Today is a monumental day in music,chart and cultural history for the US.
On this day in 1964 it was the peak of the phenomenon called Beatlmania with the song "Can't Buy Me Love" reaching the top of Billboard's Hot 100 and setting 5 records that were never equaled in the pre-digital download/soundscan era.
The Greatest Monopoly of the Top 5, Greatest Monopoly of the Hot 100, Biggest leap to #1, Most Consecutive #1 singles and Largest Advance Sale.
With the sudden success of the Beatles, Capitol records were forced to realize what a goldmine they had and with so many labels issuing so many Beatles singles the group had a lock on the Top 5 with the release of "Can't Buy Me Love".
Here is the Top 5 for April 4th 1964
5- Please Please Me
4- I Want To Hold Your Hand
The first #1 single in the US for the Fab Four, 7 weeks at the top.
3- She Love You
this was the 2nd consecutive #1 for the Beatles, 2 weeks on top of the Hot 100.
2- Twist and Shout
One of the very few non Lennon/McCartney songs the Beatles had that were big hits. This peaked at #2.
1- Can't Buy Me Love
This is probably THE greatest hit of the Fab Four. It set the record for biggest leap to #1, which debuted last week at #27 and then leapt all the way to the top this week. It also had the largest advance sale of any single in the rock era with 2.1 million copies. Finally it was the 3rd consecutive #1 single for the Beatles which broke the record held by the King, Elvis Presley, set in 1956.
The next week the Beatles would have the greatest monopoly of the Hot 100 ever seen before or since. The previous record of most singles in the Hot 100 at one time was 9, set of course by Elvis Presley, but on April 11th of 1964 with "Can't Buy Me Love" at the top the Beatles had 14 total singles in the Hot 100.
81- Love Me Do
78- Roll Over Beethoven
74- There's a Place
61- Thank You Girl
52- From Me to You
50- All My Loving
48- You Can't Do That
38- I Saw Her Standing There
14- Do You Want to Know a Secret
9- Please Please Me
7- I Want to Hold Your Hand
4- She Loves You
2- Twist and Shout
Needless to say that with our fractured society and short attention spans this type of phenomenon will never be seen again.
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