Number One Hits of 1964 - Part 3 Quiz

Answer: The Beatles

Another double sided number one in Australia for the Beatles. "I Saw Her Standing There" backed with "Love Me Do" went to number one in February of 1964. In the UK "I saw Her Standing There" was not released as a single and "Love Me Do" had been a hit in 1962.

In the USA "I saw Her Standing There" went to number fourteen on the Billboard Hot 100 having been released as the flipside of "I Want To Hold Your Hand". "Love Me Do" went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, the flipside of the American release was "P.S. I Love You".

Answer: The Beatles

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" was number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, number one for six weeks in the UK and number one for five weeks in Australia until replaced by another Beatles record.
The flipside of this record was different in Australia, UK and the USA. In the USA it was "I Saw Her Standing There". In the UK it was "This Boy" in Australia the b-side was "I'll Get You"
My research shows "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was number one in over seventy countries in 1964.

Answer: Herman's Hermits

Early in 1964 Earl Jean fronting The Cookies had a top forty hit with "I'm Into Something Good". Later that same year a British group from Manchester, Herman's Hermits, turned "I'm Into Something Good" into a number one hit. The record hit number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100 and number eleven in Australia.
In the UK the song topped the charts for three weeks.

Herman's Hermits between mid 1964 and end of 1969 placed 25 singles on the charts and like many groups of the sixties split up in the early seventies.

Answer: Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas

A second number one on the UK Chart for Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas, "Little Children" stayed on the charts for 13 weeks. "Little Children" made the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Australian charts. Between May 1963 and July 1964 Kramer had five top ten hits in the UK: "Do You Want To Know A Secret", "Bad to Me", "I'll Keep You Satisfied", "Little Children" and "From A Window". All of the songs with the exception of "Little Children" were written By Lennon and McCartney.

Answer: Elvis Presley

"Ain't That Loving You, Baby" backed with "Ask Me" was a double sided number one hit for Elvis Presley in Australia. In the UK "Ask Me" did not chart in its own right but "Ain't That Loving You, Baby" reached number fifteen. On the Billboard Hot 100 "Ask Me" was released as the A-side and reached number twelve and "Ain't That Loving You Baby" made it to number sixteen. "Ain't That Loving You Baby" was a big hit in Australia as it seemed as if Elvis had gone back to his roots; in retrospect this is obvious as it was recorded in June 1958 during a break from basic training.

The songs produced at that session were "Ain't That Loving You, Baby", A Big Hunk O' Love", "A Fool Such As I", "I Got Stung" and "I Need Your Love Tonight" all but "Ain't That Loving You, Baby" were top ten on the Billboard hot 100, or as my friend, an unabashed 77 year old Elvis nut, says, "Every Elvis song was number one somewhere"

Answer: Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs

A number one in Australia for Australian group Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, "Poison Ivy" was their breakthrough hit. Originally recorded by the Coasters in 1959 and a top ten hit for the group, the song was recorded by a number of British invasion groups notably the Rolling Stones and the Searchers. Billy Thorpe (actually born in Manchester UK) heard the Searchers' version and rearranged the song to his style and found fame. The Aztecs comprised Tony Barber, Col Baigent, John Watson and Vince Maloney. Maloney was guitarist with the Bee Gees in England and played on their early hits.

Answer: The Four Pennies

The Four Pennies from Blackburn, Lancashire hit the number one spot on the UK charts in May 1964. The record did not chart in the USA or Australia.
The Four Pennies had half a dozen hits on the UK charts and were very popular and commercially successful in the UK.

The group had disbanded by the end of 1966.

Answer: The Beatles

A double sided number one for the Beatles in Australia, "I Should Have Known Better" / "If I Fell" were both from the movie "A Hard Day's Night". In the USA, "I Should Have Known Better" was released as the b side to "A Hard Day's Night" and reached 53 on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs were not released as singles in the UK.

Answer: Bobby Vinton

"Mr. Lonely" reached the number one spot on the Billboard hot 100 in December 1964 for Bobby Vinton and became one of his signature songs. The record made the top ten in Australia peaking at number four and did not chart in the UK. Bobby Vinton had four number one hits in the USA where he was very popular and indeed between 1962 and 1972 placed forty records on the Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: The Shangri-Las

The Shangri-Las were an all girl group from Queens in New York who hit the charts in April 1964 with "Remember (Walking in the Sand)". Later in 1964 they released "Leader of the Pack" which went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. The record went to number in Australia and in the UK it made it up to number eleven.
In the UK it was reissued in 1972 and climbed up to number three, then again reissued in 1976 where it made number seven. This made "Leader of the Pack" one of those rare recordings to sell a million copies in a country and never get to number one.