FIAT/IFTA World Conference 2025

In this paper I will investigate the role of the hit parade in Europe with special emphasis on the inclusion of the format within national public service broadcasting from late 1950’s and forth. Using the Danish case as my point of departure, I will demonstrate how the hit parade was an important element in relation to a number of processes taking place simultaneously across Europe:

• A general process of internationalization/anglophonization of popular music (a process also often labeled Americanization)
• A counteractive process of nationalization of popular music (charts for regional music)
• A general turn towards a more populist approach to national public service broadcasting
• The constitution of an international youth music/culture

The hit parade (also called “radio charts”) is a radio show format based on a ranking of music, mostly either based on votes, sales reports or airplay statistics. The format, originating in USA in mid-1930s, was imported to Europe during World War II through American Forces Network and similar radio services for the allied forces stationed across Europe. Until late 1950’s and early 1960s hit parades were primarily presented on either these or commercial stations (Radio Luxembourg, off shore stations).

The history of the Hit Parade provides a remarkable foundation for studying how public service institutions have navigated the enduring balance between populism and idealism over time. Generally, the hit parade did not meet the criteria formulated and executed within the scheme of traditional interpretations of public service broadcasting. Several early examples are found around Europe, but the format did not find roots within national broadcasting until late 1959. From then on hit parades started popping up on national stations, partly as a response to competition from commercial radio, but also as an instrument to reach a specific target group, the teenagers.