Top of the Pops magazine was originally a supplementary magazine for the TV show of the same name until the show was cancelled in 2006. The magazine has since continued independently and moved online, engaging with social media platforms. It provides coverage of popular music, celebrity news and gossip, fashion, and advice for its target audience of 10-15 year old girls. The magazine maintains a fun, youthful brand identity through bright colors, abbreviations, and a friendly tone that addresses readers directly.

1. Case Study

3. Background
• ‘Top of the pops’ was first launched in February 1995, and a
new issue is published every month to keep its readers
thoroughly informed with everything they need to know from
music to celebrities.
• It is priced at £2.30, and includes 42 pages, however freebies
are included so the price is reasonable for what you’re getting.
• ‘Top of the Pops’ was originally a supplementary magazine
for the TV show ‘Top of the Pops’, until the show was
cancelled in 2006, when the magazine continued
independently.

4. Background
• Top of the Pops was originally marketed as the missing link between Smash
Hits and NME, but its gradually changed; with less music content, and a
demographic shift to young girls.
• ‘Top of the Pops’ has now become online based, with social networking
sites like twitter in use, and also has a website. The advantage of Top of the
Pops engaging with new media, like twitter, is that the magazine can be
more globalised now, with people getting easy access to the website and
social networks where ever they are. Print media is also becoming less
popular as technologies change, so this means that Top of the Pops can still
be as successful, but just on different platforms instead of only print
magazines.

5. Additional Information
• The magazine has had several editors over the years
including Peter Lorraine, Corinna Schaffer and Rosalie
Snaith. The current owner of ‘Top of the Pops’ is Peter Hart.
• Peter Hart summarises the magazine by saying “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 biggest selling teen title”.

6. This is a screenshot from the Top of the Pops twitter page; brand identity is
maintained through the bright pinks and yellows being used, and the
abbreviations like ‘Hot’ being used.

7. This is the Top of the Pops website, with close resemblance to magazine,
showing brand identity, for example, the swirly symbol, the fonts and colours
used.

8. Ownership
• ‘BBC Top of the Pops’ magazine is owned and published
by ‘Immediate Media Company London Limited’ under
licence from ‘BBC Worldwide’, and so within the
magazine there are articles which direct the readerships'
attention to BBC productions, such as Tracy Beaker on
the CBBC channel. The BBC logo below is placed in the
top left corner of some of the most recent issues, and the
logo is usually placed in the magazine on some pages
also.

9. ‘Top of the Pops’ – June 1997
This issue was published in June
1997 with green and purple being
the dominant colours on the
magazine. The colours used are
less feminine, and the magazine
doesn’t really stand out.
Compared to the quality on more
frequent magazines, the graphics
are poor.
The cover is also fairly empty
compared to the jam packed
covers of the more recent issues.
The images on this magazine
appear to be less ‘poppy’
compared to those you would see
on a more recent pop magazine,
with some artists not smiling.

10. ‘Top of the Pops’ – March 2013
This issue was published in
March 2013, and pink, white, red
and yellow are the dominant
colours; these colours stand out,
and reflect the more feminine
audience.
The quality has improved
drastically, and the magazine is
more visually attractive
compared to how it used to be.
The images are also more
attractive; mode of address is
used because every celebrity is
making eye contact, and
appears smiling.

11. Genre
• This magazine takes the genre of pop as we can see by the bright
colours, and the name which clearly says ‘Top of the Pops’.
• It a very youth orientated magazine, with the use of cheesy lyrics
and puns, and catchy rhymes used throughout.
• ‘Pop music’ derives from the term ‘popular music’, and ‘Top of the
Pops’ magazine is all about keeping it’s readers up to date with all
the popular music, and latest celebrity news.
• Bright colours are used to make the appearance friendly to the
young readers, and so it draws attention to the magazine.
• Male artists are portrayed and viewed as an object of desire, and
female artists are portrayed and viewed as an object of inspiration,
for example ‘you could be like Cheryl’.
• Abbreviations are used frequently like ‘OMG’ and ‘HOTTIE!’, to
relate to the young target audience.

