The Beatles Initial Storming of the American Charts

The Beatles Initial Storming of the American Record Charts
In 1963, as The Beatles were becoming a sensation first in Britain then the rest of Europe, major American record companies thought this music would never sell in the United States. Therefore, Brian Epstein had no choice but to license Beatles recordings to small Stateside independent record labels like Vee-Jay, a powerhouse rhythm and blues label from Chicago whose bread and butter was The Four Seasons, and Swan, which was partially owned by Dick Clark and had hits by Freddie Cannon.

Three singles were released in 1963, two on Vee-Jay and one on Swan, plus an album on Vee-Jay, before Capitol Records finally took their option as EMI’s American affiliate to sign the Beatles. Up to this point only one of the singles reached the Billboard chart: From Me To You got as high as #116. When I Want To Hold Your Hand was released on Capitol Records in December, 1963 and stormed up the American record sales charts, there was over a year’s backlog of old records as well as other marginal recordings waiting to be issued or reissued.

I Want To Hold Your Hand entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #45 on January 18, 1964. The next week, January 25, it jumped up to #3. That same week, She Loves You on Swan Records, originally released in September, 1963, entered at #69. On February 1, I Want To Hold Your Hand hit #1, She Loves You” leaped to #21, and Please Please Me on Vee-Jay followed at #69. By February 15, 1964, the Beatles’ fourth hit My Bonnie with Tony Sheridan, released on MGM Records, debuted on the Hot 100 at #67 – an almost three year old track with lead vocals by a long forgotten singer! Later in the year, Atco Records would score a top 20 hit with Ain’t She Sweet, the only track from that 1961 session that featured any of the Beatles singing lead.

On the Billboard album chart, Capitol’s Meet The Beatles became the first Beatles hit LP, entering the chart at #92 on February 1. The next week, after that album jumped to #3, a reshuffled version of Vee-Jay’s Introducing The Beatles LP entered the chart at #59. Eventually Meet The Beatles would top the chart, with Introducing The Beatles settling for #2.

Within a few months, the dust settled and Capitol held exclusive rights to current Beatles recordings. While Capitol’s handling of its Beatles catalog can rightfully be considered exploitative, at least the continuous repackages of the same material by Vee-Jay Records would end in 1965. All told, in 1964, the Beatles made 28 entries into the Billboard Hot 100, 19 of which reached the top 40, 11 the top ten, and six number one hits. Twelve Beatles LPs hit the US charts (four of which were essentially similar), with seven top ten albums and four chart toppers. These numbers would be meaningless were it not for the quality of the music etched onto these platters.