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The show aired the first time on July 10, 1962.
Just like Tio i Topp (Top Ten), the show was Swedish Radio's answer to the pirate radio stations that quickly became popular in the early 60's. See also our page on Tio i Topp.
The first host was Klas Burling, which also produced the radio show. He was eventually replaced by other well-known radio voices, like Rune Hallberg, Kersti Adams-Ray and Kiki Engerstedt.
Kvällstoppen consisted of the top twenty best-selling discs in Sweden. The figures were based on sales data from a number of record stores. From the beginning, only about 44 record stores contributed, but the number was later increased to 360.
In late sixties, the LP record starting selling more and found its way into the charts. Therefore, the chart was split into two charts on September 22 1969. LP album had its own list (LP toppen) and the remainder of the regular chart was reduced to 15 records. However, as the albums could end up on both lists, Swedish radio returned to the old system after one year. As of September 29, 1970, there was only one list again and it contained the twenty most sold records.
In 1974, when the whole idea of the program began to be questioned based on ideological grounds, the last records were listed in no particular order (meaning, who well the sold were never disclosed), and in late summer 1975 the Kvällstoppen story was over. The last program was aired on August 19, 1975.
A short period Kvällstoppen was replaced by Skivspegeln, but the new show did not have the same impact. After only three years, this show was also discontinued. One of the reasons behind was that public radio should not promote or report the sale of a particular product (like a particular record).
All the way from 1962 until 1975, the radio show had the same theme song, "The Stripper" by David Rose's orchestra.
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