Countdown (Canadian TV program)

The Much Countdown (also known as the Much Top 30 Countdown, and formerly known as The MuchMusic Top 20 Countdown) is an hour-long musical television program, usually hosted by a VJ, that aired on Canadian music television station MuchMusic from 1996 to 2017.^[1][2] Countdown was one of the longest-running programs that has aired on MuchMusic since the channel's debut. Originally sponsored by Coca-Cola, it was known for the first several years as the Coca-Cola Countdown.^[3]

The program aired a playlist of the most well-known songs in the mainstream in Canada. The order that the videos were played went from No. 30 to No. 1, although only about a dozen or so of those videos were actually played. The countdown usually followed certain rules regarding what videos it played and its structure:^[4]

• The entire Top 10 was played, regardless of how the song was moving on the chart
• Other videos that got played were big rising songs or songs that were debuting on the chart, with one exception (Slipknot's "Left Behind", which was later played when it peaked at 13).
• Debuting songs always rose at least one spot the next week, the only exception was Mase's "Lookin' at Me^[5]"
• After debuting, songs would rise until they hit No. 1 or they stall at a certain position, by remaining at that position for a second week in a row or by falling down the chart.
• After a song stalls, it begins falling off the chart and never recovers, with a few exceptions
• The chart program led off with the debuting songs, the only exception was when "4AM" by Our Lady Peace led off the February 6, 1998 edition in its second week on the chart because the only debut that week was Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" at No. 22

Here is a listing of number ones from 1996 onwards:

• The Top 20 Countdown
• MuchMusic Countdown chart and archive on Top40 Charts.com