The world received a very big Christmas present on December 24 as most of the Beatles catalog became available on streaming services worldwide, including Spotify, Google Play, Apple Music, Rhapsody, Napster, Tidal, Slacker, Deezer and others. There was much rejoicing (and so many commercials) among fans, even if most probably already had the songs in their collections from their CD buying and downloading days.
What’s interesting is that most people are picking the same tracks to play. What’s beautiful is the selection of “Come Together” more than any other song, at least in the first two weeks of streaming availability. After the messed-up, heart wrenching year that was 2015, could any other Beatles song be more appropriate? But I digress.
Spotify has done the heavy lifting and number crunching for us and has compiled two lists of the most frequently streamed Beatles songs, both in the US and worldwide.
In the US:
- “Come Together”
- “Hey Jude”
- “Here Comes The Sun”
- “Let It Be”
- “Twist And Shout”
- “Blackbird”
- “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
- “In My Life”
- “She Loves You”
- “Help!”
Globally:
- “Come Together”
- “Let It Be”
- “Hey Jude”
- “Love Me Do”
- “Yesterday”
- “Here Comes The Sun”
- “Help!”
- “All You Need Is Love”
- “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
- “Twist And Shout”
Now, it might come as some surprise that the Beatles have held back on releasing every last track, solo and single. But it’s true—a handful of albums, mostly compilations and collections of B-sides and rarities remain unavailable.
Thanks to some digging, The Verge has pointed out that The Beatles Anthology, Let It Be…Naked, Live at the BBC, Love and The Beatles in Mono can’t be streamed yet, but it’s probably a matter of time.
As of Monday, Jan. 6, 11 Beatles albums were in the Top 200 streaming charts, according to MusicWeek.com. The greatest hits compilation 1, re-released on November 6 as 1+, jumped from number 28 to No. 17, with 2,767 of 9,446 sales coming from streaming services. The self-titled album, better known as the White Album, came in second, with 2,825 of 3,553 sales coming from streams, enough to place it at number 48 on the chart.
And for those who aren’t well-versed in all things Beatles, The Federalist has created a cheat sheet of which songs can be skipped when streaming Beatle-y goodness.
“While there are many fantastic songs, ranging from pop standards like ‘Twist and Shout’ to sentimental ballads like ‘Hey Jude,’ there are more than a handful that, I’m sorry to say, are just bad,” writes Andrea Ruth. “There definitely seems to be a threshold for the amount of drugs artists can ingest before their creativity takes a dive into audible garbage. A fair portion of the Beatles’ self-titled ‘White’ album is a perfect example of this.” Included on her list of songs to skip are “Tomorrow Never Knows,” “Wild Honey Pie,” “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road,” and, in what must be a joke or complete departure from her senses, “Helter Skelter.”
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