Smash Hits

Smash Hits

Cover of a May 1981 edition of Smash Hits.
Categories	Music tabloid
Frequency	Fortnightly
First issue	1978 July 2009 (one-off specials)
Final issue	2006 (final issue) December 2010 (final one-off special)
Company	EMAP Metro (original) Bauer Media Group (one-off specials)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
ISSN	0260-3004

Smash Hits was a pop music magazine, aimed at teenagers and young adults and originally published in the United Kingdom by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time. The name survives as a brand for a spin-off digital television channel and website. A digital radio station was also available but shut on 5 August 2013.

The magazine was at its peak in the 1980s, launching the career of many journalists including Heat's editor Mark Frith. Other well-known writers have included Dave Rimmer, Ian Birch, Mark Ellen (who went on to launch Q, Mojo and Word), Steve Beebee, Peter Martin, Chris Heath, Sylvia Patterson, Alex Kadis, Sian Pattenden, Tom Hibbert, and Miranda Sawyer. Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys also worked as a writer and assistant editor, and once claimed that had he not become a pop star, he would likely have pursued his ambition to become editor.

In the 1990s the magazine's circulation slumped and it was overtaken by the BBC's spin off magazine Top of the Pops. Emap's other biweekly teen magazine of the period Big! (which featured more celebrities and stars of TV series including Australians based Home and Away and United States imported Beverly Hills, 90210) was closed and this celeb focus was shifted over to Smash Hits, which became less focused on Teenpop and more of an Entertainment magazine. The magazine also shifted size a number of times in subsequent relaunches including one format that was as big as an album with songwords to be clipped out on the card cover. Television presenter and journalist Kate Thornton was editor for a short time.