UK Albums: Biggest #1's in Chart History

UK Album Chart: Biggest #1’s

This is a list of the #1 albums of all time according to the UK album charts. It includes all albums logging eight weeks or more at the top. For albums logging the same number of weeks at #1, they are listed in order of highest ranking according to Dave’s Music Database. Check out other album lists based on charts and sales. 115 weeks: South Pacific (soundtrack, 1958) 70 weeks: The Sound of Music (soundtrack, 1965) 48 weeks: Richard Rodgers (music) & Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) The King and I (soundtrack, 1956) 33 weeks: Simon & Garfunkel Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970) 30 weeks: The Beatles Please Please Me (1963) 27 weeks: The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) Various Artists The Greatest Showman (soundtrack, 2017) 23 weeks: Adele 21 (2011) 22 weeks: Elvis Presley G.I. Blues (1960) 21 weeks: The Beatles A Hard Day’s Night (soundtrack, 1964) The Beatles With the Beatles (1963) 20 weeks: Ed Sheeran ÷ (Divide) (2017) 19 weeks: My Fair Lady (cast album, 1956) 18 weeks: The Beatles Abbey Road (1969) Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack, 1977) Elvis Presley Blue Hawaii (soundtrack, 1961) 17 weeks: Carpenters The Singles 1969-1973 (1973) 15 weeks: Spice Girls Spice (1996) Phil Collins …But Seriously (1989) 14 weeks: Dire Straits Brothers in Arms (1985) Cliff Richard & the Shadows Summer Holiday (1963) 13 weeks: West Side Story (soundtrack, 1961) Olivia Newton-John/John Travolta/various artists Grease (soundtrack, 1978) Ed Sheeran X (Multiply) (2014) Bob Dylan John Wesley Harding (1967) 12 weeks: Bob Marley & the Wailers Legend (1984) The Verve Urban Hymns (1997) The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones (aka ‘England’s Newest Hitmakers’) (1964) Simply Red Stars (1991) Adam & the Ants Kings of the Wild Frontier (1980) Kids from Fame Kids from Fame (1982) 11 weeks: Alanis Morissette Jagged Little Pill (1995) Shania Twain Come on Over (1997) Various artists (Whitney Houston et al) The Bodyguard (soundtrack, 1992) Elton John Greatest Hits (1974) Meat Loaf Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993) Abba Greatest Hits (1976) The Beatles Beatles for Sale (1964) Pal Joey (soundtrack, 1957) various artists 20 All-Time Hits of the ‘50s (1999) 10 weeks: Oasis (What’s the Story) Morning Glory (1995) James Blunt Back to Bedlam (2004) Eurythmics Greatest Hits (1991) Abba Arrival (1976) Dido Life for Rent (2003) The Corrs Talk on Corners (1997) Emeli Sandé Our Version of Events (2012) The Beach Boys 20 Golden Greats (1976) The Rolling Stones No. 2 (aka ‘Now!’) (1965) Lewis Capaldi Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent (2019) 9 weeks: The Beatles 1 (2000) Madonna The Immaculate Collection (1990) The Beatles Help! (soundtrack, 1965) Barbra Streisand Love Songs (1982) Terence Trent D’Arby Introducing the Hardline… (1987) Travis The Man Who (1999) Abba Super Trouper (1980) Stylistics Best of (1975) George Mitchell Minstrels Black and White Minstrel Show (1961) Boyzone By Request (1999) 8 weeks: Michael Jackson Thriller (1982) The Beatles The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (1968) The Beatles Rubber Soul (1965) Paul Simon Graceland (1986) Abba Gold: Greatest Hits (compilation: 1974-82, released 1992) George Harrison All Things Must Pass (1970) T-Rex Electric Warrior (1971) Sam Smith In the Lonely Hour (2014) The Rolling Stones Aftermath (1966) George Michael Ladies and Gentlemen: Best of (1998) Leona Lewis Spirit (2007) Take That Beautiful World (2006) George Mitchell Minstrels Another Black and White Minstrel Show (1961) Various Artists 20 Dynamic Hits (1972) Various Artists Now That’s What I Call Music 3 (1984) Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: Album Lists Based on Charts and Sales First posted 5/23/2015; last updated 12/4/2023.

