Unlike glossies like Smash Hits or Disco 45, Superpop was printed on lightweight, folded newsprint.

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When Superpop launched, Smash Hits was gaining massive ground by printing song lyrics. Superpop countered by securing the rights to publish the Record Business Top 100 chart starting in June 1979 (Issue No. 21).

At the time, Record Business was the chief trade-paper rival to Music Week. Printing their chart gave Superpop a point of difference over competitor publications that only printed a top 30 or top 40.

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In order to compete with the visual appeal of glossy mags, Superpop relied heavily on full-page and double-page pin-ups. It was designed so teens could easily pull out the middle section to plaster their bedroom walls with giant posters of Gary Numan, Blondie, or ABBA without ruining the rest of the issue's features.

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Because it was under the same roof as Record Mirror, staff, photographers, and syndicated interviews were frequently shared between the two publications. If a big pop act came into Spotlight's offices for a Record Mirror feature, they would often do a lighter, poster-heavy Q&A for Superpop on the exact same afternoon.

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​Due to its short 53-issue run and newsprint paper stock, Superpop had a very low survival rate compared to stapled or glossy magazines. Because fans frequently cut out the pin-ups and wall posters, complete, intact issues are among the harder late-70s UK music papers for archives and collectors to track down today.

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Because its entire lifespan was contained between January 1979 and January 1980, Superpop serves as an exact time capsule of the UK transition from 1970s Glam/Disco/Punk into 1980s Synthpop, Two-Tone, and New Wave.