LOS 40 streams the biggest pop, dance, and urban hits live from Madrid, and you can hear it free on Radio Shuffle from anywhere in the world. It is Spain's most important music radio station, built around a countdown format that has been shaping Spanish pop taste since the 1960s.
Born from an American import, on air since 1966
The station traces back to 18 July 1966, when Cadena SER's Radio Madrid launched a program called Los 40 Principales, created by Rafael Revert and directly inspired by the American Top 40 format, according to Guía de la Radio's 60th anniversary retrospective. The very first number one on the countdown was "Monday, Monday" by The Mamas & the Papas. What began as a two-hour program quickly expanded to four hours, then eight, before spreading to ten additional Cadena SER stations as young Spanish audiences developed an appetite for pop music that state radio had largely ignored.
From a single countdown show to Spain's top music brand
That original countdown grew into the most important music station in the country, now operating under the PRISA media group and holding the second-largest audience share in Spanish radio behind only its parent network Cadena SER, with reported listenership in the millions weekly, according to figures cited on Wikipedia's overview of the station's awards show. LOS 40 has since expanded well beyond Spain, running localized versions across Latin America while keeping its Spanish flagship as the format's home base.
An awards show built for its own 40th birthday
In 2006, the station marked its fortieth anniversary by launching what is now known as LOS40 Music Awards, originally called Premios 40 Principales, with the first ceremony held on 16 December 2006. The awards honor both Spanish and international artists and have been staged across venues in Madrid, Barcelona, and Palma de Mallorca, growing into one of the most closely watched annual events in Spanish-language pop music alongside LOS40's continued reach through Latin American editions of the awards.
Six decades of setting the Spanish pop agenda
From a two-hour countdown show on a single Madrid frequency to a station whose awards show now spans continents, LOS 40 has stayed close to its original mission: telling Spanish listeners which songs matter right now. Listen to LOS 40 free on Radio Shuffle to hear the station that has been Spain's pop music reference point for nearly sixty years.