Shows across BBC radio and TV will be broadcast in November to celebrate the chart's birthday, after it was launched by NME in 1952 as a top 12.
© PA Images
© PA Images / John Phillips/UK Press
Pop Charts Britannia: 60 Years of the Top 10 will look back at the history and evolution of the chart, its place in British popular culture and its most groundbreaking moments.
The documentary will feature contributions from BBC broadcasters such as David Jacobs, Pete Murray, Bob Harris, Paul Gambaccini and Reggie Yates, while stars including Sir Cliff Richard and experts Jon Webster and Rob Dickins will also appear.
The programme will air on Friday, November 16 on BBC Four.
The Joy of the Single will look at the changes of music formats from vinyl to downloads, and how the chart has been altered over the years to move with the times.
Airing on Friday, November 23 on BBC Four, the likes of Jack White, Norman Cook, Graham Gouldman, Richard Hawley, Neil Sedaka, Norah Jones and Mike Batt will make appearances.
Tony Blackburn will also host two special Pick of the Pops shows on BBC Radio 2, where he will play the best-selling songs of each year in chronological order from 1952 to 2012.
The former chart show host will play the bestsellers from 1952 to 1985 in the first show on Saturday, November 10, and from 1986 to 2012 on Saturday, November 17.
Finally, BBC Radio 6 Music's Steve Lamacq will present special charts from November 12 to November 16, including the best-selling songs by bands starting with 'The', and the biggest-selling foreign language tracks.
Mark Cooper, creative head of BBC Music Entertainment, said: "The singles chart and the single itself are the key drivers of pop and while both documentaries suggest we are leaving one era of music buying behind, hopefully these programmes celebrate the world we grew up in - record shops, vinyl, Top of the Pops, the Radio 1 chart rundown - and also point to the future."
