The Beatles were hugely successful in a fairly short space of time, selling 600 million units worldwide despite only being together for 10 years. At Christmas, their songs were part of the landscape for some time, with their singles hitting the top of the charts during the festive period. But what were The Beatles songs which gained the coveted Christmas Number One title?
What were the Beatles Christmas number ones?
The Beatles truly cracked the formula for getting Christmas Number Ones, but frankly they did it without including any festive fare in their songs.
While many people release festive-themed songs at this time of year to try and get to the top spot for December, that was not the way for The Beatles, whose songs were part of their usual release schedule.
The Beatles got the Christmas Number One four times in their career, which is a pretty incredible feat given the band were only releasing music together from 1962 to 1970.
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The first was I Want To Hold Your Hand, released in 1963, followed by I Feel Fine in 1964.
I Want to Hold Your Hand, at the time of its release, had received more than one million advanced orders for copies, meaning it went in straight at Number One and left its chart rivals languishing below them.
The song did not just dominate the Christmas chart, but was at the top of the chart for five weeks, remaining in the Top 50 for 21 weeks in total.
As well as that, the song was the second highest-selling single of the 1960s, behind another of The Beatles’ tracks, She Loves You.
I Feel Fine, went to Number One in more than just the UK, gaining the top spot in the USA, Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden, among others.
It was also the fifth highest-selling single of the 1960s in the UK, showing how the band truly had a monopoly at this time.
Their third Christmas Number One single was Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out in 1965 – their third consecutive Christmas hit.
Day Tripper was primarily written by John Lennon, while We Can Work It Out was written by both John and Sir Paul McCartney in a more even collaboration, which was quite rare by this point in the band’s career.
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The song was released as a double A-side, meaning both singles were the lead track, rather than having an A-side single and a B-side.
This was one of the first examples of the double A-side in the UK and it went down well, becoming the seventh highest-selling single in the 1960s in the UK.
The Beatles’ Christmas throne was taken from them in 1966 by none other than Sir Tom Jones, who was growing in fame in conjunction with the band.
Sir Tom earned the 1966 Christmas Number One with Green, Green Grass of Home, only two years after his first hit, It’s Not Unusual.
These two years were incredible for Sir Tom, who sang the James Bond theme song for Thunderball in 1965 as well as meeting his idol, Elvis Presley.
Not long later, The Beatles came back and bagged their fourth and final Christmas Number One: Hello, Goodbye in 1967.
This song was written mainly by Sir Paul, and was partnered with John’s I Am The Walrus, which acted as the B-side.
Hello, Goodbye topped the charts in many English-speaking countries, and others, but was likely a bittersweet victory for the band given it was the first release since the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, on August 27, 1967.
