{"id":578670,"date":"2026-04-11T22:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T22:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/578670\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T22:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T22:14:09","slug":"on-the-charts-56-years-ago-the-beatles-hit-no-1-for-the-19th-time-in-six-years-with-an-anthem-for-an-entire-generation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/578670\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Charts 56 Years Ago, The Beatles Hit No. 1 for the 19th Time in Six Years With an Anthem for an Entire Generation"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s impossible to pinpoint which of the Fab Four<\/a>\u2019s songs are the most memorable and enduring. So many of their hits resonate with different people for different reasons. However, one can\u2019t deny that one of their final hit songs, \u201cLet It Be\u201d, is one for the ages.<\/p>\n

And on this very day, April 11, 1970, \u201cLet It Be\u201d hit No. 1<\/a> on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US after debuting on the chart on March 21, 1970. It would stay at the top for two weeks. And it remained on the chart in some fashion for 14 entire weeks.<\/p>\n

The Unstoppable Legacy of \u201cLet It Be\u201d by The Beatles<\/p>\n

\u201cLet It Be\u201d was released as a single and the title track off the band\u2019s final album, released in 1970. The anthemic, stunning tune was written and sung by Paul McCartney. Most know the song by the version released as a single in March 1970, which features a softer (and, I\u2019d say, more stunning) guitar solo and a low-mixed orchestra section.<\/p>\n

The inspiration and origin of the song are a bit murky in retrospect. McCartney once said<\/a> that \u201cLet It Be\u201d was inspired by a dream he had about his late mother, in which she told him \u201cIt will be all right, just let it be.\u201d However, The Beatles\u2019 road manager, Malcolm Evans<\/a>, claimed that McCartney wrote the song after having a vision of Evans during a meditative session in India in 1968.<\/p>\n

When the song debuted on the Hot 100 chart, it had the distinction of having the highest debut on the chart, starting at No. 6. Following its release, \u201cLet It Be\u201d earned many accolades from critics and fans alike. One writer for High Fidelity magazine claimed that the song was \u201cthe best thing musically that McCartney has done.\u201d Others praised the song for its uplifting and encouraging message.<\/p>\n

However, one individual who wasn\u2019t a fan of the song was, interestingly enough, John Lennon. In his famous 1980 Playboy<\/a> interview, Lennon said, \u201cThat\u2019s Paul. What can you say? Nothing to do with the Beatles. It could\u2019ve been Wings. I don\u2019t know what he\u2019s thinking when he writes \u2018Let It Be\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The track would remain the Fab Four\u2019s final single before McCartney inevitably announced he would be leaving the band, followed shortly after by the group\u2019s disbandment.<\/p>\n

Photo by Hans J. Hoffmann\/ullstein bild via Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s impossible to pinpoint which of the Fab Four\u2019s songs are the most memorable and enduring. So many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,2156,13979],"class_list":["post-578670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-rock-music","tag-the-beatles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}