Fifty-five (55) years ago today — on Jan. 18, 1964— "I Want to Hold Your Hand" debuted at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
By Feb. 1, the Beatles' first U.S. hit on the Billboard chart reached number one.
That, however, was just the beginning. Eight days after their song topped the charts, John, Paul, George, and Ringo appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show' before an audience of 73 million people.
By April 4, the top five singles in the nation were all recorded by the now legendary band."Please Please Me" was number five that week, appearing alongside "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (4), "She Loves You" (3), and "Twist and Shout" (2). "Can’t Buy Me Love" was number one.
That dominance had never happened before. And nobody has done it since.
In addition to those five tunes, the Beatles had seven other songs in the top 100 that week.
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People’s Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read more reports from Scott Rasmussen — Click Here Now.
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