50 years ago: The Beatles released “She Loves You”

She Loves You The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney (see lyrics here) Released: August 23, 1963 First Charted: August 29, 1963 Peak: 12 US, 12 CB, 11 HR, 1 CL, 16 UK, 13 CN, 3 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 1.95 UK, 6.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 31.34 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: With record-breaking advance orders of 300,000, “She Loves You” became the first million-selling single in the UK KL and was the song that launched Beatlemania in the UK. AMG The song became the biggest single of the sixties TC and was the top-selling UK single until 1977 when the Wings’ “Mull of Kintyre” (led by ex-Beatle Paul McCartney) passed it. SF It spent a whopping 36 weeks on the UK charts, marked by two stints at #1. It held the top slot for four weeks, slipped, and then climbed back for another two-week run after a seven-week break. It was their own “I Want to Hold Your Hand” which dethroned them the second time, making the Beatles the first artist to knock themselves off the top of the UK charts. TB In a reversal of the British charts, “She Loves You” followed “I Want to Hold Your Hand” to the pinnacle of the U.S. charts. Capitol Records broke the Beatles in the U.S. with the latter song FB and then Swan Records re-released “She Loves You.” In an unprecedented achievement, TB the Beatles followed that with a third consecutive chart-topper in the U.S. with “Can’t Buy Me Love.” Paul McCartney explained he’d planned on an answer song to Bobby Rydell’s “Forget Him” in which “a couple of us would sing ‘She loves you’ and the other ones would answer ‘Yeah Yeah.’…So we sat in the hotel bedroom for a few hours and wrote it; John and I, sitting on twin beds with guitars.” SF After hearing it, McCartney’s father said, “Son, there are enough Americanisms around. Couldn’t you sing, ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ just for once?’ McCartney said, ‘You don’t understand, Dad. It wouldn’t work.’” RS500 Ever since, the music universe has been grateful Paul didn’t heed his father’s advice. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for The Beatles AMG All Music Guide review by Richie Unterberger FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 144. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 830. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits: The Stories Behind Every Number One Single Since 1952. London, Great Britain: Omnibus Press. Page 95. RS500 Rolling Stone (2011). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” SF Songfacts.com TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 56. Related Links: Last updated 7/17/2022.