The Official Charts Company Author

Lee Thompson (Author)
Lee Thompson grew up in the north-east of England and became obsessed with music during his formative years in the 1970s. His vinyl collection grew out of hand through his teens and into his twenties, as did his obsession for chart facts and trivia. A love of radio led him to making his own shows in his bedroom in the eighties before becoming a presenter in the nineties at various stations including one of the first incarnations of London’s influential indie Xfm. He later worked as Head Of Music at TV music channels The Box, Kiss, Q, Kerrang! Smash Hits, Magic, and The Hits. Today, he’s a consultant and curator of shows on the NOW 70s, 80s, and 90s music TV channels, has produced chart rundown specials with both Gary Davies and Scott Mills at BBC Radio 2, and more than 100 weekly editions of ‘Sounds Of The 70s’. He's a self-confessed retro Top Of The Pops nerd and loves a good music quiz much more than his wife does. He lives in London.

The Official Charts Company (Author)
The Official Charts have been a central part of British popular culture for 70 years and counting. With their finger on the pulse of the British record-buying, digital-downloading, music-streaming public, the Official Charts are the UK’s only official, trusted weekly barometer of what’s popular in music right now. As heard on BBC Radio 1, Top Of The Pops and MTV, the Top 40 Official Singles Chart has been chronicling the tastes of the nation since 1952: from The Beatles to Beyonce, The Rolling Stones to Rihanna, Kylie to Miley, and Spice Girls to Little Mix. Crowning artist success week in, week out, including the coveted Christmas Number 1, the Official Charts aren’t just the authority on what is popular in Britain, they ARE British pop culture.