''Binaca Geetmala'' () was a weekly countdown show of top

filmi Filmi () music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Cinema of India, Indian cinema. In cinema, List of Indian film music directors, music directors make up the main body of c ...

songs from

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

. It was broadcast on

Radio Ceylon Radio Ceylon ( ''Lanka Guwan Viduli Sevaya'', , ''ilankai vanoli'') is a radio station based in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and the first radio station in Asia. Broadcasting was started on an experimental basis by the colonial Telegraph Departme ...

from 1952 to 1988 and then shifted to the

Vividh Bharati The Vividh Bharati Service (VBS; ) of All India Radio was conceptualized to combat Radio Ceylon in 1967. Due to the Indian Government stopping its short wave relay centers, VBS is only available on the Internet. Vividh Bharati radio channel wa ...

Service of

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

network in 1989 where it ran until 1994. It was the first radio countdown show of Indian film songs,''Back on air with Geetmala''. Bella Jaisinghani. ''The Financial Express (India)'', Sunday, 11 March 2001. Transcript available online at , accessed online on 29 July 2006 and has been quoted as being the most popular radio programme in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

during its run. Its name reflects its sponsorship by Binaca. ''Binaca Geetmala'', and its subsequent incarnations named after Cibaca—''Cibaca Sangeetmala'', ''Cibaca Geetmala'', and ''Colgate Cibaca Sangeetmala''—ran from 1954 to 1994 on

and then on

. They also broadcast annual year-end lists from 1954 to 1993.

Annual List by Year

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

Most No of songs by singer

Ameen Sayani and Radio Ceylon

The show was hosted throughout its entire run by

Ameen Sayani Ameen Sayani (21 December 1932 – 20 February 2024) was an Indian radio announcer. He achieved fame and popularity across the Indian subcontinent when he presented his ''Binaca Geetmala'' programme of hits over the airwaves of Radio Ceylon. H ...

. It was very popular in India, with estimated

listenership Audience measurement calculates how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic. The term is sometim ...

ranging from 900,000 to 2,000,000. It greatly increased the popularity of Radio Ceylon, making it the primary source of popular film music on radio for the Indian subcontinent. After 1998, the show aired on Vividh Bharati and was on for half an hour on Monday nights.

Popularity ratings method

At its onset in 1952, the programme did not rank songs, but rather played seven contemporary songs in no particular order. Later, the programme started ranking the most popular

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film songs. The songs were initially ranked by a combination of the number of records sold in India and listener votes. Popularity was gauged by record sales, verdicts from record store owners, and popularity among the or 'listeners clubs'. Each week, the would send the radio station their list of popular songs. The clubs were formed because it was possible for a record to be sold out at stores and although there was interest to buy more, the interest would not show up in record sales. The year-end lists were compiled based on points earned by songs through the year. Between 1966 and 1970 there would sometimes be no points on the weekly broadcast, but the year-end show would be based on point system.Reliving the Geetmala lore. ''S.K. Screen'', Friday, 22 September 2000, transcript available online at , accessed online on 29 July 2006

Lists of top songs per year

Silver jubilee and LP record

On 12 December 1977, Binaca Geetmala celebrated its 25-year anniversary in a social gathering organized in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. Many well known composers, poets, and singers attended the show. The top songs from 1953 to 1977 were compiled and released in a two record volume set. Volume 1 has songs from 1953 to 1964; volume 2 has songs from 1965 to 1977. Between the songs on the volume set, there is commentary by Ameen Sayani.

References

{{reflist
Binaca Geetmala 1964 Songs List
Music chart shows Indian radio programmes All India Radio