Why Top of the Pops shouldn't come back

It's now been over a decade since Top of the Pops finished. However, it does make a come back at Christmas time which always prompts calls for the show to return permanently.

The downfall of the show was largely blamed on 24 hour music channels taking away the demand for the show. Whilst this was a factor, I would argue that a 30 minute programme summing up what is currently in the charts was better if you didn't have time to sit through music channels for hours on end. It was also before YouTube had really taken off for music so that can't be blamed. For me personally, I only watched it very occasionally towards the end because when they moved it to Sunday I'd forget it was on more often than not. Had it not moved I do think it could have lasted a bit longer, even with the rise of YouTube because you need to know what to look for there. Ok you could just get a list of the top 40 and play each video, but that's a lot more effort than sitting back and watching TV for 30 minutes.

So why don't I think it should come back?

Basically because one thing that has changed a lot since, something Top of the Pops centred around, the UK Singles Chart. There simply isn't enough material in the charts anymore to warrant a weekly show about it, evident by the fact that Bryan Adams record was almost broken for weeks at number one, yet barely anyone I knew seemed to know the record in question.

To give an idea of what it would be like, I took a look at what could have been on Top of the Pops based on the top 40 in the first week of December and what could appear the following weeks up to this week.

I used the old Top of the Pops criteria for a record to be eligible to appear on the show which is:

• The number one record will be played each week
• The highest new entry will be played each week
• No record apart from the number one record will appear on consecutive weeks
• The highest climber that wasn't on last weeks show will be played
• No record going down the charts will be played
• If a record has gone down in the charts, it must have gone back up higher to its previous peak position to be eligible

Being around Christmas there is the inevitable re-entries to the charts. I'm not quite sure what the rules were regarding these as it never used to happen much. Therefore I have set the rule that a record must have spent a whole 6 months out of the charts before it can be treated like a new entry, just to eliminate those which spent a couple of weeks at 41 and include those which haven't been in the charts for some time. I'm also using the basis that 9 songs will be on each show as that's how many there typically were.

Week 1
So for the first week of December, bearing in mind there would have been nothing on the previous weeks show, there are the following 13 records eligible:

1. Clean Bandit - Rockabye
2. Neiked - Sexual
3. Weeknd ft Daft Punk - I Feel It Coming
4. Rag 'n' Bone Man - Human
5. Nevada/Mark Morrison/Fetty Wap - The Mack
6. Jonas Blue ft Raye - By Your Side
7. Weeknd - Party Monster
8. Zanetti ft Sadie Ama - You Want Me
9. Weeknd - Rockin
10. Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
11. Weeknd ft Kendrick Lamar - Sidewalks
12. John Legend - Love Me Now
13. Weeknd - Reminder

In blue are the number one, highest new entry and highest climber which would automatically go on the list. That leaves 6 out of 10 to choose from for the rest of the list. As 5 of these are by Weeknd, it would seem appropriate that Weeknd just plays one record, the highest charting one, then the other 5 records by other people can go on the list. I've put these in red. So we do have enough variety in there, even if there is a 22 year old song included.

Week 2
This is where it starts to fall down. There aren't any climbers which weren't on the previous weeks show and there are only 8 records eligible for this week:

1. Clean Bandit - Rockabye
2. Pogues ft Kirsty Maccoll - Fairytale of New York
3. Wham - Last Christmas
4. Zara Larrson - I Would Like
5. Shakin Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
6. Charli XCX ft Lil Yachty - After the Afterparty
7. Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
8. Michael Buble - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like

So we have the same number one as last week and 5 of the remaining 7 are old Christmas records and we'll have to fill the time left by the lack of 9th song.

Week 3
Now songs from week 1 become eligible again if they climb up the chart, here's what is eligible:

1. Clean Bandit - Rockabye
2. Louis Tomlinson & Steve Aoki - Just Hold On
3. Matt Terry - When Christmas Comes Around
4. Rag 'n' Bone Man - Human
5. Zayn/Taylor Swift - I Don't Wanna Live Forever
6. Little Mix - Touch
7. J Cole - Deja Vu
8. Chris Rea - Driving Home For Christmas
9. Lady Gaga - Million Reasons

So this weeks list picks itself, the same number 1 again and another record from week 1 gets another outing plus we get another old Christmas record. Still, at least we just about have enough records to fill the show.

Week 4
No new entries this week, but we do have some re-entries and climbers. Here's the eligible list:

1. Clean Bandit - Rockabye
2. Mariah Carey - All I Want For Christmas Is You
3. Zara Larrson - I Would Like
4. Pogues ft Kirsty Maccoll - Fairytale of New York
5. Wham - Last Christmas
6. Shakin Stevens - Merry Christmas Everyone
7. Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
8. Dave Clark Five - Glad All Over
9. Band Aid - Do They Know It's Christmas
10. Michael Buble - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like
11. Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody

So we actually get a choice this week with 11 records being eligible. We have the same number one, an old Christmas song as the highest climber and an old non Christmas song as the highest new entry. I've decided the two to eliminate are the lowest charting ones which have already been on the show. Despite this, we still have 5 of the 8 records from week 2 on this show.

Week 5
Again, no new entries this week, but we do have some more re-entries and climbers. Here's the eligible list:

1. Clean Bandit - Rockabye
2. Wizzard - I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
3. Andy Williams - It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
4. Michael Buble - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like
5. Brenda Lee - Rockin Around the Christmas Tree
6. Elton John - Step Into Christmas
7. Paul McCartney - Wonderful Christmastime

Oh dear, just 7 records are eligible this week which include the 2 I eliminated from last week, had I not chosen wisely there would only be 5 eligible. Still the same number 1 and the rest all old Christmas songs.

Week 6
No more Christmas songs and we finally have actual new entries. Here's the eligible list:

1. Clean Bandit - Rockabye
2. JP Cooper - September Song
3. John Legend - Love Me Now
4. Robbie Williams - Love My Life
5. Starley - Call On Me
6. Charli XCX ft Lil Yachty - After the Afterparty
7. Jax Jones ft Raye - You Don't Know Me
8. Adele - Water Under the Bridge

Once again we don't have 9 eligible songs, we still have the same number 1 and we have a further 2 songs that were on in the first 2 weeks.

So to sum up, for 3 of the 6 weeks we don't have enough records to fill the show, 1 week we only just have enough. For the week where we could pick 9 from 11, 8 of them were old Christmas songs, 1 was an old non Christmas song and another was being played for the fourth show in a row because of it being number 1. The first week had enough to pick from mainly because it was the first week, however if there was a show the previous week then we would potentially have to have the same artist perform multiple tracks to fill the numbers.

Then there is the issue of acts actually appearing in the studio. Many of the newer acts are from different countries so would be more difficult actually getting them in the studio. Getting the older acts would also prove difficult, some of the bands have long split up and some of the artists are no longer with us. All this means is that most of the performances will be music videos, which you can watch on YouTube. I know I said that wouldn't have been a reason for the show ending had it carried on, but that was based on there being a much larger quantity of music to sift through then, its much more manageable now.

Ok you could still have a 30 minute music show that doesn't strictly follow those rules, or even strictly follow the charts, but then it wouldn't exactly be Top of the Pops.

Some may like the look of the line ups each week and still want it to come back, and that's fair enough, but to me this illustrates why I don't think bringing back Top of the Pops would work.