radio station. The brand also covered the annual Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, an awards ceremony voted for by readers of the magazine. The magazine's sales peaked during the late 1980s. In the early part of the decade it was regularly selling 500,000 copies per issue, which had risen to over one million by 1989. Sales began to drop during the 1990s and by 1996 it was reported that sales were dropping roughly 100,000 per year. By the time of its demise, it was down to 120,000. Final years of publishing 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 Australian show Home and Away and United States import Beverly Hills, 90210) was closed and this celebrity focus was shifted over to Smash Hits, which became less focused on teen pop 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. In February 2006, it was announced that the magazine would cease publication after the February 13 edition due to declining sales. In July 2009, a one-off commemorative issue of the magazine was published as a tribute to singer Michael Jackson. Further one-off specials were released in November 2009 (Take That), December 2010 (Lady Gaga) and November 2019 (Max Martin), the latter was a free magazine at certain London Underground stations to mark the debut of Martin's West End musical & Juliet. In April 2022, another free special issue was released to promote the third series of Derry Girls. Editors 1978: "Chris Hall" (pseudonym of Nick Logan, who refused to use his name as editor, instead inventing the name from those of his children, Christian and Hallie) 1979: Ian Cranna 1981: David Hepworth 1983: Mark Ellen 1985: Steve Bush 1986: Barry McIlheney 1989: Richard Lowe 1990: Mike Soutar 1994: Mark Frith 1996: Kate Thornton 1997: Gavin Reeve 1999: John McKie 2001: Emma Jones 2002: Lisa Smosarski 2005: Lara Palamoudian Compilation albums EMAP licensed the brand for a number of compilation albums, including a tie-in with the Now That's What I