In honor of their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show 60 years ago, here are some links to The Beatles in ’64. Particularly in the first half of the year, they dominated the charts like no artist had before. The dates below reflect the top ten of the Billboard charts. All of the songs were on Capitol Records unless otherwise indicated.
25 Jan: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #3, up from #45 the previous week
1 Feb: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1: it would top the Billboard (BB) charts for 7 weeks, Cash Box (CB: 1950-1996) for 8 weeks, and Music Vendor (MV: 1954-1964) for 9 weeks. The book The Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson reads: “It is the most significant single in the rock era.” The group wouldn’t perform in America until they appeared at the top of the US charts.
8 Feb: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You, on the Swan label, #7, up from #21.
15 Feb: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You, #3.
22 Feb: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You, #2.
29 Feb: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You, #2. Please Please Me, #6, up from #29, on the Vee-Jay label.
The week I turned 11
7 Mar: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You, #2. Please Please Me #4.
14 Mar: I Want To Hold Your Hand, #1. She Loves You #2. Please Please Me #3, where it peaked on the CB and MV charts as well.
21 Mar: She Loves You, #1. I Want To Hold Your Hand, #2. Please Please Me #3. Twist And Shout, #7, up from #55, on the Tollie label affiliated with Vee-Jay. This week was the first time an artist had consective chart toppers since Elvis in 1956. The song was #1 on CB for two weeks and MV for 1.
28 Mar: She Loves You, #1. I Want To Hold Your Hand, #2. Twist and Shout, #3. Please Please Me, #4.
The top five
4 Apr: Can’t Buy Me Love, #1, from #27, at the time, the biggest leap to the top of the charts in Billboard history. Besides being #1 for five weeks on BB, it was #1 on CB for five weeks and #1 on MV for four weeks. Twist and Shout, #2, where it peaked on BB, but it got to #1 on both CB and MV. She Loves You, #3. I Want To Hold Your Hand, #4. Please Please Me #5.
11 Apr: Can’t Buy Me Love, #1. Twist and Shout, #2. She Loves You, #4. I Want To Hold Your Hand, #7. Please Please Me #9. The Beatles had 14 songs on the BB Top 100. Do You Want To Know A Secret, #14. I Saw Her Standing There, #38. You Can’t Do That, #48. All My Loving, #50. From Me To You, #52. Thank You Girl, #61. There’s A Place, #74. Roll Over Beethoven, #78. Love Me Do, #81.
18 Apr: Can’t Buy Me Love, #1. Twist and Shout, #2, Do You Want To Know A Secret, #5 on Vee-Jay. She Loves You, #8.
25 Apr: Can’t Buy Me Love, #1. Twist and Shout, #2. Do You Want To Know A Secret, #3.
2 May: Can’t Buy Me Love, #1, Do You Want To Know A Secret, #3, Twist and Shout, #7
9 May: Do You Want To Know A Secret, #2, also went #3 on BB and MV for three and two weeks, respectively. Can’t Buy Me Love, #5. The Beatles were finally supplanted from the #1 slot by Hello, Dolly by Louis Armstrong.
16 May: Love Me Do, #3 from #12 on Tollie. Do You Want To Know A Secret, #5
Jane Asher’s brother
23 May: Love Me Do, #2. Also, A World Without Love by Peter and Gordon, #10, up from #30, a song attributed to Lennon/McCartney.
30 May: Love Me Do, #1, also #1 on CB and MW, A World Without Love, #7.
6 June: Love Me Do, #2, A World Without Love, #6.
13 June: A World Without Love, #2 Love Me Do, #4.
20 June: A World Without Love, #2 Love Me Do, #7.
27 June: A World Without Love, #1, also #1 on CB, and #2 for two weeks on RW. Bad To Me by Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas, #9 from #16, also #10 on CB. Brian Epstein managed Kramer, and the song was attributed to Lennon/McCartney.
4 July 4: A World Without Love, #6. Bad To Me, #9.
11 July: A World Without Love, #8.
18 July: nothing in the Top 10
25 July: A Hard Day’s Night, #2, up from #21
1 Aug: A Hard Day’s Night, #1. It was also #1 for three weeks on both CB and RW.
8, 15, 22, 29 of Aug; 5, 12 of Sept, A Hard Day’s Night, #1, #3, #3, #4, #8, #8.
Inside the violent threat against the Beatles’ only Colorado concert: Beatlemania took over Red Rocks on Aug. 26, 1964, during the band’s first North American tour
12 Dec: I Feel Fine, #5, up from #22.
19 Dec: I Feel Fine, #2
26 Dec: I Feel Fine #1; also #1 for four weeks CB, #1 for three weeks RW. In Jan 1965 (2, 9, 16, 23), it went #1, #1, #2. #4 before it fell out of the Top Ten.