‘Green, Green Grass of Home’ – Tom Jones

Out of all of the artists you’ll see on this list, Tom Jones is the one who still has a voice which sounds unaffected by age. When you hear him sing in 2026, it’s just as good as hearing him in 1966, which is pretty damn impressive, and it was that beautiful voice which led to his single ‘Green, Green Grass of Home’ climbing to the top of the charts and becoming one of the best-selling songs of the whole decade.

Jones decided he wanted to record his own version of the song after hearing a cover by Jerry Lee Lewis, saying, “I used to collect anything Jerry Lee Lewis recorded, and still do. I was in New York in 1965 when I bought his country album Country Songs For City Folks. ‘Green Green Grass of Home’ stuck out.”

‘It’s Now or Never’ – Elvis Presley

The ‘60s were a frustrating time for a lot of artists like Elvis Presley, as new bands such as The Beatles became the biggest in the world, and his style of music was slowly but surely pushed to the side. That being said, there were still glimpses of success here and there, and at one point, that came in the form of ‘It’s Now or Never’.

The track was released at the very beginning of the decade and is the byproduct of what he was listening to while in the army. Upon being stationed in Germany, Elvis came across the track ‘O Sole Mio’ by Italian artist Giuseppe Anselmi and fell in love with it. As soon as he was discharged, he started writing ‘It’s Now or Never’, which uses the same chord progression, and, needless to say, listeners loved it.

‘Release Me’ – Engelbert Humperdinck

There is something to be said about recording a version of a country classic which has previously been covered by hundreds of artists and producing what is arguably one of the best renditions. The definitive ‘best’ is obviously subjective, but if we’re using record sales as an indicator, there’s no escaping the superiority of Engelbert Humperdinck’s offering.

The original version hardly got any attention, but it was picked up by the country singer Jimmy Heap in the ‘50s, and since then, the biggest names in the genre, such as Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Roger Miller and Chet Atkins, have all recorded their own renditions. In the ‘60s, Humperdinck had a great deal of success with his version, as the song was loved by all who heard it, and became one of the best-selling tracks of the decade.

‘We Can Work It Out’ – The Beatles

Get used to seeing The Beatles’ name on this list, for it comes up a lot; the ‘60s really were a decade dedicated to the Fab Four, not only because of the music that they released but because of how much they influenced other musicians who started writing around the same time. So much of that decade’s sound can be traced back to the boys from Liverpool, and one of their most played records was ‘We Can Work It Out’.

The song was written by Paul McCartney about his relationship with his partner, Jane Asher, and as the title may suggest, they had their issues, which led to the two eventually splitting for good in 1968. The song was released while the band were working on Rubber Soul, with ‘Day Tripper’ appearing on the other side of the track, something which confused fans as they didn’t know which one was supposed to be the B-side. Both songs were of such high quality they could pass as singles, and so people played both en masse.

‘The Carnival Is Over’ – The Seekers

Interestingly, Tom Springfield (yes, the brother of Dusty) was a pretty prolific songwriter, and so while not being in The Seekers, he did write a plethora of tracks for them. One of them was ‘The Carnival Is Over’, which wasn’t just one of The Seekers’ greatest hits, but one of the biggest hits in the UK throughout the entire decade. 

“That was a great song that still lives today,” said Judith Durham from the band, “It is a perennial favorite and it is sung at weddings. We were very, very blessed to have met Tom Springfield as he never compromised the integrity of the group and he never got us to do things that we didn’t want to do.”

‘I Feel Fine’ – The Beatles

We’re in a pre-Hendrix age when ‘I Feel Fine’ is initially being recorded, which means that feedback doesn’t have any artistic merit, it’s a technical malfunction and has no place on a record. When John Lennon leaned his guitar against his amp and Paul McCartney played a note on the bass, it gave rise to a strange loop containing feedback, which was unconventional at the time, sure, but the band loved it, and so they kept it in.

Not only was this a great song, but it’s also a good example of the relationship the band had with producer George Martin. A lot of other names in the industry would have been adamant on stripping that feedback sound from the record, but Martin saw the appeal and let it be.

“He’d let us experiment like nutty professors,” said McCartney. No wonder Martin was so often called the fifth Beatle.

‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ – The Beatles

In their early work, The Beatles wrote about love like it was going out of fashion, such that one of the reasons friction started to develop within the band was because members wanted to move away from the topic and touch upon something more profound. You can see where they’re coming from creatively, but some of these early tracks are so beautiful that they still carry merit despite some of the more adventurous tracks The Beatles went on to record. 

One of those early songs, which some would call over-simplistic compared to their later work, is ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’. It’s a gorgeous tune that continues to get toes tapping around the world even today, six decades after it was originally released. McCartney said that despite rumours, it wasn’t literally about paying for love, but rather, the track tried to discuss the factors within love that are non-negotiable.

‘Tears’ – Ken Dodd

Ken Dodd is known by many as a comedian; however, he came from a very musical family and had an excellent singing voice. As such, he recorded a fair few singles, but none did better than his song ‘Tears’. Dodd put his excellent vocals to the cover and wound up recording the most-played song in 1965, making Liverpool the source of the most dominating musical force from that year, but not in the form of The Beatles.

“It had been a waltz, and we thought we’d have a hit if we did it four beats to the bar. The disc-jockeys hated it. They couldn’t find words that were bad enough to say about it, but it didn’t matter,” said Dodd when discussing the song, “The public was ready for a tuneful, singalong song and you can’t keep a good song down.”

‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ – The Beatles

This was one of those songs that immediately captured the hearts of people within range to hear it; for many, this was the first Beatles song that they heard, and it didn’t pull any punches. Straight away, everyone who listened knew that they were a part of history, as one of the biggest bands in the world began to surface.

One of those affected was Bruce Springsteen, who recalled, “‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ came on the radio in 1964. That was going to change my life because I was going to successfully pick the guitar up and learn how to play.”

‘She Loves You’ – The Beatles

Finally, the most played song of the decade, and it won’t come as a surprise that the top spot is also reserved for The Beatles. While so many of their songs throughout these ten years resonated with the public, ‘She Loves You’ was the one that really captured both the hearts and minds of everyone who listened, with the track on repeat everywhere, as people were reminded of just how fun and loving music could be.

“There was a Bobby Rydell song out at the time, ‘Forget Him’, and, as often happens, you think of one song when you write another,” said McCartney, discussing the writing process, adding, “We were in a van up in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. I’d planned an answering song where a couple of us would sing ‘She loves you’ and the other ones would answer ‘Yeah, yeah’. We decided that was a crummy idea, but at least we then had the idea of a song called ‘She Loves You’. So we sat in the hotel bedroom for a few hours and wrote it; John and I, sitting on twin beds with guitars.”