Stichting Nederlandse Top 40

What Stichting Nederlandse Top 40 does

Stichting Nederlandse Top 40 is a Dutch non-profit foundation (stichting) founded in 1965 and headquartered in Hilversum, Noord-Holland, that operates the Netherlands' longest-running and most authoritative music chart. With a staff of nine, the foundation publishes six weekly charts — the flagship Top 40, Tipparade, Airplay Top 40, Global Top 40, Streaming Top 40, and Sterren NL Top 25 — each aggregating different signals of music popularity (radio airplay, streaming, and sales) and ranking the 40 most popular songs accordingly. Its core product is a continuous archive of weekly chart data spanning more than 60 years, accessible via top40.nl and complemented by curated decade- and theme-based radio streams (60s/70s, 70s/80s/90s, 90s/00s/10s, Summer, Nummer 1), embeddable iframe widgets for third-party websites, a news section, and "Top 40 TV" video programming.

The foundation's distribution is anchored by a core broadcast partnership with Qmusic, which airs the live weekly Top 40 countdown every Friday from 14:00 to 18:00 (hosted by Domien Verschuuren). Beyond radio, the Top 40 maintains an official presence on Spotify (curated playlist), TuneIn, Sonos Radio, and YouTube, extending reach across streaming platforms and smart speakers. Sub-brands such as "Alarmschijf" — a featured-song designation for notable new releases — and "Sterren NL Top 25" (Dutch-language music) reinforce the foundation's position as an industry reference point.

Stichting Nederlandse Top 40 is a private, non-profit entity with no parent company, subsidiaries, or publicly disclosed investors. Its revenue model is restricted to advertising on the top40.nl website and airtime/sponsorship arrangements with broadcast partner Qmusic; the chart itself is free to consumers. The foundation does not offer a public API and has no disclosed AI/ML capabilities, with chart methodology based on deterministic aggregation of platform and airplay data rather than machine learning.

Name

Stichting Nederlandse Top 40

Legal name

Stichting Nederlandse Top 40

Website

https://top40.nl

Company type

Private

Founded year

1965

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Stichting Nederlandse Top 40 is a Dutch non-profit foundation, founded in 1965, that publishes the Netherlands' flagship weekly music chart and five additional segmented charts. It serves Dutch listeners, the music industry, and broadcasters via its website, a Qmusic radio partnership, and streaming platform integrations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Music Chart Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (51312)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Music Recognition, Lyrics & Metadata Platforms (MPAIADAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Radio Audience Measurement & Analytics (Ratings, Attribution) (MPAIAEAK)

Keywords

• Music chart ranking
• Weekly hit listings
• Music streaming channels
• Music news coverage
• Chart data services

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Stichting Nederlandse Top 40 publishes the Netherlands' official weekly music charts, anchored by the flagship Top 40 ranking of the 40 most popular songs based on airplay and streaming data. The offering extends to specialized variant charts (Tipparade, Airplay Top 40, Global Top 40, Streaming Top 40, Sterren NL Top 25, Bijzondere Lijsten), live streaming radio channels organized by decade and theme, music news coverage, artist profiles, historical chart archives dating to 1965, and embeddable widgets for third-party websites.

Product overview

Stichting Nederlandse Top 40 operates the Dutch Top 40 music chart ecosystem, a unified platform centered on the flagship Top 40 weekly chart. The product portfolio consists of the core Top 40 chart plus multiple variant charts (Tipparade, Airplay Top 40, Global Top 40, Streaming Top 40, Sterren NL Top 25, Bijzondere Lijsten) that segment chart data by source, genre, or era. Supporting the charts are live music streaming radio channels organized by decade and theme, an embeddable Top 40 Widget system for third-party websites, a news section covering music industry stories and historical features, and Top 40 TV programming. All products share the common purpose of tracking and publishing music popularity rankings for the Dutch market.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Alarmschijf: Featured song designation given to notable new releases in the Top 40
• Tipparade
• Streaming Top 40
• Global Top 40
• Airplay Top 40
• Top 40 TV

