Deep dive into The Beatles' record-smashing career 60 years after they broke America

Sunday, 1 February marks a pop milestone – indeed, a “mop-top” pop milestone! On that day in 1964, The Beatles (UK) had their first US No.1 single with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”. That chart-topper kicked off a musical revolution, effectively becoming the clarion call for the so-called “British Invasion” of groups in the USA. The country that had previously been indifferent to the appeal of UK acts now began swooning over the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Animals. Long hair and British accents were in!

So: imagine you’re one of the “Fab Four” – take your pick from John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison or Ringo Starr. You’re flying into New York’s JFK airport, and you’re pretty nervous: why should the USA – the home of rock ’n’ roll, after all – care about you? The doors of your plane open… and you’re immediately blasted by the screams of thousands of fans. Hmm… maybe you stand a chance after all… 

Just two days later, you’re performing on CBS’s famed Ed Sullivan Show, watched at home by 73 million people across the USA. Among them are future rock legends such as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde, all of whom suddenly know what they want to do with their lives. “I remember exactly where I was sitting,” Hynde recalled years later. “It was amazing... It was kind of like an alien invasion.” 

For one week in April 1964, the Top 5 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 were all Beatles songs. “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was the first of six US chart-toppers for the Fabs in that year alone. They’d go on to enjoy 20 US chart-toppers overall – the most No.1 singles on the US chart – culminating with 1970’s wistful “The Long and Winding Road”. 

Read about more record-breaking music stars in our Arts and Entertainment section.

On 18 December 1963, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” had taken over from “She Loves You” at the top of the British listings, making The Beatles the first act to replace themselves at No.1 on the UK Official Singles Chart. And the Fabs’ single “Can’t Buy Me Love” still has the greatest advance sales for a single, shifting 2.7 million units worldwide before it was released on 21 March 1964. What’s more, the 18 singles they’ve achieved in their homeland, stretching over 60 years 198 days – from the first of seven weeks at No.1 for 1963’s “From Me to You” to 2023’s “Now and Then” – represents the longest span of UK No.1 singles.

And then there are the albums.

By mid-1963, “Beatlemania” (cue hysterical fans, pandemonium at concerts, unprecedented record sales and more hysterical fans) had broken out across their homeland. The group’s debut album, Please, Please Me (1963), racked up the most consecutive weeks at No.1 on the UK albums chart. It effectively block-booked itself into the top spot on the UK charts for a remarkable 30 weeks, from 11 May to 30 November 1963. The Beatles went on to enjoy the most No.1 albums on the US chart – 19, including nine consecutive No.1s from 1965 to 1968 and chart-topping debuts for all three of their Anthology collections in 1995–96. Until the very start of 2026, they also had the most No.1 albums on the UK chart (British singer Robbie Williams now pips them: his BRITPOP set, released on 16 January, is his 16th UK chart-topper). 

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So seismic was their effect on all aspects of pop music – and culture at large – that The Beatles continue to command a huge fan base, more than half a century after they split up. It’s little wonder, then, that they remain the best-selling group of all time, with an estimated 1 billion singles and albums sold.

There’s another Beatles anniversary coming up too, of a rather different kind. On 4 February 2008, one of their tracks became the first song to be beamed into deep space. NASA broadcast the track, at a speed of 300,000 km/sec (186,000 miles/sec), to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its recording, and the 50th anniversary of the US space agency being founded.

And what song did they pick? “Across the Universe”, naturally.

Cue hysterical aliens…

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