50 Tracks: The Canadian Version was a Canadian radio series, which aired across Canada on CBC Radio One in 2005. The show, hosted by Jian Ghomeshi, was a competition to determine the fifty most essential songs in Anglo-Canadian pop music history. It was a sequel to the 2004 series 50 Tracks, which chose the fifty essential pop songs from anywhere in the world.
History
The list unfolded over ten weeks, with five songs added each week for eight weeks. A further ten songs were added by listener input in the ninth week. Panelists included Terry David Mulligan, Jay Ferguson, Lorraine Segato, Laurie Brown, Damhnait Doyle, Denise Donlon, Geoff Pevere, Leah McLaren, Lee Aaron, Jennifer Hollett and Emm Gryner. After the fifty songs were chosen, a listener vote was held to rank them.
In the fall of 2005, CBC Radio launched the series National Playlist, which took a similar format and adapted it to a weekly series.