Top 2000
| Genre | |
|---|---|
| Running time | 7 days (168 hours; 25 December midnight - 31 December midnight) for 24 hours a day, only interrupted by short hourly news bulletins and commercials |
| Country of origin | Netherlands |
| Language(s) | Dutch |
| Home station | NPO Radio 2 (broadcast by NTR) |
| TV adaptations | Top 2000 a Gogo |
| Hosted by | Various, multiple per edition |
| Created by | Kees Toering |
| Recording studio | Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, Hilversum |
| Original release | 26 December 1999 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Audio format | FM, cable, satellite, DAB, DTT and internet |
| Opening theme | A remix of Tommy Overture (The Who) |
| Website | NPO Radio 2 - Top 2000 |
| Podcast | NPO Radio 2 player |
The Top 2000 is an annual Dutch marathon radio programme that plays the 2,000 most popular songs listeners have deemed the best of all time. Hosted by the station NPO Radio 2 since 1999, it has since become "an indispensable part of the collective Dutch memory".
The show runs 24 hours a day, starting on Christmas and ending on New Year's Eve, functioning as a countdown to the new year. A significant part of the Netherlands' population listens to the broadcast each year; during the 2023 edition, it had a national radio market share of 41.1 percent. In regard of its popularity and notoriety, the show is often called de lijst der lijsten, the chart of charts.
First held in 1999 to inaugurate the new millennium, the Top 2000 was intended to be a one-time event. It became immensely popular. Following this success, Radio 2 decided to make it an annual programme. The broadcast initially started at midnight on the day after Christmas (Dutch: Tweede Kerstdag, also known as Boxing Day), and since 2020 it has begun on the midnight of Christmas Day. It continues until midnight of New Year's Eve. The voting period lasts a week, and the full list is revealed prior to the broadcast. Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" has been the number-one voted song in all but five years.
The show is hosted in a temporary studio called the Top 2000 Café at the Netherlands Institute of Sound and Vision in Hilversum. Visitors are able to purchase a timed ticket to enter the studio. Because of the popularity of the show and the small size of the studio, visitors are only allowed to stay for a limited period of time. The tickets have been known to sell out quickly.