''The EE Official Big Top 40 from Global'' is a radio chart show broadcast every Sunday from 4 to 7pm on

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

Capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

and

Heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

networks, presented by Will Manning. The show started on 14 June 2009, with "

When Love Takes Over "When Love Takes Over" is a song by French DJ and record producer David Guetta featuring vocals by American singer Kelly Rowland, from Guetta's fourth studio album, '' One Love'' (2009). It was released as the lead single from the album on 21 Apr ...

" by

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta (; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and record producer. He has sold over 10 million albums and 65 million singles globally, with more than 30 billion streams on Spotify. Guetta was voted the number one DJ in the DJ Mag ...

and

Kelly Rowland Kelendria Trene Rowland (born February 11, 1981) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the world's List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling gir ...

becoming the show's first number 1. There have been 384 number one songs as of 15th June 2025 with the current being "

Sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, cobalt, lead, chromium, vanadium, magnesium, boron, and silicon. The name ''sapphire ...

" by

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran ( ; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

Format

''The Official Big Top 40'' begins with a recap of the previous week's Top 10 songs, followed by a countdown of the 40 biggest songs from the last seven days. A recap is broadcast after every 10 songs, apart from the top 10 which is recapped after 9 songs. Interviews with the artists making that particular week's chart, competitions, calls with listeners and advertisements make up the remaining airtime. The number 1 song is announced just before 7pm. The week's chart is subsequently published on the Big Top 40's website after the show. The chart is compiled based on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

sales,

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

streams, and radio airplay from the stations that broadcast the show. The algorithm differs to that of the UK singles chart, which includes physical sales, as well as downloads and streaming from all sources, but does not take radio airplay into account. Each year is rounded off with the top 40 songs of the last 12 months, leading up to the biggest song of that year. It was known as the "chart of the year" episode that aired every last weekend of the year. Will Manning is the program's current host, having taken over from

Marvin Humes Marvin Richard James Humes (born 18 March 1985) is an English singer-songwriter, disc jockey, radio host, television presenter, and former actor. Before rising to prominence as a member of the British boy band JLS, he had an acting role in Hol ...

and Kat Shoob in January 2019. The show is broadcast from Global's studios in

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...

, London. In the case of the

Summertime Ball Capital's Summertime Ball is a mini-festival in London, usually held on either first or second Saturday or Sunday of June by the radio station Capital (radio network), Capital. The first ball was at Emirates Stadium in 2009, and it has since b ...

and

Jingle Bell Ball The Jingle Bell Ball is a concert held annually in December since 2008 (except for 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), by the radio station Capital (radio network), Capital FM at The O2 Arena. Various notable artists have headlined the con ...

Sundays where Capital provide the backstage access to the event, its sister network Heart will continued to aired the show.

History

The chart was launched as ''The Big Top 40 Show'' on 14 June 2009. Between 2010 and 2018, the programme was sponsored by

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

, becoming ''The Vodafone Freebees Big Top 40'' (later ''The Vodafone Big Top 40'' and ''The Official Vodafone Big Top 40''). For the first time, listeners could change the chart during the show by downloading tracks on

. Songs 40 to 11 are played before the new Top 10 is finalised at 6:10pm, with iTunes sales during the show taken into account. The show, originally produced by Paul Armstrong and Paddy Bunce, was the first real-time chart show broadcast on UK radio. In September 2018, Bauer announced that their

Hits Radio Network Hits Radio is a network of 26 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. The network launched in 2018 with the rebranding of Bauer's Manchester station Key 103 and its merger with The Hi ...

would stop carrying the show after the expiration of its contract at the end of 2018. Global, which produced the show, made the decision to withdraw the programme from syndication to the wider commercial radio network. The final show across the commercial radio network aired on 30 December 2018. The relaunched show, ''The Official Big Top 40'', started in January 2019 and is widely available on

and

. In March 2022, the show gained a new sponsor and was renamed ''The Sky VIP Official Big Top 40''. After an appeal from the

Official Charts Company The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation ...

to the Advertising Standards Authority, Global was ordered not to refer to the show as "The Official Big Top 40", and subsequently updated the name to "The Official Big Top 40 from Global". In September 2024, the show gained a new sponsorship and was renamed to "The EE Official Big Top 40 from Global".