Today in Music (1963): The Beatles released Please Please Me

Please Please Me The Beatles

Released: March 22, 1963 Peak: 130 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 0.6 US, -- UK, 0.6 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/rock

Tracks for Please Please Me: Click on a song title for more details. I Saw Her Standing There [2:55] Misery [1:49] Anna (Go to Him) [2:55] Chains [2:23] Boys [2:24] Ask Me Why [2:24] Please Please Me [1:59] Love Me Do [2:21] P.S. I Love You [2:04] Baby It’s You [2:40] Do You Want to Know a Secret [1:56] A Taste of Honey [2:03] There’s a Place [1:51] Twist and Shout [2:32] Total Running Time: 32:15 The Players: John Lennon (vocals, guitar) Paul McCartney (vocals, bass) George Harrison (guitar, vocals) Ringo Starr (drums, vocals)

Rating for Please Please Me: 3.888 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings) Quotable: "Decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh" – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, AllMusic.com Awards for Please Please Me:

Introducing the Beatles The Beatles

Released: January 10, 1964 Peak: 2 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, -- world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/rock

Tracks for Introducing the Beatles: Click on a song title for more details. I Saw Her Standing There [2:55] Misery [1:49] Anna (Go to Him) [2:55] Chains [2:23] Boys [2:24] Love Me Do [2:21] P.S. I Love You [2:04] Baby It’s You [2:40] Do You Want to Know a Secret [1:56] A Taste of Honey [2:03] There’s a Place [1:51] Twist and Shout [2:32] Total Running Time: 27:39 The Players: John Lennon (vocals, guitar) Paul McCartney (vocals, bass) George Harrison (guitar, vocals) Ringo Starr (drums, vocals)

Rating for Introducing the Beatles: 3.852 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings)

The Early Beatles The Beatles

Charted: March 22, 1965 Recorded: 1962-1963 Peak: 43 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop/rock

Tracks for The Early Beatles: Click on a song title for more details. Love Me Do [2:21] Twist and Shout [2:32] Anna (Go to Him) [2:55] Chains [2:23] Boys [2:24] Ask Me Why [2:24] Please Please Me [1:59] P.S. I Love You [2:04] Baby It’s You [2:40] A Taste of Honey [2:03] Do You Want to Know a Secret [1:56] Total Running Time: 26:26 The Players: John Lennon (vocals, guitar) Paul McCartney (vocals, bass) George Harrison (guitar, vocals) Ringo Starr (drums, vocals)

Rating for The Early Beatles: 4.067 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings)

About Please Please Me On February 11, 1963, the Beatles hit the studio and bashed out a dozen tracks so that they could rush out an album that capitalized on the success of the single “Please Please Me.” The music is “raw and rough” AZ “yet dazzling” CD “and still very rock & roll.” AZ “Here were four lads, highly experienced on stage, but with little or no idea of what a recording studio was like. They were subtly marshalled by the much-respected George Martin to deliver an entire album that was exactly what the fans wanted but was still a surprise.” CD Even “decades after its release, the album still sounds fresh, precisely because of its intense origins.” STE “There is an innocence to Please Please Me“ STE as the Beatles display an “unfettered joy at making music.” SP “The Beatles may have played notoriously rough dives in Hamburg, but the only way you could tell that on their first album was how the constant gigging turned the group into a tight, professional band that could run through their set list at the drop of a hat with boundless energy.” STE “The band worked hard…as hard as anybody in rock & roll, but the playing sounds natural, easy, enormously potent but completely unforced.” SP “Their debut doesn’t deviate in terms of structure from the norm of the day…so you get a couple of hits, a few covers and some filler.” AD Unlike many bands of the day, though, The Beatles dug into some “eclectic influences,” STE “all of which are unconventional and illustrate the group’s superior taste. There’s a love of girl groups, vocal harmonies, sophisticated popcraft, schmaltz, R&B, and hard-driving rock & roll.” STE While the ‘filler’ songs “don't have the kind of snap that the casual fan has all but come to expect from…the Beatles brand name,” CT “there's plenty on this disc to celebrate.” CT “One can't forget this was a first effort and to…compare this…with their later masterpieces is like comparing a Picasso to something he drew when he was a toddler.” CT The “time-honored favorites…may seem [overplayed, but] have held up extraordinarily well over time, and still are enjoyable to listen to, especially with the harmony vocals that The Beatles knew how to execute to perfection.” CT “Things were never as simple as this again” CD for The Beatles. This was “a small step for four men, a giant leap for music.” AZ About Introducing the Beatles: Despite taking off in the U.K., The Beatles struggled to get a U.S. record deal. Vee-Jay Records finally released Please Please Me as Introducing the Beatles with the “Please Please Me” / “Ask Me Why” single omitted. About The Early Beatles: The Capitol Records version of Please Please Me didn’t emerge until 1965. The song order changed and three songs were omitted (“I Saw Her Standing There,” “Misery,” and “There’s a Place.” In 2006, the Capitol Records Vol. 2 box set gathered the U.S. albums The Early Beatles, Beatles VI, Help!, and Rubber Soul on CD for the first time. Reissues In 2004, the Capitol Records Vol. 1 box set gathered the U.S. albums Meet the Beatles, The Beatles’ Second Album, Something New, and Beatles ‘65 on CD for the first time. In 2006, the Capitol Records Vol. 2 box set gathered the U.S. albums The Early Beatles, Beatles VI, Help!, and Rubber Soul on CD for the first time. The Songs Here’s information on the individual songs.

