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Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes oldies music from the 1960s, 1970s, and, in some cases, the 1980s.

The moniker "classic hits" is believed to have its birth at WZLX/Boston when consultant Gary Guthrie (see classic rock) and First Media's Dan Mason (now, President of CBS Radio) converted the station from "adult contemporary" and launched a format composed of the hipper tracks from the oldies format (Creedence Clearwater Revival, for example) and the secondary non-single tracks from popular classic albums (Led Zeppelin's "Going to California", for example). The goal was to attract and magnetize the Baby Boomers who didn't want the doo-wop and pop they found on the cldies stations with the Baby Boomers who didn't like the mid-80s Van Halen and metal-oriented contemporary fodder (i.e., Dokken) that the AOR were playing alongside classics from The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.

Over time, the "classic hits" format has evolved into more of a station's slug line than of a tightly-focused music library shared by the stations who use the moniker. Whereas the first branching-off in the late '80s led to stations becoming more "classic rock"-based and the second reincarnation manifested itself in the premises of the "Jack FM" and the "Arrow" formats, most of the 21st-century versions are based on a music library mostly consisting of classic rock-style hits from the 1970s along with contemporaneous R&B and pop hits from the late 1960s through the mid 1980s and is now considered a more appealing name to listeners (and advertisers alike) than the oldies format name.

Variations of the core playlist vary greatly and include: playlists composed of pop, rock, soul, and Motown music from 1964 to 1985. Many "classic hits" stations are heavy on music from the 1970s, with a fair amount of music from the 1960s, and some big hits from the early 1980s. Another popular variation of the format is to play music from 1964 to 1979, with the focus on music from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Some classic hits stations, such as WSRV/Atlanta, play very few 1960s songs; instead, focusing on classic rock from the 1970s and early 1980s with occasional R&B and pop songs.

Very few "classic hits" stations play pre-1964 music, with the exception being a big hit from the early 1960s. Fifties music is seldom heard. Commonly-heard pre-1964 songs heard on classic hits stations are the 1963 hits Louie Louie by The Kingsmen, She Loves You by The Beatles, the 1961 hit Stand By Me by Ben E. King, and 1962's Do You Love Me by The Contours, among a few others.

Classic Hits is also a station broadcasting all over New Zealand nationwide networked... www.classichits.co.nz

• Oldies (the more broad-based popular music format)
• Classic rock (the mostly '70s-focused AOR genre)
• Adult hits (also known as variety hits, a broad format playing music from the '60s to present, often associated with "Jack FM")

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