Could you explain the expression "top billing"? What does it mean?

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

When someone or something gets "top billing", this means that they get special treatment or are priority on a list of people or things. This expression originates from actors, where the highest-paid or biggest-role actors were the most important and were given priority with their names on advertisements and their faces in magazines. Since these actors were the ones which companies spent the most money on, this was known as "top billing". While this expression usually applies to actors, it can now be used to refer to anything that is given emphasis or high importance. Ex: Fast food always gets top billing over other more healthy options. Ex: The political candidates are competing to receive top billing.

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04/20

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