I Saw Her Standing There The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney (see lyrics here) Lead vocals: Paul McCartney Released: B-side of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” (U.S., 1/13/1964), Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964), Meet the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/20/1964), The Beatles 1962-1966 (compilation, 2023 reissue) Peak: 14 BB, 100 CB, 3 GR, 29 HR, 5 CL, 16 CN, 17 AU, 6 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 27.3 video, 208.46 streaming Covered by: Elton John (1974 with John Lennon, #37 CL, 40 UK, 81 AU), Tiffany (1987 as “I Saw Him Standing There,” #7 BB, 13 CB, 11 RR, 8 UK)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: One of Lennon/McCartney’s best efforts is the strong album opener I Saw Her Standing There, “with thanks to Little Richard.” AZ Lyrically, the song “is very much boy/girl, teenage romance kind of stuff –well-worn themes.” AD However, it features “McCartney’s graceful ease in singing” CD and “is one of their best rockers, yet it has surprising harmonies and melodic progressions.” STE

Misery The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney Lead vocals: John Lennon, Paul McCartney Released: Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964) Peak: 39 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 20.65 streaming About the Song: Lesser tracks “Misery and There’s a Place grow out of the girl group tradition without being tied to it.” STE

Anna (Go to Him) The Beatles

Writer(s): Arthur Alexander Lead vocals: John Lennon Released: Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964), The Early Beatles (U.S. album, 3/22/1965) Peak: 37 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 52.17 streaming First Recorded by: Arthur Alexander (1962) About the Song: “Arthur Alexander is one of only a handful of artists covered by both The Beatles and The Rolling Stones (the latter doing his ‘You Better Move On’). As Paul told Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn in 1987, ‘If The Beatles ever wanted a sound, it was R&B. That’s what we used to listen to and what we wanted to be like…That was basically it – Arthur Alexander.” UD The Beatles’ recording of Anna fits “into ‘filler’ territory.” AD However, it is “easy to see the appeal [it] must have had at the time; more mentions of girls and, therefore, romantic mystique is created.” AD

Chains The Beatles

Writer(s): Gerry Goffin, Carole King Lead vocals: George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney Released: Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964), The Early Beatles (U.S. album, 3/22/1965) Peak: 38 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 12.83 streaming First Recorded by: The Cookies (1962, #17 BB, 17 RB, 4 CN) About the Song: “A short-lived addition to their live set, “Chains” was George Harrison’s first outing on record as lead vocalist.” UD It was written by the Brill Building and Hall of Fame songwriting team of husband and wife Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It was recorded in 1962 by the girl group The Cookies. It is “hardly the greatest song ever written or known to man.” AD

