Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1 January 1964 and 30 July 2006. It was traditionally shown every Thursday evening on BBC One, before being moved to Fridays in 1996, and then moved to Sundays on BBC Two in 2005. Each weekly programme consisted of performances from some of that week's best-selling popular music artists, with a rundown of that week's singles chart. Additionally, every year there was a special edition of the programme on Christmas Day featuring some of the best-selling singles of the year.
Although the weekly show was cancelled, the Christmas special has continued. It was also survived by Top of the Pops 2, which began in 1994 and featured vintage performances from the Top of the Pops archives.
In the 1990s, the show's format was sold to several foreign broadcasters in the form of a franchise package, and at one point various versions of the show were shown in nearly 100 countries.
Read more about Top Of The Pops: Performers, Performances, and Presenters, Theme Music, Missing Episodes, Spin-offs, Send-ups, Compilation Albums, Top of The Pops Magazine, In Popular Culture, Licensing, DVDs