The Beatles track She Loves You has been revealed to be the biggest ever selling of the group's hits released in the UK.

 

Figures out yesterday showed the 1963 single - the band's second number one which was issued as Beatlemania was in its infancy - topped a chart of the act's greatest sales tallies.

 

I Want To Hold Your Hand came second in the chart commissioned by BBC Radio 2.

 

The Official Chart Company - which compiles the weekly top 40 - trawled its records to pull together an all-time best-seller list of the band's singles, including the many re-releases over the years.

 

The list is dominated by tracks up to and including 1965. As well as She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand, the top five is made up of Can't Buy Me Love, I Feel Fine and the double A-side Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out.

 

Intriguingly, figures show that Love Me Do, the band's first chart hit which only reached number 17 on its initial release, went on to outsell the number two hit which followed it, Please Please Me, as well as later number ones such as The Ballad Of John And Yoko.

 

Despite its enduring popularity, Yesterday - often cited as the most covered song of all time - only charted at number 24. The track was never issued as a single in the UK during the band's lifetime. It was not released until 1976 and only made number eight in the chart at the time.

 

Similarly, Back In The USSR (ranked 29) was issued in 1976, as was a version of Strawberry Fields Forever.

 

The original had been a double A-side with Penny Lane, which had stalled at number two in the charts at the time, ending a huge run of number ones and held from the top by Engelbert Humperdinck's Release Me.

 

Radio Two DJ Ken Bruce said of the new chart: 'The song that gave us 'yeah yeah yeah' has obviously been getting the seal of approval from the public ever since.'

 

The list formed part of Radio 2's Beatles Bank Holiday programmes at the weekend, put together to tie in with a major re-examination and celebration of the band.

 

The Beatles' entire back catalogue has been remastered and is due to be released on September 9, the same day that The Beatles edition of the video game Rock Band hits the shelves.

 

The BBC is also presenting a season of programmes to tie in the releases with documentaries and themed shows on BBC2 and BBC4 from September 5.

 

The Top 30 biggest selling Beatles songs:

 

1. She Loves You

2. I Want To Hold Your Hand

3. Can't Buy Me Love

4. I Feel Fine

5. Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out

6. Hey Jude

7. From Me To You

8. Help!

9. Hello Goodbye

10. Get Back

11. Paperback Writer

12. All You Need Is Love

13. Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby

14. Ticket To Ride

15. Magical Mystery Tour EP

16. A Hard Day's Night

17. Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever

18. Lady Madonna

19. Love Me Do

20. Please Please Me

21. The Ballad Of John And Yoko

22. Let It Be

23. Free As A Bird

24. Something/Come Together

25. Beatles Movie Medley

26. Yesterday

27. Real Love

28. Baby It's You

29. Back In The USSR

30. Strawberry Fields Forever (re-issue)

 

Source: Daily Mail

 

 

 

 

 

I think this show would have been better if it had been turned into a Top 50 and included solo Beatles efforts.

 

But then again I guess they would have played Mull Of Kintyre instead of Girls School at #1.

What's puzzling me is why Ken Bruce didn't play Movie Medley. Was the only one to be missed out!

What's puzzling me is why Ken Bruce didn't play Movie Medley. Was the only one to be missed out!

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/21/Beatles-Moviemedley.jpg/200px-Beatles-Moviemedley.jpg

Probably due to The former Beatles Estates/Apple regard the medley as "tacky". Hence it has now become "Persona non grata" in Beatles history.