Who Sang These Twenty Number-One Beatles Hits? Quiz

Answer: Lennon and McCartney

The Beatles' first number one on the US Hot 100 chart was "I Want to Hold Your Hand" on February 1st, 1964, just eight days before their historic appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show". Many in the US music industry underestimated how revolutionary Beatlemania would become. "She Loves You" had been released the previous September with very little public interest and almost no radio play.

Three months before "The Ed Sullivan Show", the Beatles were featured on "CBS Morning News" on November 22, 1963, but any interest was quickly overshadowed by the Kennedy assassination that afternoon. A re-airing of the segment encouraged teenager Marsha Albert to request that DJ Carroll James play Beatles songs. The DJ sent to England to get a copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," which he first played on the air on December 17th. The overwhelming popularity of the single prompted Capitol Records to release it earlier than planned for the US on December 26th. Throughout January, the single became a hot commodity. Finally, by the 1st of February, there were enough sales and radio play to make it number one on the chart. It would stay at the top of the chart for seven weeks before being dethroned by the Beatles' second number one hit, "She Loves You."

Answer: Lennon and McCartney

On September 16, 1963, "She Loves You" was released in the US market by Swan Records to modest initial sales with, unfortunately, very little radio play. Since both sales and radio play were the metrics on which the Hot 100 was based in 1963, "She Loves You" did not initially crack the top 100. However, once "I Want to Hold Your Hand" became an epic hit, the public could not get enough of the Beatles' songs.

"She Loves You" spent four weeks in the number two spot behind "I Want to Hold Your Hand" before finally overtaking the number one spot on March 21, 1964. "She Loves You" would spend two weeks at number one before being overtaken by another Beatles song on April 4th. Incidentally, "She Loves You" is rated as the most successful Beatles single in the UK and the most successful single of the 1960s there.

Answer: McCartney

The year 1964 started as an absolute whirlwind for the Fab Four. At the end of January, they spent a few weeks in Paris while performing 18 shows for the Olympia Theatre. They could see their music finally going viral in the USA and felt extreme pressure to write new songs.

On January 29, 1964, Paul McCartney wrote the song "Can't Buy Me Love" in the hotel suite. Recording finished on February 25th, and then released on March 16th in the US and on the 20th in the UK. On April 4th, "Can't Buy Me Love" soared to number one on the Hot 100, replacing "She Loves You." This was the first time an artist would hold the top spot with three different songs in a row. "Can't Buy Me Love" spent five weeks at number one. When taken together, the Beatles' first three hits spent 14 weeks in a row at number one!

On April 4th, 1964, the Beatles also had the top five songs on the chart with "Twist and Shout" at number two, "She Loves You" at number three, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" at number four, and "Please Please Me" at number five. No other band or artist achieved this level of dominance until Drake did it again in September of 2021 with his album "Certified Lover Boy." Remarkably, a year after Drake's five hits, Taylor Swift stunningly had all ten top songs on the chart from the release of her "Midnights" album, and then again in 2024 with her "Tortured Poets Department" album!

Answer: Lennon and McCartney

In 1959, at the age of 17, Paul McCartney first wrote the bones for "Love Me Do." The song was first recorded on June 6, 1962, with Peter Best, and then again on September 4th with Ringo Starr. The song was released in the UK on October 5, 1962, and had significant success in November. Ironically, while the Beatles realized they were becoming famous, they were having to fulfill the last of their obligatory contracts with the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany.

Interestingly, the single that the US first had real access to was the Canadian Vee-Jay Records release at the end of April. This version had Andy White on drums with Ringo relegated to tambourine. "Love Me Do" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 30, 1964. It is worth noting that three out of four of the Beatles' first hits were with both Lennon and McCartney singing lead vocals in harmony. It was thought at the time that the combo of the two contrasting vocal styles would add energy to the songs. Typically, John would provide the rock style of singing while Paul provided the higher melodic notes. As their personal styles of songwriting became more individual, their collaboration on lead vocals became much less common.