Boys The Beatles

Writer(s): Luther Dixon, Wes Farrell Lead vocals: Ringo Starr Released: Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964), The Early Beatles (U.S. album, 3/22/1965) Peak: 73 CB, 22 CL, 32 CN, 11 AU, 31 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 16.30 streaming First Recorded by: The Shirelles (1960)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “Ordinarily, when covering a song by a female artist, the gender would be switched. Not so when the gender is the song’s title. ‘Ringo always used to do a song in the show,’ Paul later remembered. ‘Back then, he had ‘Boys.’ It was a little embarrassing because it went, ‘I’m talking about boys – yeah, yeah boys.’ It was a Shirelles hit and they were girls singing it, but we never thought we should call it ‘Girls,’ just because Ringo was a boy. We just sang it the way they’d sung it and never considered any implications.” UD “Starr's ace vocal on Boys“ CD fails to lift it above “standard Rock N Roll stuff, but Ringo does sing this with verve and style.” AD

Ask Me Why The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney Lead vocals: John Lennon Released: B-side of “Please Please Me” (1/11/1963), Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), All My Loving EP (2/7/1964), The Early Beatles (U.S. album, 3/22/1965) Peak: 48 CL, 38 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 17.28 streaming About the Song: “Ask Me Why” “is a sweet Fifties style love song with some nice harmonies.” AD

Please Please Me The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney Lead vocals: John Lennon, Paul McCartney Released: single (UK, 1/11/1963), Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), The Early Beatles (U.S. album, 3/22/1965), The Beatles 1962-1966 (compilation, 4/2/1973) B-side: “Ask Me Why” Peak: 3 BB, 3 CB, 8 GR, 3 HR, 3 CL, 2 UK, 5 CN, 36 AU, 8 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 2.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 3.20 video, 70.98 streaming Covered by: David Cassidy (1974, #16 UK)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “Please Please Me” is “a wonderful song, plain and simple, with the guitar following the vocal line acting as a kind of fanfare, and then we have the chorus of course – ‘Come on, COME ON!’” AD That song would soar all the way to #2 in the UK charts – it would be followed by an astonishing 17 #1 songs.

Love Me Do The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney (see lyrics here) Lead vocals: John Lennon, Paul McCartney Released: single (UK, 10/5/1962), Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964), The Early Beatles (U.S. album, 3/22/1965), The Beatles 1962-1966 (compilation, 4/2/1973), Past Masters Volume One (compilation, 3/7/1988), The Beatles 1 (compilation, 11/14/2000) B-Side: “P.S. I Love You” Peak: 11 BB, 11 CB, 13 GR, 11 HR, 1 CL, 4 UK, 6 CN, 17 AU, 5 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 2.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 23.4 video, 276.00 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: Even from the start, “Lennon and McCartney begin to flex their writing muscles.” AZ In 1958, a 16-year-old Paul McCartney skipped school and wrote most of the song “Love Me Do,” with his friend John Lennon helping out. SG After they formed the Beatles in 1962, they were signed to Parlophone Records in the UK on June 4. Two days later, they recorded “Love Me Do” at their first session. Producer George Martin was curious about the group and, as he said, “I spent an evening, afternoon, and evening with them in Abbey Roads Studio. I fell in love with them.” TC However, he said they didn’t yet show signs of being great songwriters. “The best they could offer me were pretty ordinary songs. I thought ‘Love Me Do’ was the best.” TC That first version had Pete Best on drums and didn’t see release until the Anthology collection in 1995. On September 4, the Beatles recorded the song again with new drummer Ringo Starr. Martin wasn’t satisfied and on September 11 they recorded again with session drummer Andy White while Starr played tambourine. In the UK, the Ringo Starr version was released as a single, but in the U.S. the single version and the one on the Please Please Me album was the one featuring White. “Love Me Do” marked the Beatles chart debut in the UK, reaching #17. When reissued 20 years later, it hit a new peak of #4. In the United States, when Beatlemania took off in 1964, the song charted as an import via the Canadian branch of Capitol Records. By May 30, the song had climbed to the pinnacle of the Billboard Hot 100. The song “has a tough R&B feel with a delicious pop melody” TC and sports “unearthly Everly Brothers-style Lennon/McCartney harmony singing” SG Its “hooks seem to bubble up naturally, as if they’d always existed. And it hinted at a future where this band would be perceived as something more than just a soundtrack to teenage-girl screaming.” SG The song is “a graceful lope, a sunny front-porch jam that would’ve sounded at home on the radio next to, say, Buck Owens’ speed-freak California country.” SG The harmonica – which John Lennon shoplifted in 1960 in Amsterdam – “is one of the things that makes the song,” SG echoing McCartney’s melodies. Lennon was inspired by Delbert McClinton’s playing on Bruce Channel’s song “Hey! Baby.” FB

