Investigate two music magazines currently on sale in Britain

Top of the Pops

Top of the pops is a British music chart television programme which this magazine has evolved from.  Top of the pops or TOTP which was made by the BBC and broadcast weekly from 1^st  January 1964 to 30^th July 2006. Top of the pops still publishes a monthly publication by BBC magazines. This features chart information, star gossip, fashion and beauty advice, quizzes, song lyrics and posters, although, this magazine was launched in 1995 and is famous for giving girl group The Spice Girls their nicknames.  It was the genre between smash hits and NME, but it was gradually changed with less music content and a demographic shift to young girls.

The magazine is noted for its bright colours and engaging pop stars which help to aim the target audience of young teenage girls. It includes the latest music gossip but aims to provide the target audience with the latest hot gossip from teenage heartthrobs such as One Direction and Justin Bieber and exclusive fashion ideas. The cover price is £2.99 and it has a readership of 331,000 people 87% being girls and 15% being boys with an age range of 11-15.

The house style of the magazine has a bubble type font which is pink making it look sweet and colourful which definitely appeals to young teens. This then continues throughout making it recognisable and repetitive.  The picture on the front cover always has the current teenage pop sensation, and in this case it’s ‘district 3’. The colours are very consistent and stick to be bold on each monthly publication. The title ‘Top of the Pops’ is legendary and iconic as the show was a hit in the early 21^st century. The font is always very fun and funky addressing the latest shocking hot gossip.  The front cover is smothered in celebrities, quizzes and fashion ideas which immediately grab out to young teens. The facial expressions of the celebrities is always warm, smiley and fun. At the top of the magazine next to the significant ‘BBC’ logo there is always content of what will be in the magazine something exciting and new or perhaps a quiz. The colour scheme will always be subtle but highlight key parts of the magazine.  The BBC aim to create an exciting modern fresh and trendy approach to teenage girls.

The target audience is definitely aimed at teens and the socio economic group would be ABC1 with an age group of 11-15. The only problem facing categorising this is that we do not know how much of readers are in each category, for example the majority could be in C1 rather than spaced out into each category.