Answer: Lennon

With the massive success of Beatlemania, an idea was put forth to create a film covering a few days in the life of the band. At some point, when they had been working hard in the studio all day and deep into the night, Ringo commented that it had been a hard day. Once he saw that it was actually dark outside, he added "Night!" Needless to say, the term stuck. John quickly wrote a song to go with the film's name, "A Hard Day's Night," and it was released in the US on June 26th. The song topped the Hot 100 for two weeks on August 1st and August 8th.

Early in the relationship of John and Paul, before they ever became famous, the two decided that any song written by one of them would be credited to both of them. It did not matter how much or how little work the other put into the song. Typically, whichever of the two wrote the song would be the one who sang lead vocals. It is also worth noting that, in the beginning, John had the lion's share of hits. However, Paul soon caught up and overtook John with the number one hits.

Answer: Lennon

While finishing up the studio album, "Beatles For Sale," the inspiration for "I Feel Fine" came to John. As often happened with Beatles songs, this one was inspired by other artists. Bobby Parker's song, "Watch Your Step," was a cover song the Beatles played during their Star Club years. Lennon stated that the guitar riff was inspired by Parker's song.

As for the drums, Ringo said he was inspired by Ray Charles' "What'd I Say." One of the claims to fame for "I Feel Fine" is that it is one of the first studio recordings that intentionally used amplifier feedback.

The song stayed on the Hot 100 for two weeks starting on December 26, 1964.

Answer: Lennon

Paul McCartney has been cited in interviews as saying the name "Eight Days a Week" was inspired either by a chauffeur or by another Ringo Starr malapropism. The song was one of the first that the Beatles brought into the studio without a clear direction of what the final product would be. After seven hours of studio work, it was decided the song would have a fade-in, which was relatively novel at the time.

Lennon was later quoted as saying he hated the song, which might be why the Beatles performed it live only once, with no known recordings surviving. The song was not released in the US as a single until February 15, 1965. It hit the number one spot on March 13 and stayed at the top for two weeks.

Answer: Lennon

On February 15, 1965, the Beatles made it back into the studio and recorded "Ticket to Ride." In many ways, the song was more complex than anything they had recorded before. For one, the song clocked in at 3 minutes and 10 seconds, making it their longest hit to date.

The composition also had a persistent A major drone throughout most of the song, adding a heavier sound to it. Then the final coda changed to an upbeat tempo. According to John, a ticket to ride was proof of a clean bill of health for active street corner workers in Hamburg, Germany. So the theme too was a deviation from their previous works. "Ticket to Ride" spent one week on the Hot 100 starting May 22, 1965.

Answer: Lennon

On the 4th of September, 1965, the Beatles' song "Help!" topped the Hot 100 chart and stayed number one for three weeks. After the success of the film "A Hard Day's Night," the music industry wanted another Fab Four film. Several songs were created for the film in February 1965, but later Brian Epstein changed the name of the film to "Help!" John felt obligated to create a song to match the film title, so he got busy writing a deeply personal song about the stress of the past year and a half of Beatlemania. John later reflected in an interview that "Help!" was one of his favorite songs along with "Strawberry Fields Forever."

Answer: McCartney

One of the Beatles' biggest hits started out as being titled "Scrambled Eggs"! According to Paul, the song melody came to him in a dream. He was originally worried that the tune was not original, but after a month of searching could not find anyone who had heard it before. It took the better part of a year and a trip to Portugal with his girlfriend before the words finally came to him. "Yesterday" has become one of the most recorded songs in history, with over 2,000 recordings to date.

The song is the first solo that the Beatles recorded, with Paul providing both the singing and the steel guitar. It is also one of their first pieces to include a backing string quartet. The song was released on September 13, 1965, and reached number one on the Hot 100 on October 10th, where it spent four weeks at the pinnacle. It is popularly believed that the song is about a lost love, but Paul has stated in an interview that it is actually about childhood and his relationship with his mother.

Answer: McCartney

The music and lyric verses for "We Can Work It Out" were written by Paul and finished off as a collaboration with John and George. They added their own touch to the bridge, with John providing the lyrics and George changing the time signature to a ¾ waltz. The song was recorded over 11 hours on October 20, 1965, marking the longest time spent in the studio on one song to date. Lennon noted in an interview in 1980 that he had to add his pragmatism to Paul's optimism. So, where Paul was singing about being able to work it out, John added that life is very short. Unfortunately for John, his words became true when he was murdered within a year of the interview.

