55 Years Ago, The Beatles Performed New Hit On The Ed Sullivan Show And Changed The Universe

May 08, 2020 by apost team

In 1964, The Beatles performed their hit I Want to Hold Your Hand on The Ed Sullivan Show. It was watched by millions of Americans and “Beatlemania” officially kicked into gear.

After The Beatles arrived in America with I Want to Hold Your Hand at No. 1 and screaming fans everywhere, “Beatlemania” officially kicked into gear. In the following years, the band would rack up one chart-topping hit after another (including six in 1964) and become the most famous music group in the world.

I Want to Hold Your Hand was written by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Jane Asher, Paul’s first high-profile girlfriend. The group had mastered the song by the time they went into the studio to record it in October 1963. It took just seventeen takes to get it down the way they liked it.

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On February 9, 1964, The Beatles performed for the first time on The Ed Sullivan Show. Their performance was viewed by millions of Americans. Thus, "Beatlemania" was born.

I Want to Hold Your Hand went on to become the Beatles’ best-selling international single, selling a staggering 12 million copies. This went on to pave the way for many other well-known British bands in the U.S. such as the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Dave Clark Five, and started the "British Invasion” of music.

Despite the popularity of the group, they were actually the lowest-paid guests on The Ed Sullivan Show – because they had been scheduled before the single prematurely hit the U.S.

Clearly, that didn't matter – Since their appearance on the show, the world of music changed forever.

The song sold more copies in the first ten days than any other single that the Beatles had sold in the UK. In just the first three days, the single sold a quarter of a million copies. By February 1, 1964, it topped the charts in the U.S., the first time a British group had done so since 1962.

What is your favorite Beatles' song? Let us know in the comments and be sure to pass this along to your friends and family.