now that the Beatles have gone back to #1 let's see which of their big hits we rate the most highly...

I'll go with the top 5 of the lot:

 

Beatles: Ticket To Ride, Help!, Eleanor Rigby [this one's very easily the best here though]

Solo: Imagine, My Sweet Lord

Beatles: A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Yellow Submarine, Eleanor Rigby, All You Need Is Love

Solo: Imagine, My Sweet Lord

 

Now and Then is pleasant, but hard to rank as a top favourite at this point.

 

I love a lot of Paul McCartney's solo records (This One, Young Boy, Live And Let Die, No More Lonely Nights, Hope For The Future, We All Stand Together) but he really took some tat to No.1 as a solo artist.

 

Most of my favourite Beatles songs (Something, Here Comes The Sun, Yesterday, Let It Be, Blackbird, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Real Love) didn't get to No.1 or in many cases weren't singles.

Edited November 11, 20231 yr by gooddelta

Most of my favourites never made #1 or were just album tracks. Have gone for my top 5 Beatles and top 1 solo.

Voted for my combined top 5 songs: She Loves You, Eleanor Rigby, Hey Jude, Imagine, My Sweet Lord

A lot of my Beatles favourites didn't make #1 as well but these are my top 5 of their chart toppers:

 

01. Eleanor Rigby

02. Hey Jude

03. Ticket to Ride

04. Day Tripper

05. Paperback Writer

 

Threw all of my solo weight behind 'My Sweet Lord'. :wub:

Great to see My Sweet Lord getting its moment in the sun after the 00s forum voted it worse than Pixie Lott. :hithead:

 

Gave myself 10 votes in total.

 

From Me To You

I Want To Hold Your Hand

Ticket To Ride

We Can Work It Out

Eleanor Rigby

Hello Goodbye

Get Back

Now And Then - hard to know where this really ranks at this stage but I’m enjoying it so much right now. :music:

 

My Sweet Lord

Just Like Starting Over - think this is underrated

I voted for:

 

1. Hey Jude

2. Can't Buy Me Love

3. I Want To Hold Your Hand

4. Paperback Writer

5. We Can Work It Out

6. A Hard Day's Night

7. Now and Then

 

and:

 

1. Mull of Kintrye

2. Pipes of Peace

3. Ebony and Ivory

4. My Sweet Lord

Eleanor Rigby is a by a mile the best of their number 1s, quite a few of their best songs didn't get there, I also voted Yellow Submarine (why not x), I Want to Hold Your Hand, Ticket to Ride & Hey Jude. Now & Then would probably rank ahead of some of their pre-psychedelic stuff which have never been big favourites.

 

My Sweet Lord and Imagine are a million miles ahead of everything else solo here!

Voted for Beatles:

 

She Loves You

I Want To Hold Your Hand

Can't Buy Me Love

A Hard Day's Night

Ticket To Ride

Help!

Day Tripper

We Can Work It Out

Yellow Submarine!

All You Need Is Love

Hey Jude

 

(Now and Then feels a bit too recent to put among these but it's good too)

 

and as Solos

Mull of Kintyre

Imagine

Woman

My Sweet Lord

 

Eleanor Rigby, Hey Jude Ticket To Ride & Paperback Writer. Just the sublime My Sweet Lord for the solos.

 

In terms of released singles had Strawberry Fields, Something or Come Together made it to the top they would easily be on my best picks.

Agreed with what a few have said that many of their best songs were album tracks or missed #1 but I'm still a fan of most of the songs here - just gone for my top 3 as it's harder to rank beyond that ('Hey Jude', 'Eleanor Rigby' and 'Paperback Writer', I see my first 2 are fully normie picks based on the poll results but the latter is slightly less so :lol:) + the 2 predictable solo ones ('Imagine' and 'My Sweet Lord'), I was going to do a top 3 there too but there's such a wide gulf after the top 2 that it didn't feel worth it, also a handful of songs there which I don't know very well. My third favourite would probably be either 'Mull Of Kintyre' or '(Just Like) Starting Over' I guess.

Ticket to Ride is the name of a boardgame!!

 

Except from that, Hey! ... Jude (Is that you I see over there?) and Yellow Submarine, no song title here is as ICONIC as the 9 Spicy no.1s!!

I voted for a few, but I imagine (no pun intended) 'Hey Jude' and 'Imagine' will have landslide victories.

It's only when seeing this list makes me realise just how little I care for them as an act, although as others have stated there are a lot of better ones missing. I voted for Eleanor Rigby and Help! as the two that I'd genuinely choose to listen to (maybe harsh on Paperback Writer), and there are some truly terrible songs on there. I get why Hey Jude is winning but I find it completely dull and ruined further by hearing it so often.

Eleanor Rigby and Mull of Kintyre for each.

I could nearly vote for all the songs.

 

How ‘Yesterday’ was not a single I don’t know probably one of the finest songs ever written!

I could nearly vote for all the songs.

 

How ‘Yesterday’ was not a single I don’t know probably one of the finest songs ever written!

Straight from the horse's mouth (Paul):

 

"It was a little bit embarrassing. I didn’t want to be the guy out on the stage on his own. When I brought it in, it was just me and a solo guitar. That was it. We elected not to release it as a single in England. Like, ‘Nah, we’re a rock group’. We liked it, but it wasn’t a big feature on our stage act"

Some song writing from Macca!