10 Best-Selling Rock Singles Of All Time
4. The Beatles, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ (1963)
Consecutive weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100: 7
YouTube views to date: 23 million
With estimated global sales of 12 million, it may come as a shock that The Beatles' best-selling single is the sedate and surprisingly run-of-the-mill early-career hit 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', rather than one of their creative powerhouse classics, such as 'Let It Be' or 'Come Together'.
Closest in style to, and directly influenced by, the likes of The Everly Brothers, the track comes off the back of those well-groomed rock and roll musical and visual aesthetics. In composition, structure and sound, 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' is neither controversial nor daring, but endeared them to several generations at once, whipping up worldwide Beatlemania in the older rock and roll listeners and teen fans alike.
Similarly open-ended hits in the run up to the release of the track guaranteed its success, and one million pre-orders of the single would have sent it straight to number one on release day had it not been for the equally strong sales of their prior single 'She Loves You'. Nonetheless, it pushed its way to number one in over eight countries, including the UK and US, and ended up securing a sales longevity far outstripping its predecessor.
The emphasis on singles at this point in the band's career over whole-album compositions also contributed to this being the best-selling Beatles song, as some of their albums, like Sergeant Pepper's, have sold over 32 million copies.