The week of August 1, 1964, found The Beatles atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘A Hard Day’s Night.’ This was the fifth of seven #1s the Fab Four would have in a one-year period.
The runner-up that week was a song that was in the top spot the previous week, looking down at The Beatles at #2. The Four Seasons’ ‘Rag Doll,’ a pop/doo-wop classic, gave the band their fourth chart-topper.
The week of July 11, 1964, saw The Beach Boys land their first #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘I Get Around.’
It also saw my father turn 21. Today is his birthday, quite a few years later, and while I don’t think he’s much of a Beach Boys fan (Frank Sinatra was and remains more his style), I dedicate this Song of the Day to him anyway. Fortunately, he didn’t “leave his best girl home on a Saturday night” or else my sister and I might have never been born.
On June 22, 1964, the #1 song in the U.S. was ‘A World Without Love,’ the first single by British duo Peter and Gordon. The song also reached #1 in their native UK.
This song was written by a 16-year-old Paul McCartney, and given to Peter Asher because Paul was dating his sister Jane. Paul apparently didn’t think the track was good enough for The Beatles, but its success for this previously unknown duo suggests it would have likely been another chart-topper for the Fab Four had they opted to record it.
The week of May 30, 1964, saw the continued dominance of The Beatles on the Billboard Hot 100. Beatlemania was in full swing — this was the fourth #1 of an eventual six in a one-year period, still a record.
Before it topped the charts in the U.S., ‘Love Me Do’ was the band’s first single and first hit in England the previous November, peaking at #17.
For almost the entirety of 1964 so far, in these Throwback Weekends, The Beatles have dominated the Hot 100. The band owned the top of the chart for 14 consecutive weeks with three different songs reaching #1.
So who finally dethroned the Fab Four? Would you believe it was 62-year-old jazz legend Louis Armstrong with a demo of the title track from the Broadway musical Hello, Dolly!?
