Billboard #1 Hits of 1964

In 1964, 11 acts achieved their first number one song, such as The Beatles, Louis Armstrong, Mary Wells, The Dixie Cups, Peter and Gordon, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, The Animals, Manfred Man, The Shangri-Las, and Lorne Green. Dean Martin, despite already having a song hit number one prior to the creation of the Hot 100, earns his first number one song on the chart. Bobby Vinton, The Beatles, and The Supremes were the only acts to have more than one song hit number one that year, which The Beatles had the most with six.

No 1 - January 4th to January 25th - "There I've Said It Again"

Vinton's version topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart on January 4, 1964 and remained there for four weeks before being replaced by The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand", the last US-made number 1 hit before the British Invasion.

Read more about There Ive Said it Again

Watch and hear it on American Bandstand

No 1 - February 1st to March 14th - "I Want to Hold Your Hand"

The group's first American number-one hit, entering the Billboard Hot 100 chart on 18 January 1964 at number 45 and starting the British Invasion of the American music industry. By 1 February it topped the Hot 100, and stayed there for seven weeks before being replaced by "She Loves You". It remained on the Billboard chart for 15 weeks.  "I Want to Hold Your Hand" became the Beatles' best selling single worldwide, selling more than 12 million copies.

Read more about I want to Hold Your Hand

Watch the Beatles perform it on the Ed Sullivan Show

No 1 - March 21st to March 28th - "She Loves You"

Lennon and McCartney started composing "She Loves You" on 26 June 1963 after a concert at the Majestic Ballroom in Newcastle upon Tyne during their tour with Roy Orbison and Gerry and the Pacemakers. They began writing the song on the tour bus, and continued later that night at their hotel in Newcastle eventually completing it the following day at McCartney's family home in Forthlin Road, Liverpool.

Read more about the song here

Watch the Beatles Perform "She Love You" at the Mercy Sound Show in 1963

No 1 - April 4th to May 2nd - "Can't Buy Me Love"

When pressed by American journalists in 1966 to reveal the song's "true" meaning, McCartney stated: "I think you can put any interpretation you want on anything, but when someone suggests that 'Can't Buy Me Love' is about a prostitute, I draw the line." He went on to say: "The idea behind it was that all these material possessions are all very well, but they won't buy me what I really want."

Read more about the song's history here

The Beatles Perform it at Empire Pool in 1964

No 1 - May 9th - "Hello Dolly"

The same month, Kapp Records released Armstrong's publishing demo as a commercial single his version reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, ending the Beatles' streak of 3 chart-topping hits in a row over a 14 consecutive weeks. "Hello, Dolly!" won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1965.

Read more about the history of this song here

Watch Louis Armstrong perform this hit in Berlin, 1965

No 1 - May 16th to May 23rd - "My Guy"

When Wells recorded her vocal she sang over the song's outro with a huskiness evoking the line delivery of Mae West: Wells would recall: "I was only joking but the producers said 'Keep it going, keep it going'."

Read more about the making of My Buy here

Watch Mary Wells perform My Guy on Shin Dig here

No 1 - May 30th - "Love Me Do"

"Love Me Do" was completely co-written ... It was just Lennon and McCartney sitting down without either of us having a particularly original idea. We loved doing it, it was a very interesting thing to try and learn to do, to become songwriters. I think why we eventually got so strong was we wrote so much through our formative period.

Read more about Love Me Do here

Listen to Love Me Do here

No 1 - June 6th - "Chapel of Love"

Chapel of Love tells of the happiness and excitement the narrator feels on her wedding day, for she and her love are going to the "chapel of love", and "they'll never be lonely anymore."

Read about the history of this song here

Watch the Dixie Cups Sing Chapel of Love