Following on from last week's announcement of record music sales (still, the BPI insists that suing its customers will make for even better business in the future), and today's release of what is likely to be the biggest single since Candle In The Wind, the BBC has today axed Top of The Pops. Oh, sure, the announcement says that it's a move, but it's going to a new day, a smaller channel, and will undergo a reformatting. After forty years, TOTP is dead.

Top of The Pops began in 1964, broadcasting from a converted church in Manchester. It was commissioned for just six weeks, but was so popular that its run was extended indefinitely. The format was simple; bands would come into the studios, perform their latest record, and the finale of the show was a countdown of the Top 10, before the UK's number one single was played to finish the show. It was presented, by four DJs: Alan Freeman, Pete Murray, David Jacobs, and of course the always-scary Jimmy Saville. In 1967, production moved to London, and the presenting cast was swelled by the DJs of the newly-formed Radio 1 station.

There are many things that TOTP is famous for; the ridiculousness of Pan's People, Nirvana's performance of Smells Like Teen Spirit, Jockey Wilson as the background to the Dexy's performance of Jackie Wilson Says, the KLF appearing as monks with rhino horns attached to their heads, Oasis's woeful attempts at miming, and of course, some classic presenter moments such as these from the John Peel / Kid Jensen era:

Well that was the best song I've heard since...well, tea time. Mind you, I had a late tea.

And that was Bon Jovi - "You Give Music A Bad Name".

In case you're wondering who this funny old bloke is, I'm the one who comes on Radio 1 late at night and plays records made by sulky Belgian art students in basements dying of TB.

And who can forget the fateful day when Mark and Lard were allowed to show their faces on television before the watershed? Children still scream in terror.

In the 1990s, the show began to lose its way somewhat; a misguided attempt to instill a sense of 'real music' saw a ban of mimed performances, which meant that many acts would not appear on the programme (happily, this state of affairs didn't last too long, by 1995 miming was allowed again). The rise of satellite TV its multiple music video channels probably didn't help either. It was moved from its comfortable slot of Thursdays at 7:00pm to Friday at 7:30pm, where it found itself competing against Coronation Street, the most popular TV show in the country. So it wasn't too surprising to see audience figures slide down to 3 million by the start of this year. Also, I think I've talked about it before, but one of the best parts of TOTP was watching it on Thursday and then talking about it with all your friends at school on Friday morning. I certainly remember having fights over The Bangles and Belinda Carlisle on a Friday breaktime.

The BBC spent the past few years tinkering with the format, adding interviews, news, and competitions (but, not, say, moving it to a quieter night), even completely relaunching the show earlier in 2004. But nothing seemed to work. And now it's gone. These things aren't meant to last forever, naturally. But let's have a moment of silence for the death of Top Of The Pops, a few weeks away from the 1000th Number One of the British chart.