BEATLES MAGAZINE: "MEET THE BEATLES! WAS A No.1 ALBUM 62 YEARS AGO TODAY

Monday, 16 February 2026

"MEET THE BEATLES! WAS A No.1 ALBUM 62 YEARS AGO TODAY

Exactly sixty-two years ago today, the Beatles secured the top spot on the U.S. Billboard 200 with their landmark sophomore effort, Meet the Beatles! While their 1963 debut, Please Please Me, had already made them stars in the United Kingdom, it was this 1964 Capitol Records release that officially sparked the fire of Beatlemania across America.

Packed with timeless anthems such as "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "All My Loving," the record showcased a potent blend of electric energy and groundbreaking composition that instantly transformed the group into a global cultural force. By maintaining its No. 1 position for eleven straight weeks and moving over five million units, Meet the Beatles! didn't just climb the charts—it kicked off a decade of total musical supremacy that redefined the industry forever.

Following persistent pressure from Brian Epstein and George Martin, EMI chief Sir Joseph Lockwood finally intervened in November 1963, dispatching a deputy to Los Angeles to mandate that Capitol Records begin marketing the Beatles in America.

Although Capitol famously marketed Meet the Beatles! as the group's "first" U.S. LP, they were actually beaten to the market by ten days.

The Chicago-based Vee-Jay Records finally issued Introducing... The Beatles, a project that had been stalled since the previous summer.

This competitive tension likely led to a premature, unauthorized advertisement in the New York Times by Liberty Music Shops on January 12, 1964, claiming the album was already for sale.

Decades later, the record's legacy remains secure, with Rolling Stone ranking it at number 59 on its 2003 list of the greatest albums of all time.

It has since seen several high-profile digital reissues, appearing in the 2004 The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 box set and again in 2014 as part of The U.S. Albums collection.

Starting its American chart journey at number 92 during the first week of February 1964, the album skyrocketed to the top spot just fourteen days later. It maintained a dominant eleven-week stronghold at number one before finally being dethroned by the group’s follow-up release, The Beatles' Second Album. By the close of 1964, over four million units had been moved, with sales climbing toward 4.7 million by the end of the 1960s. Its commercial impact was recognized almost immediately with a Gold certification on February 3, 1964, eventually achieving a massive 5× Platinum status by late 1991.

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