Beatles FAQ

In February 1962, The Beatles played at a youth club in Liverpool, using the church hall. The venue was modest but fit for purpose. With its low ceiling and wooden floors, it provided excellent acoustics for the local fans who managed to squeeze in. Two years later, they travelled to Washington, D.C. in the immediate wake of their triumph on The Ed Sullivan Show . A concert was hastily arranged in a venue used for basketball and boxing. It set the template for all the live shows that were to come: An 8000-voice choir performed last night at Washington Coliseum ... T he choir was accompanied by four young British artists who call themselves the Beatles. Their part was almost completely obscured by the larger choral group, The 'thin voices' of the visiting group could not compete with the thousands of screaming teenagers.  This problem would plague The Beatles for the remainder of their time as a live act. Big stadiums, small speakers We couldn’t hear ourselves when we were live,...

The Beatles had started by playing church halls, coffee halls, and even private homes. Their Ed Sullivan appearance in February 1964 opened a huge new market. This was now only confined by the size of the concert venues available. 

First Ed Sullivan appearance - public domain The Beatles fly from London Heathrow to New York on 7 February 1964. More than 10,000 girls are waiting - a major news event.

In late September 1963, George Harrison becomes the first Beatle to visit America. Map artwork by Jane Samson

Warning! Not exactly to scale This is a surprisingly controversial question. The Beatles fan club and other 'official' sources stated that Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison as the same height: 5'11" (180cm), with Ringo Starr 5'8" (172cm) Early publicity photos emphasise a certain height uniformity. This harmonised with the identical suits and ‘Beatle’ hairstyles. It was as if you could walk over their heads without breaking step. Late 60s photos emphasised individual difference rather than collective branding. They revealed that Paul was/is fractionally taller than John, who in turn had the slightest of edges over George. Ringo was/is closer to  5'6"  (168cm) Great Hoax? A belief that the real (small) Paul was replaced by a taller 'fake Paul' or Faul is a key component of the (bonkers)  'Paul is Dead' conspiracy theory .   'Evidence' of an alleged height disparity  McCartney brazenly maintains that he is still very much aliv...

Before The Beatles broke up in 1970 ,  their singles  outsold their LPs . Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash This was the standard pattern of record sales at that time. LPs were considered a luxury item and priced beyond the reach of most teenagers.  The Beatles did have an unusual multi-generational appeal. And the kids who bought their singles would later come back to buy not just the studio albums but various compilations. From  Statista Studio Albums The Beatles officially released  13  studio  albums between 1962 and their breakup. Over time,  the biggest seller has been  Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band   ( 1967 ), with an estimated 32 million The first three Anthology albums have sold more than 13 million. Later acts, like Fleetwood Mac and Elton John , benefited from the increasing availability of affordable stereo systems . Older fans were now buying Beatles albums in large numbers, but these sales were dwarfed by those of...

  photo b y   Nick Fewings  on  Unsplash Worldwide sales of physical singles are difficult to estimate accurately, and the following are estimates based on available data.

The first British Beatles LP Please Please Me (1963) We didn’t sing our own songs in the early days — they weren’t good enough   John Lennon We started as a little covers band  Paul McCartney

On their first fan club Christmas Record (1963), The Beatles quote various secular Christmas songs: Rudolf, Jingle Bells, etc. But a single Czech Christmas carol forms the theme: