Paul McCartney - John Lennon - Ringo Starr - George Harrison - 1963 - The Beatles

Credit: Far Out / Alamy

The $30m song that turned The Beatles into a business powerhouse

Sun 1 June 2025 16:29, UK

The Beatles may have been no different from anyone in their personal lives, but the distinct creative avenues they took throughout their career led to them becoming one of the biggest acts in the world to this day. While they had more number one singles than any other group in history, one song built up a vast empire on its own.

When working out of the Cavern Club in the early days, most of the band’s work was covers of rock and roll artists they admired, such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Even though they shared a mix of originals and covers throughout their early studio records, the biggest hits came from when they were building off the foundations established by their musical forefathers, like the relentless teenage angst in ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ and ‘She Loves You’.

Though the Liverpudlians were capable of writing traditional rock songs all day, it paled in comparison to their signature ballads, which would become a staple of their career. While the tracks usually fluctuated between the typical ‘I-love-you’ tracks from any other band at the time, Paul McCartney hit on a bulletproof melody in 1963.

While living at Jane Asher’s house, McCartney started to put the pieces together for what would become ‘Yesterday’. Thinking he had indirectly stolen it from an old jazz tune that his father used to play, McCartney quickly started to adopt the song as his own, playing it between takes of their second major blockbuster, Help.

Although McCartney knew the song was strong, he remembered being embarrassed to show it to the rest of the band, thinking it would ruin their reputation as a seasoned rock and roll outfit. Once producer George Martin heard it, though, the suggestion of adding strings turned the song into a plaintive ballad, as McCartney sings his woes about letting the love of his life slip away.

For all of McCartney’s knack for crafting earworms, ‘Yesterday’ stood apart because it didn’t try to win you over. It just sort of sat there in somewhat strangely timeless fashion. In a catalogue overflowing with harmonic turns and studio invention, this was one voice and one acoustic guitar. The orchestral backing came later, but even that felt like it tiptoed in ever so slightly. There’s a confidence in how bare it is, almost as if McCartney knew the song didn’t need any studio magic to land on the biggest of stages.

What’s arguably more striking, though, is how detached it feels from its moment. This wasn’t a song trying to ride a cultural wave or cash in on the youth rebellion that was stirring up the music scene. It sounded like it could’ve been written in the 1930s just as easily as the ‘60s. In a band that was often framed as a generational voice, this was McCartney pulling back the curtain and revealing something more unguarded.

And despite its runaway success, ‘Yesterday’ didn’t scream for attention. There was no harmony from John Lennon, no shuffle from Ringo on the drums: just one guy quietly regretting something he couldn’t fix. It’s the kind of song that doesn’t ask to be iconic, which is exactly why it became one.

Why ‘Yesterday’ became The Beatles’ most profitable song

Since its release, ‘Yesterday’ has also earned the distinction of being one of the most covered songs in history, with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Aretha Franklin trying their hand at making McCartney’s melody work for them. Combined with the royalties from the covers and the publishing rights, ‘Yesterday’ has earned The Beatles over $30million, a higher sum than any of their other major singles.

Regardless of whether it was rock and roll, the song touched the hearts of fans worldwide in a way that few artists have been able to do. Even though John Lennon shared the song’s publishing with McCartney, he admitted that it was McCartney’s vision from the beginning, saying that he never wished to have written it himself.

While $30m could have easily been enough for any other band to retire, ‘Yesterday’ is still leaving its mark as one of The Beatles’ most celebrated masterpieces. Not bad for a song that wasn’t even put out as a single at first.