-dancer from the Beat Girls, Jo Cook, was eventually engaged to create a troupe, the all-female Go-Jos,[117][118] with Cook as choreographer. The Go-Jos also worked outside of Top of the Pops, notably for two years on the Val Doonican show[119] – Doonican said in 1968 "I thought the Gojos were fabulous, something really new. When I got my own television series I just had to have them with me."[120]

They were initially a three-piece (Pat Hughes for the first edition only, Linda Hotchkin and Jane Bartlett), but their number eventually grew to six (Hotchkin, Bartlett, Lesley Larbey, Wendy Hilhouse, Barbara van der Heyde and Thelma Bignell) with Cook as full-time choreographer. Lulu remembered of their costumes "They mostly wore white boots to the knee and short skirts and the camera would go up the skirt and it was all very risqué."[121]

Cook herself said of working on the Doonican show (of which she was dance director) comparing to Top of the Pops, "Pop steps are limited ... With Val we have more scope, and we can work to get more of the feel of ballet into our numbers."[120]

In April 1968, a Top of the Pops choreographer, Virginia Mason,[122] auditioned for dancers for a routine on Top of The Pops ("Simon Says" by the 1910 Fruitgum Company); two of whom that were successful (Ruth Pearson and Patricia "Dee Dee" Wilde) were part of the existing six-female dance troupe, Pan's People.[123] Like the Go-Jos, this group was also partly drawn from ex-members of the Beat Girls.[124]

Although this routine did not make it onto the programme itself, in subsequent weeks, members of Pan's People (Louise Clarke, Felicity "Flick" Colby, Barbara "Babs" Lord, Pearson, Andrea "Andi" Rutherford and Wilde) started to appear on the programme separately to the Go-Jos. Pan's People were then selected by the BBC over the Go-Jos when they chose a group to be the resident troupe.[125] The Go-Jos' final Top of the Pops performance was in June 1968 dancing to "Jumping Jack Flash" by the Rolling Stones.

Dance troupe Pan's People (pictured here on TopPop, AVRO 1971)

As with the Go-Jos, in the first eighteen months of the Pan's People era the dancers were not a weekly fixture on the programme.[126] However, due to group fan mail and good viewing figures, by 1970 the group was on nearly every week.[127] Pay was not high – they were paid the minimum Equity rate of £56 per week.[128]

One of the original Pan's People dancers, Colby, became the full-time choreographer in 1971.[129] Colby spoke of the dancing – "They weren't Broadway-standard routines ... we were definitely doing watercolours, not oil paintings."[130]

In early 1976, the last remaining of the early members of Pan's People, Ruth Pearson announced her retirement, leaving just four members all of whom who had joined within the last four years; Cherry Gillespie, Mary Corpe, Lee Ward and Sue Menhenick. Rather than continue with this line up or add additional members, it was decided by Colby and BBC production staff to replace this group[131] with a male and female group created for the programme, Ruby Flipper, choreographed by Colby and managed by Colby with Pearson. Lee Ward left shortly after this decision was made, reportedly saying regarding the change: "It's a big mistake. Men rush home to watch sexy ladies. They do not want to see other men."[132]

Rehearsals for this new group started in March 1976, and the group began appearing on Top of the Pops in May 1976. Whilst producers were aware of the switch to the new group, Bill Cotton, the then head of the light entertainment unit of which Top of the Pops was part, was not. This group started as a seven-piece with three men (Gavin Trace, Floyd Pearce and Phil Steggles) and four women (Menhenick, Gillespie, Patti Hammond and Lulu Cartwright). Corpe was not invited to join the new troupe. Trace, Pearce, Steggles and Cartwright joined following open auditions, Hammond, an established dancer, was invited to join to complete the "look" following a later individual audition.[133] Colby viewed this gender-mixed group as an opportunity to develop more physical routines including lifts,[134] more duets and generally not have the whole group at each performance.

However, by August the BBC had decided to terminate the group due to perceived unpopularity and being "... out of step with viewers".[135] Their final appearance was in October 1976.

