The Beatles: All US Number Ones Ranked Worst To Best
14. A Hard Day's Night
5th Number One, 1964 - Written by John Lennon
The Beatles are so revered as rock-and-roll legends that it's easy to forget they were also big movie stars - even if their acting career was incidental to their music.
In order to put out more material, the Fab Four explored a loophole in their contract, which allowed them to record soundtrack albums with other labels. Problem is, for there to be a movie soundtrack, there had to be a movie. And so A Hard Day's Night was born, as the first full-length Beatles picture.
John wrote the film's accompanying theme, inspired by something Ringo had said after a recording session. The titular expression has entered into the English lexicon, and the image of The Beatles running from a screaming horde of fans in the movie's opening, set to this song, is one of the most iconic images associated with the band. By itself, though, A Hard Day's Night is a single that gets eclipsed by the other chart-toppers from their early years.
Fun Fact: Several verses of this song were adapted from a birthday card sent by a fan to John's son, Julian. The card is now on display at the British Library, with some of John's handwritten lyrics handwritten in the back.