Worldwide sales of physical singles are difficult to estimate accurately, and the following are estimates based on available data.
- The Beatles have officially released 63 singles worldwide.
- Sales of singles were far higher than those of albums during the 1960s.
- Relative to population size, the two biggest markets were the US and the UK.
- She Loves You was the biggest-selling Beatles single in the UK. It sold just under two million physical copies and spent six consecutive weeks at the top of the UK charts.
US Sales
- In the US, the exact rankings are cloudier as no organisation certifies full sales data.
- She Loves You only sold in the low thousands on its original release in 1963. It later went to number one.
- Most estimates have I Want to Hold Your Hand as the biggest-selling single in the US.
- Can't Buy Me Love had the most advanced sales of any single
- In April 1964, The Beatles occupied all five top positions on the Billboard Chart
- Hey Jude spent the longest time in the US charts (19 weeks) and at number one (9 weeks).
LPs replace singles as best sellers
In the late 1960s, sales of singles began falling (with LPs slowly rising) |
| Top 20 best-selling UK singles |
- Only in recent years has the ratio (album to single track) begun to move back in the former's direction
- By 2014, the official figure for the Beatles' US single sales was an astonishing 1.6 billion.
- This figure does include digital downloads, which perhaps should be calculated separately.
- Generally, all recorded music has fallen in price (in relative terms) while live events have become much more expensive.