P.S. I Love You The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney Lead vocals: Paul McCartney Released: B-side of “Love Me Do” (UK, 10/5/1962), Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964), All My Loving EP (2/7/1964), The Early Beatles (U.S. album, 3/22/1965) Peak: 10 BB, 10 CB, 5 GR, 13 HR, 5 CL, 20 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 2.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, -- video, 21.45 streaming Covered by: Ronnie Spector (2014) About the Song: “The pleasantly light ‘P.S. I Love You’” STE “is a sweet ballad and a decent song that Paul sings well.” AD It “switches the shuffle out for an almost Latin backbeat which is nailed perfectly…it deserves more than to be relegated to the back of the vast Beatles discography.” CT

Baby It’s You The Beatles

Writer(s): Mack David, Barney Williams, Burt Bacharach Lead vocals: John Lennon Released: single (3/20/1995), Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964), The Early Beatles (U.S. album, 3/22/1965) B-sides: “I’ll Follow the Sun,” “Devil in Her Heart,” “Boys” Peak: 67 BB, 37 CL, 7 UK, 67 CN, 33 AU, 32 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 43.22 streaming First Recorded by: The Shirelles (1961, #8 BB, 3 RB, 18 CN) About the Song: “The Shirelles provided two songs for the group’s debut LP, Please Please Me, with Ringo’s ‘Boys’ followed by ‘Baby It’s You,’ which features an impassioned lead vocal from John Lennon. George Harrison’s guitar solo was later overdubbed by producer George Martin following him note-for-note on the celeste.” UD Although penned by Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Burt Bacharach (along with Mack David, the older brother of Bacharach’s writing partner Hal David) “Baby It’s You” is merely a “ballad with good vocals but not the stuff of legends.” AD

Do You Want to Know a Secret The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney Lead vocals: George Harrison Released: single (U.S., 3/23/1964), Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964), The Early Beatles (U.S. album, 3/22/1965) B-Side: “Thank You Girl” Peak: 2 BB, 3 CB, 11 GR, 3 HR, 1 CL, 6 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 4.0 US, 1.58 UK, 7.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, -- video, 97.44 streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: “Love Me Do” and “Do You Want to Know a Secret…have dated slightly, but endearingly so, since they're infused with cheerful innocence and enthusiasm.” STE

A Taste of Honey The Beatles

Writer(s): Bobby Scott, Ric Marlow Lead vocals: Paul McCartney Released: Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964), The Early Beatles (U.S. album, 3/22/1965) Peak: 22 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 13.95 streaming Covered by: Lenny Welch (1962) About the Song: This was originally an instrumental written for the 1960 Broadway version of a British play, A Taste of Honey, from 1958. It was made into a film in 1961. Lenny Welch recorded a vocal version of the song in 1962. In 1965, Herb Alpert won four Grammys for his recording of the song. Paul took the lead on The Beatles’ cover. He “delivered a heartfelt rendition of the vocal lines while the whole band created a truly wonderful vibe behind it…It…seems like a slow shuffle rather than a rock song, and as such would never be touched by any self-respecting classic rock radio station. Too bad – it’s one of the best tracks on the disc.” CT Paul later noted, ‘‘A Taste of Honey’ was one of my big numbers in Hamburg – a bit of a ballad. It was different, but it used to get requested a lot. We sang close harmonies on the little echo mikes, and we made a fairly good job of it. It used to sound pretty good, actually.” UD