The group created to replace Ruby Flipper was Legs & Co, reverting to an all-female line-up, and once more choreographed by Colby. Three of the six in the initial line-up (Menhenick, Cartwight and Hammond) were taken from Ruby Flipper.[136] with Rosie Hetherington, Gill Clarke and Pauline Peters making up the six. Despite being an all-female group, on occasion one or more male dancers were brought in, notably Pearce several times.

During their run, the group covered the transition from Disco to Punk, Electronic and Modern Romantic music. Notably, they danced to two Sex Pistols tracks.[137]

By late 1981, Legs & Co (by this time Anita Chellamah had replaced Peters) had become more integrated into the studio audience, rather than performing set-piece routines, as a result of the 'party atmosphere' brought in by Michael Hurll. Also by this time Colby was particularly keen to work once more with male dancers; feeling it time for a change, Legs & Co's stint was ended, and a twenty-member dance troupe (ten male, ten female), named Zoo was created, with a set of performers drawn from the pool of twenty each week.[138] Colby was now credited as "Dance Director".[134] Three members of previous troupes, Menhenick, Corpe and Chellamah, made at least one appearance each during the Zoo period. The dancers now chose their own clothes, moving away from the synchronised appearance of previous troupes.[139]

By the early 1980s, record companies were offering the BBC free promotional videos, meaning dance troupes no longer fulfilled their original purpose.[140] Zoo's run ended in 1983, and with it the use of dance troupes on Top of the Pops.

After the demise of Zoo, the audience took a more active role, often dancing in more prominent areas such as behind performing acts on the back of the stage, and on podiums. However, the show also employed cheerleaders to lead the dancing.

• Go-Jos' first performance: 19 November 1964 – Dancing to "Baby Love" by the Supremes[141]
• Pan's People first performance (three of the dancers, independently contracted): April 1968 – Dancing to "Young Girl" by Gary Puckett & the Union Gap[142] or "Respect" by Aretha Franklin[143]
• Pan's People's first performance (as the six-piece group of early 1968): 30 May 1968 – Dancing to "U.S. Male" by Elvis Presley[143]
• Go-Jos' final performance: 27 June 1968 – Dancing to "Jumping Jack Flash" by the Rolling Stones[144]
• Pan's People's final performance: 29 April 1976 – Dancing to "Silver Star" by the Four Seasons[145]
• Ruby Flipper's first performance: 6 May 1976 – Dancing to "Can't Help Falling In Love" by the Stylistics[146]
• Ruby Flipper's final performance: 14 October 1976 – Dancing to "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry
• Legs & Co's first performance (credited as Ruby Flipper & Legs & Co): 21 October 1976 – Dancing to "Queen of My Soul" by Average White Band[138]
• Legs & Co's first performance (credited as Legs & Co): 11 November 1976 – Dancing to "Spinning Rock Boogie" by Hank C. Burnette
• Legs & Co's final performance: 29 October 1981 – Dancing to "Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl)" by Haircut 100
• Zoo's first performance: 5 November 1981 – Dancing to "Twilight" by E.L.O.
• Zoo's final performance: 29 September 1983 – Dancing to "What I Got Is What You Need" by Unique

The Top of the Pops format was adopted by on several other European broadcasters, such as TopPop (Netherlands)

The TOTP format was sold to RTL in Germany in the 1990s, and aired on Saturday afternoons. It was very successful for a long time, with a compilation album series and magazine. However, in 2006 it was announced that the German show would be ending. The Italian version (first broadcast on Rai 2 and later on Italia 1) also ended in 2006. In February 2010 the show returned on Rai 2, and was broadcast for two seasons before being cancelled again in October 2011. The French version of the show ended by September 2006 on France 2. The short-lived Turkish version was aired on atv in 2000.

In the Netherlands, TopPop was broadcast by AVRO 1970–1988,[159] and a version of the show continued to run on BNN until the end of December 2006.[160] BBC Prime used to broadcast re-edited episodes of the BBC version, the weekend after it was transmitted in the UK. Ireland began transmitting Top of the Pops in November 1978 on RTÉ2. This was the UK version being transmitted at the same time as on BBC. The broadcasts ceased in late 1993.