Though McCartney has not specifically stated the exact meaning behind the words, many have speculated that it was about his relationship with his then-girlfriend, Jane Asher. Rather than have a "B" side, the Beatles ended up with two "A" sides, with the other song being John's "Day Tripper." John believed his song would be the bigger hit, but the highest it peaked was at number five on the Billboard Hot 100. Meanwhile, "We Can Work It Out" spent the weeks of January 8th, 15th, and 29th of 1966 at number one. Interestingly, the band decided not to add either song to "Rubber Soul" but rather released the hits on the same date as the LP.

Answer: McCartney

Paul McCartney shared in an interview that his song "Paperback Writer" was inspired by a combination of his aunt challenging him to write a non-love song and seeing Ringo reading a book. He mentioned that he was not thinking of anyone in particular when he came up with the song's central figure.

The song is the first of the Beatles' songs to intentionally make the bass the dominant instrument. Paul used a louder bass than he normally played, and they set up microphones close to pick up the sound. Like "We Can Work It Out," Paul's "Paperback Writer" was released as just a single and not initially placed on an LP. It spent two non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on both June 25th and July 9th of 1966.

Answer: McCartney

Originally, "Penny Lane" was going to be added to the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" LP, but to meet contractual obligations, it ended up being a double A-side with "Strawberry Fields Forever." On March 18, 1967, "Penny Lane" peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for one week. The highest "Strawberry Fields Forever" reached was number eight.

The song "Penny Lane" is a feel-good nostalgic song about Paul and John's youth growing up in Liverpool. Paul stated in interviews that Penny Lane was where he would have to change a bus if he was going to John's house. The pair also hung out on Penny Lane and would have been intimately familiar with the characters in the song's lyrics. A deeper dive into the song's lyrics does point to some interesting dichotomies. The song mentions the blue suburban summer sky, but also several references to pouring rain. Also, the part about the nurse selling poppies would be more appropriate around Remembrance Day, which is on November 11th, not during the summer.

Answer: Lennon

Almost two years after "Help!" had reached number one, John Lennon finally reached the top of the charts again on August 19, 1967, with "All You Need Is Love." The song was written for the highly ambitious "Our World" TV program, which was broadcast around the world. During the two-hour segment, the show switched locations multiple times between England, Japan, Canada, and Australia, to name a few. Knowing that many of the audience would not be native English speakers, Lennon purposely made the song lyrics simple and hard to misunderstand. The song also fit well with the 1967 Summer of Love theme.

The half billion people who watched the broadcast were the largest single-event television audience to that date. Despite the message being simple enough, the song does have quite a few unusual time signature changes, and the first bar of the French national anthem "La Marseillaise." The single was released with "Baby, You're a Rich Man" as the B-side.

Answer: McCartney

Yet again, the Beatles' number one song was released as a single, in this case, McCartney's "Hello, Goodbye" with Lennon's "I Am the Walrus" as the B-side. For three weeks, "Hello, Goodbye" sat at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for the weeks of Dec 30, 1967 - Jan 13, 1968. Of course, John thought his single should have been the A-side, but perhaps due to the strangeness of his song, it only peaked at 56 on the chart.

Paul stated in an interview that the inspiration for the song came from a conversation with Brian Epstein's assistant, Alistair Taylor. The aide asked Paul how the musician went about writing a song. They sat down at the piano, and Paul told Alistair to sing the opposite of whatever Paul sang. So if Paul sang "dark," Alistair would sing "light." From this playful interchange of dualities came "Hello, Goodbye," which is just a string of things with their opposites. By this point in their music, the Beatles had started to create mostly outside of their original pop genre, so "Hello, Goodbye" was a simple welcome back to their original signature sound.

Answer: McCartney

The Beatles' "Hey Jude" spent nine weeks at number one from September 28 to November 23, 1968, making it their longest-lasting hit single. Paul McCartney said in interviews that the song was written for five-year-old Julian Lennon, whose parents, John and his first wife, Cynthia Lennon, were divorcing. Paul said his heart went out to the little guy, as divorce can be very hard on children. Originally, the line was "hey Jules," but McCartney thought Jude sounded better. As was traditional for Paul, the song takes an optimistic spin on a difficult situation.

