This document provides a case study of the magazine Top of the Pops, which was first published in 1995. It remains a monthly magazine targeted towards teenage girls, focusing on pop music, artists, and culture. While the content and target audience have remained consistent over time, the magazine has evolved stylistically, maintaining a casual, informal tone along with bright colors and large images to appeal to its young readers. It continues to be a success published by BBC magazines, focusing on music news, celebrity gossip, fashion tips, and connecting with its audience.

1. TOP OF THE POPS
A CASE STUDY

3. Background Details
 The magazine was first published in February 1995
 The focus of the magazine is on pop artists, music and culture
 It costs £3.99 and is released monthly
 It is published by BBC magazines
 It’s current editor is Peter Hart
 It used to have a television series, and continue after the series ended

4. Older editions of the
magazine included artists
such as the Spice Girls.

5. Top Of The Pops- March 2001
This edition of TOTP’s was released six years after the first edition
of the magazine was published. The conventions are very
similar to the modern version of he magazine, for example the
main pop artist is featured on the cover filling most of the
frame, and other popular pop artists are on the cover as well
but in a smaller scale. The colour scheme is similar to the
scheme today as pink is featured heavily. Pink is a feminine,
girly colour which shows how the magazine is mainly appealing
to girls. The masthead is still placed in the let hand corner which
is where the eye first looks according to the left hand third rule.

6. Top Of The Pops Today:
Top of the Pops is issued monthly and costs £2.99. It has a reading
audience of approximately 330,000, and 87% of these people are
female. Despite the fact boys do read it, the magazine is aimed at
females. It has 67 A4 pages filled with girly gossip about music, boys
and fashion. Over the years the magazine cover has changed but still
contains the same content and remains brightly coloured with many
images. TOTP’S has its own website and music channel as well.

7. Inside Top of the Pops:
The articles are full
of fun feminine
colours, and it is not
unusual to see large
images of the artists
smiling in bright
coloured stylish
clothes throughout
the magazine.

8. Target Audience:
 The target audience for Top of the Pops is young teenage girls who
are fun, have a good sense of humour and are youthful. They are
girls who value their friends at school and enjoy gossiping about
their favourite pop artists and experimenting with makeup and
style. They love to read the magazine to find out more about their
favourite pop artists.

10. Content:
The content is entirely devoted to pop music with music/band news
and articles, celebrity gossip and fashion tips are also a crucial part of
the magazine. Quizzes and competitions are also added. A few
examples of bands and artists which frequently feature in this
magazine are One Direction, Little Mix, The Saturdays, Cheryl Cole
and Justin Bieber. The magazine offers free posters which reflect the
age of readers largely.

12. Style:
 The magazine uses visuals very heavily and features a lot of
iconography associated with pop/chart music and everything that
surrounds it for example boys, fashion, make-up and more. It
features a lot of uppercase text in fun, quirky font as this appeals to
the target audience more. Feminine colours appear the most as
this is what would be more likely to catch the attention of the
target audience it appeals to as the colours represent care-free
youthfulness.

13. Pink features strongly
on the cover.
Content is related to
pop bands/ singers.
The magazine is image
and visual heavy.

14. Mode of Address:
 Casual, features words that the target audience may use to appeal to
them more.
 The magazine is expressed from the point of view of a fan themselves,
especially during the interviews with artists.
 The magazine uses a friend to friend tone with the reader which makes
them feel more connected to the magazine.
 The magazine gives a lot of information about the pop genre which
shows that they understand what the TA want to know.
 The mode of address is used especially for the young readership and is
displayed through the design and layout. Captions are added around
the celebrity’s faces using youth orientated language with comical,
informal comments that sometimes border on being sarcastic.

15. Mode of Address: Informal, casual mode of
address creates a more
relaxed tone
Using exclamation points create
a sense of excitement with the
target audience and also add
emphasis to certain points.
Using abbreviated words adds
to the casual tone and also
shows that the magazine is
down to earth.

16. Mode of Address:
Examples of mode of address:
 ‘Amazeballs posters’
 ‘Lush six-packs to stare at’
 ‘Cringey kissing confessions’
 ‘Ariana cracks up! Her most bonkers interview ever?’
 ‘OMG! JLS confess everything!’
 ‘Robsessed!’ (referring to being obsessed over Robert Pattinson)

17. Ownership:
The institution which makes this magazine is the BBC Media Institution. This is shown
in the magazine as the reader’s attention is directed to many CBBC programmes
which are spoken about throughout the magazine, and the BBC’s logo is also
placed on the cover of the magazine in the left hand corner. It helped make the
magazine the biggest selling teen lifestyle magazine on the market.
“We bring our readers closest to their idols, because we’re the magazine that
knows celebs the best. Every issue is packed with exclusive interviews and photos,
as well as brilliant star advice and affordable fashion and beauty. We’re the friend
our readers can rely on to give them confidence, make them laugh, and share all
the juiciest gossip. And that’s why BBC Top Of The Pops Magazine is the UK’s
biggest-selling teen title. ” -Peter Hart, Editor - BBC Top Of The Pops Magazine