Presenters and producers

Current presenters *Will Manning (2019–present) *

Dev Griffin Devin Joseph Jordan Griffin (born 23 December 1984) is a British radio presenter, DJ and actor, who is most commonly known for presenting Heart's evening show since January 2022 and Heart's Feel Good Weekend since January 2021. He is also know ...

(cover) *

Pandora Christie Pandora Christie (born 1982)'','' also known as Pandora, is a British radio presenter. She is the current host of Heart Radio's mid-morning show. Background Christie grew up in South London. Christie's mother suffered from alcoholism and died i ...

(cover) Current producer *Luke Prior Previous presenters *

Rich Clarke Richard "Rich" Clarke is an English radio presenter, podcast creator, host and DJ from Worcester, England. University Clarke attended Royal Holloway, University of London where he studied Geography. Whilst at university, Clarke’s love of Radi ...

(2009-2013) *Kat Shoob (2009–2018) *

(2014–2018) *

Sian Welby Sian or Siyan may refer to: __NOTOC__ People *Siân, a Welsh girl's name; list of people with this name Places * Sian, Iran (disambiguation), various places in Iran, Iraq and Balochistan * Sian, Russia, a rural locality in Amur Oblast, Russia *Xi' ...

(cover, 2019) Previous producer *Paul Armstrong (2009–2012)

Records and statistics

The current song at Number 1 belongs to "

" by

The song holding the record for the most weeks at Number 1 is "

Despacito (remix) "Despacito" (; ) is a song by Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi, originally written in 2015. In 2016, Luis sent the song to Puerto Rican rapper and singer Daddy Yankee to give it an "urban injection", and released it as the lead single from Fons ...

" by

Luis Fonsi Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero (born April 15, 1978), known by his stage name Luis Fonsi (), is a Puerto Rican singer. He is known for his soulful and dance oriented songs, most notably 2017's "Despacito". Fonsi received his first Latin ...

Daddy Yankee Ramón Luis Ayala Rodríguez (; born February 3, 1976), known professionally as Daddy Yankee (), is a Puerto Rican rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor who rose to worldwide prominence in 2004 with the song "Gasolina". Dubbed the "Honorific ...

and

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Regarded as a pop icon, he is recognized for his multi-genre musical performances. He was discovered by record executive Scooter Braun in 2008 and subsequently brought to the U ...

with 11 non-consecutive weeks. The song that has spent the most consecutive weeks at Number 1 is "

These Days These Days may refer to: Music Albums * ''These Days'' (Bon Jovi album), and the title song (see below) ** These Days Tour, a 1995–1996 tour by Bon Jovi in support of the above album * ''These Days'' (Crystal Gayle album), 1980 * ''These ...

" by

Rudimental Rudimental are a British drum and bass band, signed to Asylum Records, Atlantic Records and Black Butter Records. The band consists of Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden and Leon "Locksmith" Rolle. They were nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2013, and ...

Jess Glynne Jessica Hannah Glynne (born 20 October 1989) is a British singer. She rose to prominence in 2014 as a featured artist on the singles " Rather Be" by Clean Bandit and " My Love" by Route 94, both of which reached number one on the UK Singles C ...

Macklemore Benjamin Hammond Haggerty (born June 19, 1983), better known by his stage name Macklemore ( ; formerly Professor Macklemore), is an American rapper. A native of Seattle, Washington, he started his career in 2000 as an independent artist rele ...

and

Dan Caplen Daniel Caplen (born 27 March 1992), also known as his stage name D/C, is a British R&B singer, songwriter and musician based in Brixton in London. He was educated at St Edmund's School Canterbury. He is signed to Atlantic Records UK and releas ...

with nine consecutive weeks (4 February - 1 April 2018). The artist with the most Number 1 songs is

with 23 singles as of 2025, while the group with the most Number 1 songs is

Little Mix Little Mix are an English girl group that formed on the eighth series of ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor.'' They are the first group and the only girl group to win the original UK series. The lineup consisted of Leigh-Anne Pin ...

with 8 songs as of 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Official Big Top 40, The 2009 radio programme debuts British music radio programmes British record charts Music chart shows Capital (radio network)