On top of Lennon's divorce, the band itself was at the height of dysfunction. Paul reflected that John was so wrapped up with Yoko Ono at the time that he was spending hardly any time with the rest of the band. The band was always pushing the edge of technology and made "Hey Jude" the first they would record with the new eight-track technology. At over seven minutes, "Hey Jude" became the band's longest single and third-longest song in their catalog. The last four minutes of the song are a repeating coda of "na na na nananana...hey Jude."

Answer: McCartney

The Beatles' song "Get Back" has the distinction of being the very last live song the band ever played together. On January 30, 1969, on the Apple Studios roof, the Beatles gave their last "concert" to a select group of friends, and "Get Back" was the final song they played when the police came to tell them to stop disturbing the peace. A few months later, on April 11th, the single was released and reached number one on May 24th, where it would stay for five weeks until June 21, 1969. The song is also unusual, with John playing lead guitar rather than rhythm and with guest star Billy Preston on keyboards. Lennon noted in an interview that he felt Paul was looking at Yoko when he would sing the lines "get back to where you once belonged," implying that she was a pain point in the band's relationship.

Coming across as a bit angsty, Paul stated that "Get Back" was originally a satirical political song. At the time of writing, there was a lot of animosity towards Pakistanis who were portrayed as taking British citizens' jobs. Misunderstandings quickly arose, so the lyrics were switched to more nonsensical ones with two fictitious people, Jojo and Loretta.

Answer: Lennon

On November 29, 1969, John Lennon had his final Beatles' number-one song on a double "A" side release with George Harrison's only number one "Something." Both songs had one week on the Hot 100 chart. Interestingly enough, the idea for the song came from Timothy Leary, who asked John for a campaign song for his campaign against Ronald Reagan for governor of California. Leary's race was over before Lennon could deliver a song, so the musician repurposed it as a Beatles song.

As for the lyrics, few Beatles songs have more speculation, but Lennon has stated that they are just pure gobbledygook! There has been strong speculation that each verse is dedicated to each of the band members. If this is the case, then the only obvious verse would be the third, which specifically mentions Yoko. The others are a bit more obscure, but the most common theory is that Ringo is the first verse, followed by Paul, with George as the last. One thing is for sure: the opening line of the first verse, "Here come old flat-top..." was lifted almost directly from Chuck Berry's song "You Can't Catch Me." The Beatles had to settle out of court over the copyright infringement.

Answer: McCartney

There are a few conflicting stories on how the song "Let It Be" came to be, but a combination of both might make the most sense. Band roadie, Mal Evans, claimed that he supposedly came to Paul in a dream and told him to let it be. Sure enough, the first recording of part of the song had the line "brother Malcolm," but was quickly changed to "mother Mary." McCartney claimed that he had a vivid dream of his mother, Mary McCartney, who came to him and told him not to worry and to let it be. Many a Beatles fan interpreted it to be the mother of Jesus, which Paul said was fine with him.

The song was released on March 6, 1970, and reached number one for two weeks on April 11th and 18th, only one day after Paul announced he would no longer be working with John. "Let It Be" is the only Beatles' song with a singing credit to Linda McCartney. Billy Preston also makes a guest appearance on the Hammond organ.

Answer: McCartney

"The Long and Winding Road" is possibly the most melancholy song that McCartney wrote. Created while he was on his farm in Scotland, the song captured the sadness many Beatles fans felt at the dissolution of the band. The song was released on May 11, 1970, and reached number one for two weeks on June 13th and 20th.

The Beatles' manager, Allen Klein, hired Phil Spector to produce the "Let It Be" album, including the title song. Unfortunately, with neither Paul nor John talking to each other and George already moving on with his own project, Ringo was the only available musician in the studio. Since the recording had been done over a year earlier, Spector was taking the tracks and putting together "The Long and Winding Road." Phil was unhappy with the work the Beatles had done on the recordings, so he added an orchestra and a background chorus. Once he completed the recording, he sent it to the four Beatles. Paul hated it and said to reduce the orchestra and chorus and to get rid of the harp altogether. However, the single got released as it was, which resulted in Paul filing a lawsuit.