Products and services

• Top 40 (Nederlandse Top 40) The flagship weekly Dutch music chart published by Stichting Nederlandse Top 40, ranking the 40 most popular songs in the Netherlands based on airplay and streaming data. It is the primary chart for the Dutch market and is broadcast live on Qmusic every Friday.
• Tipparade A weekly tip list of songs that are gaining popularity and are expected to enter the Top 40 in the near future.
• Airplay Top 40
• Global Top 40 A weekly chart ranking the world's most popular songs across global streaming and radio data.
• Streaming Top 40 A weekly chart ranking songs based on streaming data from platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music in the Netherlands.
• Sterren NL Top 25 A weekly chart focused on Dutch-language or Dutch-origin music, ranking the top 25 most popular songs in that segment.
• Top 40 Muziekstreams (Radio Channels) Live streaming radio channels organized by decade and theme (60s/70s, 70s/80s/90s, 90s/00s/10s, Summer, Nummer 1, Qmusic Top 40), allowing users to listen to curated music streams via the website or external platforms TuneIn and Sonos Radio.
• Top 40 Widgets Embeddable iframe widgets available in three formats (horizontal, vertical, square) that third-party websites can embed to display the current chart list, latest news, birthday information, or a number-1-on-this-day feature.
• Top 40 Nieuws (News) A news section covering music industry updates, chart developments, artist features, and historical 'On This Day' music event articles.
• Top 40 TV Television programming related to the Top 40 charts, including broadcasts and video content featuring chart shows and artist appearances.
• Bijzondere Lijsten (Special Charts) A collection of special-purpose charts including Top 40 Records (number 1 debuters), Top 40 Artists (most number 1 hits), Top 40 Decade Lists, and records for longest-running number 1 hits.

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• QmusiccoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPrimary broadcast partner for the Top 40 radio show. Qmusic airs the weekly Top 40 countdown every Friday from 14:00-18:00 hosted by Domien Verschuuren. The partnership positions the Top 40 as the official music chart broadcast on Qmusic.
• SpotifycoreTechnology or IntegrationOfficial Top 40 playlist is available on Spotify, allowing users to stream current chart hits. The playlist is maintained by Stichting Nederlandse Top 40.
• YouTubeminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorOfficial YouTube channel featuring music videos and content related to chart artists and Top 40 content.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Sverigetopplistan (Swedish Charts): Official Swedish music chart, a national chart-compilation peer with the same weekly publication model and similar Scandinavian/Northern European market scope.
• Official Charts Company: The UK chart compiler that produces the Official Singles and Albums Charts, structurally and functionally analogous to the Nederlandse Top 40 as the authoritative national music chart.
• GfK Entertainment (Offizielle Deutsche Charts): Compiles the official German music charts, a direct national chart peer operating an essentially identical chart-publication model in another European market.
• Mega Top 50 / MegaCharts: Competing Dutch music chart that also ranks popular songs in the Netherlands, providing direct domestic competition to the Nederlandse Top 40 in the same Dutch market.
• Ultratop: Official chart compiler for Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), structurally equivalent to the Nederlandse Top 40 and frequently cross-referenced in the Dutch market.

Broad incumbents

• Billboard: Global music chart authority and media brand covering the Billboard Hot 100 and many other charts, a much larger incumbent operating in the same chart-publication category as Top 40.
• Spotify Charts: Streaming platform that publishes its own global and country-level popularity charts, a broad incumbent whose in-app charts partially substitute for third-party chart brands.

Emerging players

• Music Week: UK music industry trade publication covering chart data and music business news, comparable to the Top 40 Nieuws section but with a broader industry scope.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCj7_0RQlosOAmf-AL8MV25w
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/nltop40

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Stichting Nederlandse Top 40