Physical Music Library

Broadchart now owns the invaluable and world-famous Phil Swern Collection of commercial music. This collection includes a CD copy of every UK Top 40 hit since the charts began in November 1952, and original, mint-condition, single and album, vinyl versions where the recordings were released on this medium.

This remarkable CD and vinyl archive also contains almost all of the recordings that reached the US Hot 100 Singles Chart since its inception in 1954, and is therefore the most complete collection of its kind anywhere in the world. Comprising over 3 million tracks, its uniqueness lies in the singles collection, but it also includes a substantial amount of non-chart Pop, Jazz, Country, Comedy, Classical music and Film Soundtracks.

The Phil Swern Collection is one of the world's largest and most valuable record collections, and has been lovingly put together over 35 years by the veteran musicologist, writer, record producer and radio and TV producer Phil Swern. The collection had previously been split between the BBC Archives and Phil's own home, but is now stored under one roof for the first time. Phil said of its acquisition by Broadchart:

"The collection represents a life-time obsession for me, and it is with enormous pleasure that I can now see it housed in its entirety by Broadchart, and treated with the same love and respect I have given it. Broadchart will give the depth of music held in the collection greater opportunities to be accessed and re-discovered, especially in the digital world. I look forward to working with Broadchart whilst continuing to write and produce radio and TV programmes. Of course, I'll continue to update and archive the collection to ensure it remains the only collection in existence that includes every Top 40 hit since the UK and US charts began".

Although it's worth millions of pounds in replacement value, this historic collection would be practically impossible to re-create today. The Phil Swern Collection therefore enables us to offer our customers an unrivalled range of products and services, with unique depth of content.