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50 Years Ago Today: Beatles occupy top 5 spots on Billboard 100, April 4, 1964

Another excerpt from my book-in-progress, "I Read the News Today: The Beatles Phenomenon, 1963-1970":

“Can’t Buy Me Love” received advance orders of a million copies in Britain and more than two million in the United States. It quickly went to number one on both sides of the Atlantic and, in the U.S., resulted in a pileup of Beatles hits atop the charts.

In the confused situation regarding rights to the band’s early recordings, Beatles singles were being released on four different labels: Capitol, Swan, Vee-Jay and the latter’s subsidiary, Tollie.   As a result, the April 4 issue of Billboard listed “Can’t Buy Me Love” at number one, followed by a succession of previously released Beatles songs at numbers two, three, four, five, 31, 41, 46, 58, 65, 68 and 79. The following week found 14 Beatles songs in the U.S. Top 100.

Even their first recordings with Tony Sheridan, “My Bonnie” and “Ain’t She Sweet,” eventually made the U.S. charts, much to the group’s chagrin.  “‘My Bonnie,’ we hated,” Paul told a radio interviewer. “It was a terrible record. We weren’t even on it [they played backup, Sheridan sang lead]. ‘Ain’t She Sweet,’ we’re on it, but it’s a terrible record.”

The takeover, by one musical artist, of the record chart was unprecedented, noted Billboard on March 14. “In the past three weeks, the Beatles have absorbed more than 60 percent of all singles sales. Only the Four Seasons, Elvis Presley and a few other disks have come fairly close to the sensational sales racked up by the British act on four different labels.” Sales by other artists, the magazine noted, had “gone soft as a grape.”

New and upcoming pop culture books: Kiss; Miyazaki; Spielberg's Duel; Orson Welles; Bruce Lee; Brick Fairy Tales; Game of Thrones pop-up; Wonder Woman; Mary Blair; Veronica Mars, more!

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