12. Target Audience
• 10- 15 year old girls.
• Interested in pop music, fashion and boys.
• Still in education; higher years of primary school – lower
years of high school.
• Likes to be in style with her outfits, and loves getting a
bargain when possible.
• Hardworking, friendly, and trustable, she likes reading
pop magazines and getting the best advice from the
advice section.
• Shares her love of pop magazines with her close friends,
and talks about it with them at school and on the
weekends.

13. Pop Artists
• Pop artists are usually photographed smiling, and most
of the time look directly at the camera to give a friendly
feel.
• They are usually young, and look youthful, linking to the
genre.
• Females tend to wear pinks and other feminine colours,
whereas males dress fairly casually.
• There music tends to avoid swearing, reference to drugs,
sex and alcohol; this is because the target audience
would not be able to relate to the songs they write.

15. Content
• ‘Top of the Pops’ features a wide variety of different articles, such as:
• ‘Gossip2Go’ – This is the month’s newest celebrity gossip.
• ‘Don’t Miss!’ – The magazine promotes latest films and TV programmes that
are suitable for its target audience.
• ‘Shameful Celeb Muck Ups’ – This is a page on ‘cringy’ celebrity images,
with a witty quote for each of them. With this is a page, ‘Your Oops’ which is
stories that readers have sent in that have embarrassed them; this makes
the readership feel like friends with the magazine.
• ‘Real life’ situations from the world, to help inform young girls of the threats
in the real world.
• ‘Your letters’ to help keep in touch with the readers.
• Posters of celebrities are included in every magazine for readers to cut/pull
out.
• Fashion and Beauty advice.
• Games and Quizzes to do alone or with friends.
• ‘Agony Aunt’ section to help reader’s with their problems.
• Interviews with celebrities within the pop genre
• And much more..!

17. The ‘Top of the Pops’ Masthead
• ‘Top of the Pops’ has had different mastheads since the magazine
first started.
• This is the current masthead of ‘Top of the Pops’ magazine.
• This masthead was being used in the first few years of publication.

18. These are some of the different styles of mastheads that have been
used since the magazine was published, and each different style has
been used in various colours, ranging from pinks, blues and yellows.

19. All of the mastheads that have been used since Top of
the Pops was first published share some of the same
features, and reflect the brand identity of the magazine.
One example of this is the swirly symbol that is shown
either around the masthead, or is combined with the ‘s’
at the ends of ‘pops’. This reflects the fun genre of pop
music and the youth audience of the magazine. This also
creates brand identity because fans of the magazine
would recognise the symbol and know that it’s Top of the
Pops.
Top of the Pops also reinforces the brand identity by having the ‘s’ in a
different way to the rest of the masthead and making it stand out; for
example, in some it has the swirl incorporated through it, and in some its
turned into a different font.

20. Inside ‘Top of the Pops’
• Bright colours are used on
all pages, and lots of
images to make it more
visually attractive.
• Alliteration is used to make
the title more interesting
• Subheading type writing is
written in a different colour
so the page does not look
full of writing, which would
bore the young reader.
• All the artists are smiling
and looking directly at the
camera.

21. Mode of Address
• Abbreviations and ‘slang’ words are often used like ‘OMG’ to relate to the audience,
and make the magazine feel like a friend to its reader.
• The artists on the cover, and in the magazine, usually appear smiling and looking
directly at its reader, inviting them to read the magazine.
• It is friendly and down to earth, suggesting a friend-to-friend relationship between
the magazine and the reader.
• The words ‘you’ and ‘we’ are used frequently.
• Exclamation marks are used throughout to show a sense of excitement that the
readers can share with the magazine.
• Examples of Mode of Address used:
• ‘OMG’
• ‘make boys fancy you!’
• ‘BFF’
• ‘buff boys’
• The colloquialisms and casual slang used enables the audience to feel like the
magazine is on the same wavelength as them because the readership will view the
magazine as a personal friend, and someone they can trust. They’ll also see the
magazine as someone who is interested in the same things as they are, so they
know that the information and help that they’re getting is legit.

22. Examples of Mode of Address used in ‘Top of the Pops’