''Binaca Geetmala'' was a weekly countdown show of top

filmi Filmi ("of films") music soundtracks are music produced for India's mainstream motion picture industry and written and performed for Indian cinema. In cinema, music directors make up the main body of composers; the songs are performed by playba ...

songs from

Hindi cinema Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

. It was popular and had millions of listeners. ''Binaca Geetmala'' was broadcast on

Radio Ceylon Radio Ceylon ( si, ලංකා ගුවන් විදුලි සේවය ''Lanka Guwan Viduli Sevaya'', ta, இலங்கை வானொலி, ''ilankai vanoli'') is a radio station based in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) and the first ...

from 1952 to 1988 and then shifted to the

Vividh Bharati The Vividh Bharati Service (VBS; ) of All India Radio was conceptualized to combat Radio Ceylon in 1967. Due to the Indian Government stopping its short wave relay centers, VBS is only available on the Internet. Vividh Bharati radio channel w ...

Service of

All India Radio All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...

network in 1989 where it ran until 1994. It was the first radio countdown show of Indian film songs,''Back on air with Geetmala''. Bella Jaisinghani. ''The Financial Express (India)'', Sunday, 11 March 2001. Transcript available online at , accessed online on 29 July 2006 and has been quoted as being the most popular radio program in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

during its run. Its name reflects its sponsorship by Binaca. ''Binaca Geetmala'', and its subsequent incarnations named after Cibaca—''Cibaca Sangeetmala'', ''Cibaca Geetmala'', and ''Colgate Cibaca Sangeetmala''—ran from 1954 to 1994 on

and then on

. They also broadcast annual year-end lists from 1954 to 1993.

Annual List by Year

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

Most No of songs by singer

Ameen Sayani and Radio Ceylon

The show was hosted throughout its entire run by

Ameen Sayani Ameen Sayani is a popular former radio announcer from India. He achieved fame and popularity all across the Indian Subcontinent when he presented his ''Binaca Geetmala'' program of hits over the airwaves of Radio Ceylon. He is one of the most imi ...

. It was very popular in India, with estimated

listenership Audience measurement measures how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic on websites. Sometim ...

ranging from 900,000 to 2,000,000. It greatly increased the popularity of Radio Ceylon, making it the primary source of popular film music on radio for the Indian subcontinent. After 1998, the show aired on Vividh Bharati and was on for half an hour on Monday nights.

Popularity ratings method

At its onset in 1952, the program did not rank songs, but rather played seven contemporary songs in no particular order. Later, the program started ranking the most popular

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

film songs. The songs were initially ranked by a combination of the number of records sold in India and listener votes. Popularity was gauged by record sales, verdicts from record store owners, and popularity among the or 'listeners clubs'. Each week, the would send the radio station their list of popular songs. The clubs were formed because it was possible for a record to be sold out at stores and although there was interest to buy more, the interest would not show up in record sales. The year-end lists were compiled based on points earned by songs through the year. Between 1966 and 1970 there would sometimes be no points on the weekly broadcast, but the year-end show would be based on point system.Reliving the Geetmala lore. ''S.K. Screen'', Friday, 22 September 2000, transcript available online at , accessed online on 29 July 2006

Lists of top songs per year

Silver jubilee and LP record

On 12 December 1977, Binaca Geetmala celebrated its 25-year anniversary in a social gathering organized in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. Many well known composers, poets, and singers attended the show. The top songs from 1953 to 1977 were compiled and released in a two record volume set. Volume 1 has songs from 1953 to 1964; volume 2 has songs from 1965 to 1977. Between the songs on the volume set, there is commentary by Ameen Sayani.

References

{{reflist
Binaca Geetmala 1964 Songs List
Music chart shows Indian radio programmes All India Radio