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The Beatles‘ No. 1 hits are an eclectic group of songs spanning several genres. Despite this, three of the Fab Four’s songs that hit No. 1 in the United States have the same word in the title. That word became a huge part of The Beatles’ brand.

3 Beatles No. 1 hits have the same word and 1 has a similar word

Twenty of The Beatles’ songs topped the Billboard Hot 100. Those songs are “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “Eight Days a Week,” “I Feel Fine,” “A Hard Days Night,” “Help!,” “Hey Jude,” “Hello, Goodbye,” “Let It Be,” “Get Back,” “Yesterday,” “We Can Work It Out,” “Ticket to Ride,” “Penny Lane,” “Paperback Writer,” “The Long and Winding Road” / “For You Blue,” “Come Together” / “Something,” “She Loves You,” “Love Me Do,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” and “All You Need Is Love.” Notably, “Love Me Do,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” and “All You Need Is Love” all have “love” in their titles, and “She Loves You” isn’t far off.

The reaction to these songs was a bit different in the United Kingdom. According to The Official Charts Company, “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “All You Need Is Love” both reached No. 1 there. On the other hand, “Love Me Do” merely reached No. 4. The song only hit the top 10 upon re-release in 1982.

These 3 No. 1 hits look at love in different ways

Looking at “Love Me Do,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” and “All You Need Is Love,” one can see the breadth of The Beatles’ talent. Each of these songs is a great example of a different genre. “Love Me Do” is a twee country song. “Can’t By Me Love” is an Elvis Presley-style rock ‘n’ roll number. Finally, “All You Need Is Love” blurs the line between children’s music and psychedelic rock.

The track also shows the development of the Fab Four’s songwriting. In his earlier songs like “Love Me Do” and “Can’t Buy Me Love,” they focused on love in the sense of sex and romance. As time went on, they started writing songs like “The Word,” “All You Need Is Love,” and “The End,” which focused on love in the sense of love for humanity.

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Love remains a huge part of The Beatles brand to this day

Even after The Beatles broke up, they never stopped associating with the concept of love. For example, one of Wings’ biggest hits was about writing silly love songs. In addition, John Lennon wrote “Imagine,” which advocates a brotherhood of man. George Harrison directly references both “Imagine” and “All You Need Is Love” in his John tribute song “All Those Years Ago.” The Beatles even inspired a Cirque du Soleil show called Love.

The Beatles’ utopian vision is part of why they have so many fans to this day. Other bands like Mötley Crüe were just about having a good time, but the Fab Four wanted us to be the best versions of ourselves.

The Beatles gave us a lot of love and in turn, the world loved The Beatles.