Top of the Pops had short-lived fame in the United States. In October 1987, the CBS television network decided to try an American version of the show. It was hosted by Nia Peeples and even showed performances from the BBC version of the programme (and vice versa). The show was presented on late Friday nights as part of CBS Late Night, and lasted almost half a year. It was originally slated to be a first-run syndicated series, but it was changed when Lionheart Television, the show's producers signed up with the network.[161]

In 2002, BBC America presented the BBC version of Top of the Pops as part of their weekend schedule. The network would get the episodes one week after they were transmitted in the UK. BBC America then tinkered with the show by cutting a few minutes out of each show and moving it to a weekday time slot.

On 23 January 2006, Lou Pearlman made a deal to bring Top of the Pops back to the airwaves in the United States. It was expected to be similar to the 1987 version, but it would also utilise the Billboard magazine music charts, most notably the Hot 100 chart. It was supposed to be planned for a possible 2006 or 2007 launch, but with several lawsuits against Lou and his companies (which resulted in his conviction in 2008), as well as the cancellation of the UK version, the proposed US project never went forward. On 19 August 2006, VH1 aired the UK series' final episode.

The United States had its own similar series, American Bandstand, which aired nationally on ABC from 1957 to 1987 (although it would continue in first-run syndication until 1988 and end its run on USA in 1989). Similar series also included Soul Train (1970–2006, featuring R&B artists), Club MTV (1986–92, featuring dance music acts; hosted by Downtown Julie Brown, an alumnus of TOTP as part of the show's last dance troupe Zoo) and Solid Gold (1980–88; like the early TOTP, it also used dance troupes).

Canada's version was Electric Circus (1988–2003) on MuchMusic, which was also seen in the USA through MuchMusic USA. It had a national chart (mostly of dance music and some pop) as well as live performances, and was based on a local late '70s programme in Toronto called CITY-TV Boogie.

The Top of the Pops brand has also been exported to New Zealand. Although the British show has been broadcast intermittently in New Zealand, the country historically relied on music video-based shows to demonstrate its own Top 20, as the major international acts, who dominated the local charts, considered New Zealand too small and remote to visit regularly. This changed to an extent in 2002, when the New Zealand government suggested a voluntary New Zealand music quota on radio[162] (essentially a threat that if the stations did not impose a quota themselves then one would be imposed on them). The amount of local music played on radio stations increased, as did the number of local songs in the top 20. Therefore, a new local version of Top of the Pops became feasible for the first time, and the show was commissioned by Television New Zealand.

The show was executive produced by David Rose, managing director and owner of Satellite Media, and began airing in early 2004 with host Alex Behan. The hour-long show (as opposed to the 30-minute UK version) which was broadcast at 5 pm on Saturdays on TV2 contained a mixture of performances recorded locally on a sound stage in the Auckland CBD, as well as performances from the international versions of the show. The New Zealand Top 20 singles and Top 10 albums charts are also featured. Alex Behan stayed as host for two years before Bede Skinner took over. Despite having a sizeable fan base, in 2006 TVNZ announced that Top of the Pops had been axed.

Free-to-air music channel C4 then picked up the UK version of Top of the Pops and aired it on Saturdays at 8 pm with a repeat screening on Thursdays. However, since the weekly UK version was axed itself, this arrangement also ended.

An edited version of the UK show was shown on BBC Prime, the weekend after UK transmission.

In addition, a licensed version was shown on the United Arab Emirates-based MBC 2 television channel. This version consisted of parts of the UK version, including the Top 10 charts, as well as live performances by Arabic pop singers.

A complete version of the UK show was shown on People+Arts, two weeks after the UK transmission.

Brazilian network TV Globo aired a loosely based version of the original format in 2018, labeled as 'Só Toca Top', hosted by singer Luan Santana and actress Fernanda Souza.

These albums in the series reached No. 1:

• Top of the Pops 1 (Columbia Records, 1995)
• Top of the Pops '99 – Volume 2 (Universal Music TV, 1999)
• Top of the Pops 2000 – Volume Two (BBC Music / Universal Music TV, 2000)