There’s a Place The Beatles

Writer(s): John Lennon, Paul McCartney Lead vocals: John Lennon, Paul McCartney Released: B-side of “Twist and Shout” (U.S., 3/14/1964), Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964) Peak: 74 BB, 43 CL, 39 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, 14.41 streaming About the Song: Lesser tracks “Misery and There’s a Place grow out of the girl group tradition without being tied to it.” STE

Twist and Shout The Isley Brothers

Writer(s): Bert Russell, Phil Medley (see lyrics here) Released: May 1962 Peak: 17 US, 2 RB, 42 UK, 37 CN, 13 AU, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 5.2 video, -- streaming

Awards (Isley Brothers): (Click on award to learn more).

Twist and Shout The Beatles

Writer(s): Bert Russell, Phil Medley (see lyrics here) Lead vocals: John Lennon Released: single (U.S., 3/2/1964), Please Please Me (UK album, 3/22/1963), Introducing the Beatles (U.S. album, 1/10/1964), The Early Beatles (U.S. album, 3/22/1965), The Beatles 1962-1966 (compilation, 2023 reissue) Peak: 2 BB, 11 CB, 12 GR, 11 HR, 35 RR, 1 CL, 5 CN, 5 AU, 1 DF Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 2.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 98.5 video, 618.80 streaming First Recorded by: The Isley Brothers (1962). See above.

Awards (The Beatles): (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: Phil Medley and Bert Berns (later credited as Bert Russell) wrote “Twist and Shout” in 1961. The song was first recorded by the Top Notes, an R&B vocal group from Detroit. Despite the production of legendary producer Phil Spector and accompaniment by saxophonist King Curtis, their version went nowhere. Then the Isley Brothers tackled it in 1962 with Berns as the producer. They “slowed the tempo substantially, putting it into a cha-cha-type rhythm with three ascending chords.” AMG They also put “squealing, gospel-fired soul passion into the lead” AMG vocal. It became “a memorable hit single” AMG reaching #2 on the R&B charts and giving the Isley Brothers their first trip inside the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Sometimes, a cover version becomes the de facto definitive version of a song – ‘All Along the Watchtower’ by Jimi Hendrix, or ‘Respect’ by Aretha Franklin, for example. But none extols this virtue more than The Beatles’ 1963 recording of the Isley Brothers’ ‘Twist and Shout.’” UD It is “characterized by John Lennon’s throat-shredding vocal. It never stops being remarkable.” UD In the wake of Beatlemania in the United States in 1964, the song was released as a single and climbed all the way to #2. It would be the Beatles only millon-seller which was a cover song. The Beatles made it “more rock than soul by building it around guitars and Ringo Starr’s skipping drumbeats” AMG and John Lennon’s “absolutely amazing raunchy…larynx tearing” lead vocal. AMG It was the last of ten tracks the Beatles recorded in one day and “Lennon’s voice was frayed.” AMG It is “the most famous single-take in rock history.” STE Brian Poole & the Tremelones also charted in the UK in 1963 with the song, reaching #4. The Beatles’ version experienced a revival in 1986 after being featured in the movies Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Back to School and it recharted, reaching #23. Salt-N-Pepa later got to #45 on the R&B chart with their 1988 recording of the song. In 1993, the Jamaican reggae duo Chaka Demus & Pliers recorded the song and got to #1 in the UK.

Resources/References STE AllMusic.com review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Please Please Me AMG AllMusic.com page for “Twist and Shout” WR AllMusic.com review by William Ruhlmann AZ Amazon.com review by Chris Nickson FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 148. TC Toby Creswell (2005). 1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time. Thunder’s Mouth Press: New York, NY. Page 348. AD Adrian Denning, Adrian’s Album Reviews CD CD Universe SP Steve Pond, Rolling Stone. Original review from print issue 504/505. SG Stereogum (6/18/2018). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan CT Christopher Thelen, Daily Vault UD Udiscovermusic.com (11/4/2024). “Every Cover Version the Beatles Recorded and Released” by Paul McGuinnes WK Wikipedia page for “Twist and Shout” Related DMDB Pages: First posted 3/24/2008; last updated 8/20/2025.