* The Beatles have the greatest sales of any group, estimated by EMI at over one billion discs and tapes worldwide.
* The most multi-platinum albums (13 in the United States)
* The most platinum albums by a group (18 in the United States, tied with Chicago and The Rolling Stones).
* The most number-one singles (22 in the United States).
* The biggest first-week sales of a double album (The Beatles Anthology Volume 1, which sold 855,473 copies
in the United States from November 21 to 28, 1995).
* The most successful songwriters (Lennon and McCartney) in terms of number-one hits. (In the United States,
Paul takes the credit for 32 and John for 26, with 23 of these having been written together; in England, John
takes credit for 29 and Paul for 28, with 25 of these having been written together).
* The most covers (remakes by other artists) of any song, with over 3,000 versions of "Yesterday".
* The fastest-selling single ("I Want To Hold Your Hand"), which sold 250,000 copies within the first
3 days of it's U.S. release, one million after 2 weeks, and a staggering 10,000 copies per hour in New York City
alone after 20 days.
* The biggest advance orders for a single (2.1 million copies of "Can't Buy Me Love" in the U.S.)
* On February 9, 1964, The Beatles made their landmark television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show live at
8:00pm E.S.T., and the show was watched by an estimated 73 million people in more than 23 million homes, which
smashed the U.S. television viewing record.
Other Statistics:
* Largest paying audience attracted by a solo performer: Between 180,000 and 184,000 people went to see
Paul McCartney's concert held at the Maracana Stadium in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil on April 21, 1990.
* The biggest selling Beatles single: "Hey Jude", which sold more than 8 million copies in the United States
and England.
* Most played Beatles song: "Yesterday", which has so far been broadcast more than 6 million times on
U.S. radio alone.
* Their greatest volume of sales within a 12 month period is, due to the popularity of all 3 Anthology albums,
an estimated 33 million during 1996 / 1997.