1. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) – 32 million copies sold.
For many critics, Revolver is the greatest album ever made, an argument I'll save for another day, but for now, it reigns as The Beatles' greatest album.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with 5 hit tracks.
At Number 1 on The Beatles' Official Top 50 is, of course, She Loves You. Released in 1963, the track - written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney - logged six non-consecutive weeks at Number 1 is the best selling single of the 1960s in the UK.
The triple album that 'My Sweet Lord' appeared on, All Things Must Pass', was the best-selling record from a solo Beatle, although Harrison had the least amount of singles of any of the Fab Four in the top ten Billboard charts.
Today, 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' remains The Beatles' highest-selling physical single of all time, with no less than 12 million copies sold worldwide.
11. Yellow Submarine. The first soundtrack in the list is the band's tenth album, Yellow Submarine. While the film was a commercial success, the accompanying music is often considered as The Beatles' weakest release.
1. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) – 32 million copies sold.
“The biggest influence on John and me was The Everly Brothers,” he once admitted. “To this day, I just think they're the greatest. And they were different. You'd heard barbershop quartets, you'd heard the Beverley Sisters – three girls – you'd all heard that.
Over the years, many artists have topped the list of the country's most popular songs at the time, but none did so more often than The Beatles. With 20 no. 1 singles on the Hot 100 charts, the iconic British rock band are just one hit ahead of Mariah Carey, who has 19 notches in her belt.
Most number one singles by a songwriter (US/UK)
McCartney is credited as the writer on 32 number one hits in the US to Lennons 26 (with 23 co-written), whereas Lennon authored 29 UK number ones to McCartney's 28 (25 co-written).
While Lennon composed most of the songs for the Beatles (by a low margin) and had the most number-one hits in the UK (29), McCartney has the highest percentage of hits reaching the top chart (49%) and most number-one hits in the US (32).
Talk about a dream come true. For 23 years, no artist had matched Michael Jackson's record of five No. 1s from a single album (Bad).
#1: Paul. It is not difficult to determine which member deserves the top spot; it's not even close. Paul McCartney is from another planet. Consider some of his signature creations for the Beatles: Paperback Writer, Helter Skelter, Can't Buy Me Love, Penny Lane, Let It Be, Hey Jude, and Yesterday to name just a few.
If I were to guess his personal favourite, I would probably pick out 'Let it Be'. The song came at the pivotal moment in McCartney's life when The Beatles' future was on the guillotine. He wrote it after having a dream one night in which his late mother came to him and said the phrase, “let it be”.
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“Maybe I'm Amazed” is quite simply Paul McCartney's biggest hit. Despite the fact that it was never released as a single until Wings' grand live cover, it remains the jewel of his solo catalog.
Fifty years ago today, the London Evening Standard published an interview with John Lennon that became an enduring part of the Beatles' legacy. “We're more popular than Jesus now,” Lennon told the rock journalist Maureen Cleave. “I don't know which will go first—rock 'n' roll or Christianity.”
Tears: Ken Dodd record outsold everyone but the Beatles in the 1960s.
Michael Jackson's Thriller, estimated to have sold 70 million copies worldwide, is the best-selling album ever. Jackson also currently has the highest number of albums on the list with five, Celine Dion has four, while the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Madonna and Whitney Houston each have three.
On this date in 1964, the Beatles posted their first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, as “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” their first entry on the list, rose 3-1 in its just its third week on the chart. It had vaulted from its No. 45 debut the week before.
Lennon noted at the time: “I never liked 'Run For Your Life' because it was a song I just knocked off,” he revealed. The track takes a line from Elvis Presley's song 'Baby Let's Play House': “I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man”.
The White Album First Pressing
The four band members were each given one of the first four pressings of the album, and Ringo Starr's copy recently came to auction and dispelled rumors that John Lennon was given the very first copy; instead, it sold for an astronomical and record-breaking $790,000.
All told, Lennon had a hand in composing 84.55 of the 209 songs recorded by the Beatles, and McCartney 73.65. George Harrison was a distant third, with 22.15 credits, and Ringo Starr fourth with 2.7.