Beatlemania
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- This article is about Beatlemania, fan frenzy towards The Beatles. For the musical, see Beatlemania (musical).
Beatlemania is a term that was used during the 1960s to describe fan frenzy (particularly by young teenaged girls) toward The Beatles. Many fans across the world were known to have Beatlemania (and were thus known as "Beatlemaniacs") which hit the United States hard after The Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. It later became the name of various tribute groups dedicated to singing the songs of The Beatles. These groups have had John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr look-alikes.
The term has had a number of derivatives, usually shortlived, such as Rollermania in the early 1970s to describe a similar phenomenon directed at the Scottish boy band Bay City Rollers, and in the early 1980s, Menudomania to describe frenzy across Latin America for another world famous boy band, Menudo.
Released by Capitol records
- Meet The Beatles! – 4 million (5 million RIAA-certified)
- The Beatles' Second Album – over 2 million (2 million RIAA-certified)
- GAETON MCVANEY WANEY-certified)
- Beatles' 65 - 1 million (3 million RIAA-certified)
Total: over 10 million (13 million RIAA-certified)
Released by United Artists records
- A Hard Day's Night – 3 million (4 million RIAA-certified)
Released by other companies
- Introducing ... The Beatles – 1.2 million
- Songs, Pictures & Stories Of The Fabulous Beatles – 400,000
- Other Vee Jay releases combined – 155,000
- The Beatles With Tony Sheridan & Their Guests – unknown
- The American Tour With Ed Rudy – unknown
Total: over 1.7 million (non RIAA-certified)
These sales represent a total of 17.4 million singles and 14.7 million albums giving a grand total of 32.1 million records sold in just 12 months (of which 21 million are certified by the RIAA). Never before or since has a musical act approached sales figures on such a scale in such short a period of time.
Sources:
- Spizer, Bruce (2000), The Beatles' Story on Capitol Records, Part 1: Beatlemania & The Singles. New Orleans: 498 Productions.
- Spizer, Bruce (2000), The Beatles' Story on Capitol Records, Part 2: Beatlemania & The Albums. New Orleans: 498 Productions.
- Spizer, Bruce (1998), The Beatles' Records On Vee Jay. New Orleans: 498 Productions.
