US album release: Meet The Beatles!

Meet The Beatles!, the band’s first LP on Capitol Records, was released in America on 20 January 1964.

It came out while The Beatles were in Paris, just three days after they were told ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ had reached number one in America.

Meet The Beatles! album artwork - USA

Capitol had been slow to pick up on The Beatles’ potential, and the smaller Vee-Jay label had issued the Introducing The Beatles album 10 days before Meet The Beatles!. Capitol was a sister company to Parlophone, and both were subsidiaries of EMI.

Meet The Beatles! was a huge success, capitalising on the public’s growing demand for the group’s music. The Beatles themselves arrived in America on 7 February 1964, two days before their famous first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The album entered the Billboard Top LPs chart at number 92 on 1 February 1964. Two weeks later it topped the chart, where it remained for eleven consecutive weeks until it was replaced by The Beatles’ Second Album.

Last updated: 14 November 2022
The Beatles live: Olympia Theatre, Paris
The Beatles live: Olympia Theatre, Paris
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