Five forgotten songs that outsold The Beatles in the 1960s

As much as some people would very much like you to believe otherwise, the 1960s weren’t just the decade of The Beatles. It also wasn’t simply “the decade of famous music” either.

People weren’t just bopping along to The Beach Boys and The Fabs in the early part of the decade, The Stones and The Who in the middle, then Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin at the end. There was a whole lot of music that was massive at the time that didn’t have those icons’ staying power.

Which makes sense. The popular music industry was barely a decade old at the time, and even at the very top of the industry, people were still working out how this whole thing worked. They wondered whether genres like rock and roll, folk, and blues were actual genres of music or fads. The 1960s were a time when record companies were more interested in throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what stuck than creating art.

Thus, the charts of the day contain a large percentage of flash in the pans and obscurities rubbing shoulders with some of the greatest artists of the 20th century. In some cases, even out-selling them. To illustrate this, we’ve put together a list of five singles that, for even one week, outsold the mighty Beatles. Context is always important, and hopefully this can help you look at today’s music scene and remember that no, music isn’t just worsenow, the pop charts have always been pretty sus.

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at five forgotten songs that outsold The Beatles.

‘Release Me’ – Engelbert Humperdinck

While he might be best known today for that spectacular Suzie Izzard bit about how he got his stage name, Engelbert Humperdinck was an absolute sensation in the late 1960s. He was a throwback to a vision of pop stardom from decades before, where tux-clad matinee idols crooned jazz standards over the wireless. However, he managed to tap into a pop crowd, perhaps reacting a little negatively to the fiercely progressive, uncompromising sounds coming from the nascent world of psychedelic rock music.

Thus, he still managed to have a fistful of some of the biggest-selling hits of the whole 1960s despite his first real hit coming in the form of ‘Rescue Me’, released in 1967. You want proof that he was a serious commercial force right from the off? Just look at the single that it kept off the top spot on March 2nd, 1967. ‘Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever’ by the little-known beat combo, The Beatles. Not one, but two of the Fabs’ finest moments, kept from the summit by one of the most baffling names in pop.

4.‘Wayward Wind’ – Frank Ifield

Something that gets a little forgotten by even the most astute pop nerds is that in the musical hinterland between Elvis joining the army and Beatlemania, one of the most successful forms of music was country. A number of country and western artists like Johnny Cash, George Jones, and Patsy Cline had astonishing success marketing themselves as a more moderate, traditional version of Presley’s more countrified moments.

One of them was Frank Ifield, a country singer who, despite being British-born and raised in Australia, sold himself as an unreconstructed American cowhand, yodelling and all. His act was a huge success in the UK, shown by the fact that his song ‘Wayward Wind’ was able to keep ‘Please Please Me’ off the top of the charts for three straight weeks. Within two years, Ifield was yodelling Beatles covers to keep the wolf from the door, but not that long before, he’d actually been a bigger draw than The Fabs themselves.

3.‘(Call Me) Number One’ – The Tremeloes

There’s an argument to be made that the biggest influence on The Beatles, down to the insect-themed band name, was Buddy Holly and his Crickets. His energetic, melodic take on rock ‘n’ roll inspired not just The Fabs but pretty much everyone of their generation up to and including a band who Decca Records actually picked to sign over the nascent Beatles in 1962, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. One wonders how many people lost their jobs over that.

Especially when the band themselves wouldn’t have their first real success until Brian Poole left in 1966. The band still remained barely a footnote in their scouse rivals’ history, though. At least until 1969, when The Beatles released arguably the best double A-side single ever, ‘Something’ backed with ‘Come Together’, and it couldn’t catch up with The Tremeloes’ hit single ‘(Call Me) Number One’. However, as one final bit of disrespect, it wasn’t because the song went to number one. It stalled at number two and couldn’t quite make it to the top spot. Always the bridesmaids, eh?

2.‘The Carnival is Over’ – The Seekers

While people (fairly accurately) sum up the 1960s as the decade when rock and roll ruled the world, it was far from alone. Soul music was also a commercial juggernaut. It was also the last time jazz could be considered a form of pop music. However, folk music was probably the second most popular genre after rock ‘n’ roll, especially in the early years of the 1960s. While they might not be as remembered as the likes of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, one of the biggest acts of the day was the Australian act The Seekers.

A sign of their commercial success came in 1965, when their song ‘The Carnival Is Over’ outsold two of the day’s biggest names, at least initially. The song was responsible for keeping The Who’s ‘My Generation’ off the top spot initially, then, in its first week of release, kept The Beatles’ ‘Day Tripper’ from hitting the top spot as well. Granted, songs going to number one on the first week of release was unheard of back then, but if anyone could do it, it was The Beatles. Not this time, though.

1.‘Tossing And Turning’ – Ivy League

The Ivy League are with a bullet the most obscure act in this list, yet there’s a chance that nearly all of you who peruse this website have heard them before. You see, the Ivy League were a vocal trio put together out of three session vocalists. The first gig that John Carter, Ken Lewis and Perry Ford worked together on? Doing the backing vocals for The Who’s ‘I Can’t Explain’. It’s true, those chirping “can’t explain’s” and those Beach Boys-esque “oooo’s” all come from the trio that became The Ivy League.

They started off pretty strong, too. At a time when three good-looking guys with strong voices could be thrown together for a band and no one would be the wiser, they were put together as The Ivy League and had a string of hits in 1965, culminating in ‘Tossing and Turning’, which hit number three. A week later, it dropped to number four, but that was still enough to see off stiff competition from The Beatles’ ‘Help!’ which entered the charts at number five the same week.