Top of the Pops magazine is a monthly publication owned by the BBC that features pop music news, celebrity gossip, and fashion tips. It targets teenage girls with a style that uses feminine colors and casual language. The magazine provides updates on popular artists like One Direction and Justin Bieber to engage its young female readership.

1. CASE STUDY

2. BACK GROUND DETAILS
• Top of the Pops magazine is a monthly publication published by BBC magazines. It features
chart information, star gossip, fashion and beauty advice, quizzes, song lyrics and posters. It
is a supplementary magazine for the TV show Top of the Pops
• Top of the Pop’s magazine has been running since February 1995, and filled the void in the
BBC magazine portfolio where Number One magazine used to be. It began much in the mould
of Q magazine, then changed its editorial policy to directly compete with popular teen
celebrity magazines such as and Big, with free sticker giveaways replacing Brett Anderson
covers.
• An early feature on the Spice Girls coined the famous "Spice" nicknames for each member
(Baby, Ginger, Posh Scary and Sporty) that stayed with them throughout their career as a
group and beyond.
• The BBC announced that the magazine would continue in publication despite the end of the
television series, and is still running.
• The title has had several editors over the years, including Peter Lorraine, Corinna Schaffer
and Rosalie Snaith, and contributing editors including Adam Tanswell. Its current editor is
Peter Hart.

4. TOP OF THE POP‘S TODAY
• The cover price of Top of the Pop’s is £2.99
and the magazine is issued monthly. It’s
circulation is 78,352 and readership is
331,000. 15% of boys read it and 87% of girls
read it although its target audience is females.
The magazine consists of about 67 pages all
filled with enticing girly gossip about
music, boys and fashion!

5. This is an edition of Top of the Pops from
2001. 11 years ago and 6 years after the
magazine was first published.
As you can see conventions are very much
the same then as they are now. A music artist
(Britney Spears) is used as the main image
which fills the frame. The other artists
featured are all also pop artists (Craig David
and Hearsay). The colour scheme is also the
same then as it is today: pink. Pink is a
feminine colour which will appeal to the
target audience and make them want to pick
up and buy the magazine. The mast head is
also placed in the same place as it is in
today’s editions; the top left hand corner. It is
placed there because that is the first place
the Western eye will look.

6. CONTENT
• Content is entirely devoted to pop music with
music/band news and articles, celebrity gossip
and fashion tips are also a major part of the
magazine. Quizzes and competition pages are
present too.
• Bands and artists that commonly feature are: One
Direction, Little Mix, The Saturdays, Tulisa, Cheryl
Cole, JLS and Justin Beiber.
• The magazine offers free posters, reflecting the
largely youth readership.

8. STYLE
• Top of the Pops features a lot of iconography
associated with pop/chart music and the scene that
surrounds it, e.g. fashion, boys, make-up, etc.
• The magazine is visual, image-heavy.
• The magazine features a lot of uppercase text in a
fun and quirky font.
• Feminine colours are featured most strongly, such as
pink white, blue and lilac, creating feminine feel
which suggests a young, fun, feminine female
readership.

9. Feminine colours are
STYLE Top of the Pops
features a lot of
featured most iconography
strongly, such as pink associated with
white, blue and lilac pop/chart music and
the scene that
surrounds it, e.g.
fashion, boys, make-
up, etc.
The magazine features
a lot of uppercase text
in a fun and quirky
font.
The magazine is
visual, image-
heavy.

10. MODE OF ADDRESS
• Casual, featuring informal words and phrases
that the TA might use.
• The tone of expression used by a young fan of
pop music is established.
• Friendly and down-to-earth, suggesting a
good, friend-to-friend relationship between
reader an magazine.

11. MODE OF ADDRESS
Casual, featuri Has headline
ng informal and sub
words and headings that
phrases that the target
the TA might audience can
use. (e.g. relate to.
‘lush’)

12. MODE OF ADDRESS
EXAMPLES OF MODE OF ADDRESS:
• ‘AMAZEBALLS’
• ‘LUSH’
• ‘WHO’S THE FITTEST?’
• ‘CRINGE!’
• ‘BRILLIANT, BARGAIN, BUYS’
• ‘SWAGGY’
• ‘LOL’
• ‘WOW!’
• ‘OMG!’

13. OWNERSHIP
• The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) owns Top
of the Pop’s magazine. The BBC corporation also
owns the Classic FM music magazine. Top of the
Pop’s magazine is sister of TV show Top of the Pops,
also known as TOTP, which was a music chart
television programme, made by the BBC and
originally broadcast weekly between 1st January
1964 and 30th July 2006. The BBC is a massive
company that is known world wide so the fact that
the magazine is owned by them is a massive benefit.