Originally it ran parallel to
Music Week′s other chart newsletter
Charts Plus which was also edited by Graham Walker and Tony Brown and which had been established in May 1991, shortly after the demise of
Record Mirror.
Charts Plus featured the singles chart with positions 76 to 200, albums chart positions 76 to 200, plus several genre and format chart, details on every Top 75 new entry, radio playlists (later the E.R.A. Top 100 Airplay charts) and statistics. An annual subscription to
Charts Plus cost £495. In September 1992, Spotlight, publishers of
Music Week, started
Hit Music as a cheaper alternative. For only £110
Hit Music printed the singles chart (Top 75+25, i.e. with compressed positions 76 to 100), artist albums (Top 100), compilation albums (Top 50), rock chart and dance chart (Top 20s), US Top 10s, plus details on Top 75 new entries, chart statistics, year-to-date charts (singles, albums, singles acts, album acts, Top 30s) listings of
BPI awards, and national number ones. and Top 50 Compilations. From issue no. 211 (November 2, 1996) the Artist Albums chart extended to a Top 200. Top 100 Airplay chart was dropped from issue 294 (June 20, 1998). The last issue published was no. 439 (May 5, 2001).
Hit Music folded, together with several other
Music Week newsletters. This meant that there was no longer a published source for the Top 200 singles and Top 200 albums charts. However, by autumn 2001, a successor publication to
Hit Music was founded, independent of
Music Week, in order to publish the British Top 200 charts:
ChartsPlus (not to be confused with the 1990s publication of the same name mentioned above). The
ChartsPlus which was started in 2001 was renamed
UKChartsPlus in 2010. == See also ==