Top of The Pops - Theme Music

Theme Music

For much of the 1960s the show's theme music was an organ-based instrumental track, also called "Top of the Pops", by the Dave Davani Four.

• 1 January 1964 to ?: Instrumental percussion piece written by Johnnie Stewart and Harry Rabinowitz and performed by drummer Bobby Midgly.
• 1965 to 1966: Dave Davani Four's "Top of the Pops" with the Ladybirds on backing vocal harmonies. Originally the opening theme, this was later played as a closing theme from 1966 up until 1970.
• 20 January 1966 to 13 November 1969: Unknown instrumental guitar track.
• 27 November 1969 to 29 October 1970: Unknown brass track played over colour titles with a voiceover proclaiming, "Yes! It's number one! It's Top of the Pops!" There was no TOTP on 20 November 1969 due to the Apollo 12 Moon landing.
• 5 November 1970 to 14 July 1977: Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" based on the CCS release, recorded by Johnny Pearson and session musicians from the BBC orchestra.
• 21 July 1977 to 29 May 1980: No opening theme tune: A contemporary chart song was played over the countdown stills. "Whole Lotta Love" only featured in Christmas editions.
• 7 August 1980 to 2 July 1981: No opening theme tune: The CCS version of "Whole Lotta Love" was played over some of the images of the featured artists and during the countdown stills in the Top 30 and Top 20 sections which were moved later on in the programme. By 1981, "Whole Lotta Love" was only heard during the chart rundowns.
• 9 July 1981 to 27 March 1986: "Yellow Pearl" by Phil Lynott was commissioned as the new theme music. From 1983 to 1984, a re-recording of "Yellow Pearl" was played over the chart rundown and a soft rock version from 1984 to 1986.
• 3 April 1986 to 26 September 1991: "The Wizard", a composition by Paul Hardcastle.
• 3 October 1991 to 26 January 1995: "Now Get Out Of That" composed by Tony Gibber.
• 2 February 1995 to July 1997: the theme was a track called "Red Hot Pop" composed by Vince Clarke of Erasure.
• July 1997 to 24 April 1998: No opening theme. The opening of the first song of the episode was played under the titles.
• 1 May 1998 to 21 November 2003, updated, drum and bass version of Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" by Ben Chapman.
• 28 November 2003 to 30 July 2006 and present for TOTP2 and Xmas specials: A remixed version of "Now Get Out Of That" by Tony Gibber.