Who were the first British Invasion band to top the US charts after The Beatles?
When it came to the first British invasion of the American pop charts, The Beatles were the undisputed leaders. In fact, no one since the Fab Four has ever surpassed their total of 20 number one singles in the Billboard Hot 100, from Britain, the United States or anywhere else.
The group from Liverpool wasn’t the first British band to top the US charts, though. The Tornados took that mantle in the second half of 1962 with their space rock instrumental piece ‘Telstar’. Nor were The Beatles the last of the British Invasion.
Following their landmark tour of the East Coast in February 1964, an array of other bands followed them Stateside, riding the wave of euphoria among American teens under the spell of Beatlemania. It took some time before other British groups were able to carve out their own niches, however.
After their first US number one single ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, The Beatles had four further Billboard chart-toppers before another band from across the pond could get a look-in. At one stage, John, Paul, George and Ringo famously had all five spots at the top of the US singles chart to themselves.
Then finally another band arrived to take their place at the top of the pile, even if it was just for three weeks. The Rolling Stones would rival The Beatles for fans and chart-toppers throughout the second half of the 1960s, but in September 1964 they were still almost a year away from their first US number one. No, instead this band was another that hailed from a northern English industrial town.
If not the Stones, then who?
The Animals were a troupe of blues enthusiasts from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, close to the Scottish border with England. They reached the summit of the American charts with only their second single, two and a half months after its June 1964 release. By contrast, The Beatles themselves had released four singles in the UK over the course 16 months before they even entered the US chart.
This first non-Beatles number one by a British band stateside was a radical new arrangement of a blues standard, based on a version they’d heard of it played by Bob Dylan on his debut album. The Animals were touring the UK with Chuck Berry in early 1964, and wanted to play a song that would stand out, with a totally different sound from anything else either they or Berry played.
They achieved this sound on ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ thanks to lead singer Eric Burdon’s rasping vocal howls and Alan Price’s legendary organ arrangement. In addition to its groundbreaking chart success, their recording of the song influenced the early pioneers of the folk rock genre – like Dylan, who invited Price on his 1965 tour of England – and blues-inflected psych rock artists like The Doors.
The group scored nine further top 20 hits in the US before their break-up in 1969. But they never topped their first great record, one which blazed a trail not only for other British Invasion bands but for the entirety of rock music to follow.
