1960-1970 America

Although the band experienced huge popularity on the UK record charts in early 1963, EMI's American operation, Capitol Records, declined to issue the singles Please Please Me and From Me to You (their first official number one hit in the UK). Vee-Jay Records, a small Chicago label, issued the singles as part of a deal for the rights to another performer's masters. Art Roberts, music director of Chicago powerhouse radio station WLS, placed Please Please Me into radio rotation in late February 1963, making it the first time a Beatles record was heard on American radio. Vee-Jay's rights to The Beatles were later cancelled for non-payment of royalties.





I Want to Hold Your HandIn August 1963, Philadelphia-based Swan Records released She Loves You, which also failed to receive airplay. A testing of the song on Dick Clark's TV show American Bandstand produced laughter from American teenagers when they saw the group's distinctive hairstyles. In early November 1963, Brian Epstein persuaded Ed Sullivan to present The Beatles on three editions of his show in February, and parlayed this guaranteed exposure into a record deal with Capitol Records. Capitol committed to a mid-January release for I Want to Hold Your Hand. On 7 December 1963, a clip of The Beatles was shown on the CBS Evening News. (The story originally had been scheduled to air on 22 November, and was aired on the CBS Morning News, but was preempted by the assassination of John F. Kennedy.) The clip inspired a teenage girl in Washington, D.C. to request a Beatles song on a local radio station. The station secured an imported copy of I Want to Hold Your Hand–forcing Capitol Records to release the song ahead of schedule on 26 December 1963.



Several New York radio stations—first WMCA, then WINS and WABC—began playing I Want to Hold Your Hand on its release day. The Beatlemania that had started in Washington was duplicated in New York and quickly spread to other markets. The record sold one million copies in just ten days, and by 16 January 1964, Cashbox magazine had certified the record number one (in the edition marked 23 January). On 3 January 1964, a film of The Beatles performing She Loves You was aired on the late-night Jack Paar Show.