10 Best-Selling Rock Singles Of All Time
8. The Monkees, 'I'm A Believer' (1966)
Total weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100: 7
YouTube views to date: 1.5 million
As shameless cash-ins go, The Monkees are up there, riding high on the transatlantic wave of Beatlemania. They starred in their own sitcom from day one, and the marketing and branding teams made a mint on the back of every size and shape of merchandise possible; if it could hold a Monkees logo, it was going on sale.
An early precursor to the likes of Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers, the four-piece band was cynically crafted by producers to capitalise on the Fab Four's success.
With a full complement of professional songwriters and studio musicians drafted in to the recording process, studio executives all but ensured the group's success, producing a raft of hit singles including the Neil Diamond-penned 'I'm A Believer'.
The track sold a reported minimum of 10 million copies worldwide, but it is a tough sell to try and lay the credit at The Monkees door.
Though the group later played the hit single themselves live, it was recorded by a host of musicians who were not members of the band, including session guitarist Al Gorgoni, bassist Russ Savakus, organist Stan Free, drummer Buddy Saltzman and Diamond himself on acoustic guitar.