VSpot Top 20 Countdown
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "VSpot_Top_20_Countdown".

content
VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown
Image:VH1top20.png
Format Music videos
Starring Alison Becker
Country of origin  United States
Production
Running time 120 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel VH1
Original run 1994 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown is a weekly television show on the VH1 cable television network in the United States. The long-running series began in 1994 as the VH1 Top 10 Countdown, as part of VH1's "Music First" rebranding effort.1 Since then, the series has been a consistent weekly institution on VH1, and it is now the main source of music video programming on the channel.

Over the years, a variety of hosts have counted down the top ten or twenty music videos of the week. The order of countdown was originally decided by a mix of record sales, radio airplay, video spins, message board posts, and conventional mail, but since 2006, online votes have directly influenced the countdown.

Currently, new episodes of the Top 20 Video Countdown air Friday nights (early Saturday mornings) at 3 a.m. eastern time, with repeats on Saturdays at 9 a.m. and Sundays at 8 a.m. eastern time.2

Contents

History

As part of VH-1's rebranding as "VH1: Music First" in 1994, the channel launched a new series, the VH1 Top 10 Countdown, that counted down the top ten music videos played on VH1 each week. A combination of record sales, radio airplay, video spins, message board posts, and conventional mail would decide the order of the countdown. A rotating cast of VJs picked up hosting duties for the show over the years. The series expanded from ten to twenty music videos, becoming the VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown, in 1999.

Each week, the show would broadcast from a different location around New York City, often at the Virgin Records store in Union Square. Following a decline in the show's relevance, popular Survivor contestant Jenna Lewis was hired to host the show in 2001. After her departure from the show, from 2002 to 2006, the show was usually hosted by either Rachel Perry, Bradford How, or Aamer Haleem, but occasionally another VJ would fill in.

The series became known as the VSPOT Top 20 Video Countdown on April 7, 2006, at which time it received a new on-air look, a new studio at the MTV headquarters in Times Square, and a new host, Matt Pinfield, the venerable VJ from MTV and MTV2 in the 1990s and former host of MTV's 120 Minutes. In a fundamental change from the show's classic format of compiling the top twenty videos of the week, Internet votes determined the entire order of the countdown. Fan participation was introduced via VSPOT, VH1's online music video outlet. Also as part of the change, VH1 temporarily moved the show's first airing of the week to Friday evenings instead of Saturday mornings. On the week of July 15, 2006, the show stopped airing on Friday evenings.

On the September 16, 2006 episode, host Matt Pinfield announced that after being on the countdown for 20 weeks, a video would be retired. Before this time, videos could remain on the countdown for as long as seemed appropriate, though almost all were gone by the 24th week. One notable exception, however, was Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know", which remained in the countdown for 28 non-consecutive weeks in two countdown runs. The video did not reach the top ten and its second wind was caused by the popularity of the VH1.com live version of the video.

After host Matt Pinfield did not show up for a few recordings of the showcitation needed in late 2006, former host Aamer Haleem returned to host the show once again. Beginning the week of February 10, 2007, after a mass layoff of music producers at MTV Networks3, the show left the MTV studios and became broadcast from a different location every week, as it was in the late 1990s and early 2000s, starting at New York's Grand Central Terminal. Haleem continued to host VH1 Top 20 every week from a different location until August 4, 2007 when he have hosted his final episode.

In the show's most recent format change, Alison Becker became the new host on August 11, 2007. Around this time, the VSPOT online video center was renamed to "Video.VH1.com," so the series regained its classic title, VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown. Since then, each episode has usually featured one or two interviews with a celebrity or celebrities of current notoriety who either have a video, movie, or television show of interest at the time. The countdown sometimes has videos high in its countdown despite virtually no radio airplay for the song. One example is Bret Michaels Go That Far which was directed by Shane Stanley. This video spent twelve weeks on the countdown and bowed out at number seven. The video supported Michaels' number one hit show Rock of Love which is shown on the network.

David Cook and David Archuleta, the winner and runner-up of American Idol Season 7 are currently the only guest stars on the countdown who have had the privilege of introducing their own video at #1, Archuleta made a guest appearance on the November 15, 2008 show and introduced his video for "Crush" at #1 and Cook made a guest appearance on November 22, 2008 show and introduced his video "Light On" at #1.

Alison Becker announced at the end of the January 3, 2009 broadcast that it would be her last show as host. The new, yet-to-be-named host taped his first show on January 5, 2009 at the Virgin Megastore at Union Square in New York, for broadcast on January 10.

Special editions

Occasionally, VH1 will air special editions of the Top 20 Video Countdown:

  • Fairway to Heaven: The show is condensed to 18 videos and takes place at a celebrity golf tournament. The title is a reference to the song "Stairway to Heaven."4
  • Lift Ticket to Ride: An annual winter ski party event. The title is a reference to the song "Ticket to Ride."5
  • Top 40 Videos of (Year): The year's best videos are counted down with commentary from celebrities. Prior to 2002, the special was a top 50 countdown, and was five hours long to allow most or all of each video to be played. Beginning in 2002, the special was condensed to its current format, which more resembles VH1's occasional "Top 100" countdowns.
  • Rock Across America: Each summer through 2001, the show became a traveling event across the country.6

List of videos to reach #1

This is a running list of all the music videos to reach #1 on the Top 20 Video Countdown:

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

List of hosts

Since the show's debut in 1994, it has featured a number of different hosts:

This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Records

  • Artist with most weeks at #1- Daughtry (34 weeks)
  • video with most weeks at #1- Not Ready to Make Nice, The Dixie Chicks (14 Weeks)
  • Most consecutive #1 video- Not Ready To Make Nice, The Dixie Chicks (13 weeks)

See also

References

 This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2008)
  1. ^ IMDB "VH-1 Top 20 Video Countdown"
  2. ^ VH1 TV schedule
  3. ^ MTV2 and VH1 employees fired
  4. ^ Top 18 Video Countdown from VH1's Fairway to Heaven
  5. ^ VH1 HITS THE SLOPES WHILE VH1 CLASSIC SKIDS INTO DIRE STRAITS
  6. ^ Jenna Lewis, Host of Rock Across America

External links
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