History of the top 50, when three French rockers shook up the charts

40 years ago, a new television channel arrived on our screens that would impact France, its news, and pop culture, along with a concept that would transform the music world in France and beyond, altering the way it was perceived and consumed. With the birth of Canal+, the Top 50 was also born— a chart of the 50 most-played songs each week, created by rock enthusiasts aiming to shake up the showbiz scene. These three rock fans, Pierre Lescure, Alain de Greef, and Philippe Gildas, led the initiative. At the time, the first two were already working on creating an encrypted channel, while the third, then head of Europe 1, aimed to bring the American Billboards concept to France. This is the story of the Top 50, a project that started with promise but didn’t quite unfold as expected.

The concept was relatively simple: every week, the Nielsen and Ipsos institutes conducted surveys with a panel of record stores across France to compile the chart. Each Monday, the counters were reset. Additionally, the channel set two goals: prioritize broadcasting new entries in the chart and feature at least twelve new songs each week. Once the project was fully developed, they just needed the perfect person to present the Top 50 program and its songs to the channel’s audience. Marc Toesca, already working at Canal+, was an obvious choice for the concept’s three founders. However, Toesca needed some convincing to take on a role he initially wasn’t thrilled about. “I was clearly resistant to this kind of hit parade,” he recalls. “Finally, Pierre Lescure presented the project to me as something rather punk. Back then, each radio station had its own hit parade, often influenced by vague deals with record labels. For the first time, a chart provided real insight into who was actually selling records in France, and in what quantities!”. Once he accepted, the show was ready to launch.

But like any ambitious project, criticism quickly emerged from the outset. The public didn’t hesitate to accuse the production of producing rigged results, even though the chart was based solely on sales in supermarkets, a random sample of small shops, and programming from FM and pirate radio stations. Another challenge for its creators, particularly disheartening for these rock fans, was their lack of influence over the program’s execution. While they had envisioned a show to express and share their passion for alternative music, they found themselves airing songs far from their hard rock ideals, such as “Besoin de rien, envie de toi” by Peter et Sloane, which stayed at the top of the chart for nine consecutive weeks. Over the years, despite changes, new songs, evolving formats, and an explosion of music listening platforms, the program ultimately started to lose its audience— and even its presenter.

Since then, charts have lost their popularity, replaced by streaming platform statistics, where no song stays at the top of the Top 50 for more than eleven weeks. Yet, in the era of personalized Spotify Wrapped and instant reviews of the most-played tracks, the Top 50 remains a legendary part of music history. While our parents’ youth was filled with songs by Jean-Jacques Goldman, Dalida, and Johnny Hallyday—chart kings endlessly played on the radio and TV—our generation, surrounded by carefully curated and instantly changeable music, still feels the legacy of those Top 50 years. No song by Jul or Aya Nakamura can inspire a collective shout and singalong like when “Les Démons de minuit” or “Désenchantée” comes on at a party.