Top 40 Music Magazine
Encyclopedia
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
monthly music magazine
Music magazine
A music magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews, concert reviews and occasionally have a covermount with recorded music.-Notable music magazines:...
published nationwide in print form between 1984 and 2002.
Its content featured coverage of new music across the popular music genres
Music genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
of the time and also included articles and snippets on current film and video releases, the general music business, domestic and international chart info, exclusive interviews, as well as game and Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
trends during the latter years.
Furthermore, the magazine hosted a mail order division for miscellaneous music- and video-related products and merchandise and, for a period in the 1980s, ran the "Record & Video Shack" at Shop 7 Leebram House, Biccard Street in Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
.
Timeline
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
on the cover appeared in September 1984.
As a marketing ploy, early issues of the magazine were given away free by CNA outlets with any "music purchase" made. The initial newsstand price was R
South African rand
The rand is the currency of South Africa. It takes its name from the Witwatersrand , the ridge upon which Johannesburg is built and where most of South Africa's gold deposits were found. The rand has the symbol "R" and is subdivided into 100 cents, symbol "c"...
1,00.
Published by Joe Theron, Top 40s offices were originally situated in Yeoville, moving to Braamfontein
Braamfontein
Braamfontein is a central suburb of Johannesburg, in South Africa. It is well located, straddling Jan Smuts Avenue and Empire Road. The Nelson Mandela bridge is a landmark that connects Braamfontein to the city...
in 1985. The cover of the April 1988 issue proudly claimed "over 2,7 million sold!" By June 1989 they had again relocated, this time to Randburg.
The May 1990 issue introduced a slight change in name to Top Forty Music Magazine, and by October 1990 sales of "well in excess of 4 million units" were boasted.
By late 1993, publishing was undertaken by Promedia. Mark Bennett had taken over by 1995, and by 1997 the magazine had moved its base to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
and was published by Thompson Publishing.
April 2002 saw the last printed issue of the magazine whereupon the title went "digital-only", disappearing completely by January 2005.
Staff
Editors over the years have included Debby Tattersall, Mike Waddacor, Suzanne Ellis, Chris Chapman, Tara Robb, Steve Masters, Colleen Thompson (née Gouws) and Jason Curtis.Releases
While some of the earlier "birthday issues" included a free (regular commercial) 7"-single, the publication is also responsible for at least two compilations of its own; a covermountCovermount
Covermount is the name given to storage media or other products packaged as part of a magazine or newspaper...
cassette which came with the Top Forty Music Annual: The First Decade book (1990), and a "free" compilation CD (1991) -- both in conjunction with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
South Africa.