All The Beatles’ No. 1 Hits in the United States, Ranked
Many of The Beatles‘ songs hit No. 1 in the United States. Despite the songs’ popularity, some are better than others. The following ranking might just have a few surprises in store.
20. ‘The Long and Winding Road’/’For You Blue’
“The Long and Winding Road” exemplifies the worst of Paul McCartney. It’s stiff and overly sentimental. Adding George Harrison’s basic “For You Blue” as a double A-side didn’t help anything. Together, they became the group’s final No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100.
19. ‘Penny Lane’
An attempt to mimic The Beach Boys’ sound goes wrong. The weird, stiff instrumentation at the beginning sounds almost creepy.
18. ‘All You Need Is Love’
The chorus wonderfully encapsulates the hippy mindset but the mixing on the verses is atrocious.
17. ‘Paperback Writer’
The lyrical conceit is interesting. The guitars are not.
16. ‘Eight Days a Week’
The song’s sweetness is infectious, but it doesn’t have the energy of some of the group’s other early hits.
15. ‘Help!’
Anyone who lived through the past few years can certainly relate to this.
14. ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’
It’s not as sophisticated as their later work, but that wobbly riff will probably sound great a century from now.
13. ‘Ticket to Ride’
What might have been another bubblegum outing for the Fab Four is made memorable by a dash of lyrical vinegar.
12. ‘A Hard Day’s Night’
What an opening chord.
11. ‘Let It Be’
Essentially a gospel redux of “Hey Jude,” it retains a lot of that song’s emotion even if it’s not quite as good (and what is?).
10. ‘Come Together’/’Something’
“Give Peace a Chance,” “All You Need Is Love,” and “Come Together” have the same formula — oddball verses followed by a repetitive chorus with a good message. With its great intro and loose feel, “Come Together” is the best of the bunch. The muted funk elements of “Something” make it stand out as a ballad.
9. ‘Get Back’
Here The Beatles go in a bluesy, Rolling Stones direction and prove they can give Mick Jagger and company a run for their money. Billy Preston’s genius comes through.
8. ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’
“Can’t Buy Me Love” combines the antimaterialism of the counterculture with an early rock ‘n’ roll melody that would have made Elvis Presley proud. If only he covered it!
7. ‘Love Me Do’
Simple in the best way, this track shines because it has one of the most memorable harmonica riffs in the entire history of popular music.
6. ‘I Feel Fine’
The opening lick is almost begging you to dance to it.
5. ‘Yesterday’
After six decades and an endless array of covers, “Yesterday” has lost none of its power. Break out the tissues.
4. ‘She Loves You’
The towering chorus is the pinnacle of The Beatles’ bubblegum pop and perhaps the pinnacle of bubblegum pop in general.
3. ‘We Can Work It Out’
The waltz elements of the song make it so unique. This tune has enough hooks that some of them could have been spun off into different songs.
2. ‘Hello, Goodbye’
Decades later, does any other song sound like “Hello, Goodbye?”
1. ‘Hey Jude’
Writing a seven-minute single that keeps your attention is a challenge, but The Beatles didn’t just do that with “Hey Jude.” They also gave us one of the greatest songs of all time.
We never find out if Jude took the narrator’s advice to go out and win the heart of his lost love. Somehow, that mystery only makes the song more legendary.
