From the MCRFB NEWS archive: 1964
British Beatles Hottest Capitol Singles Ever
HOLLYWOOD — The Beatles’ Capitol single, “I Want To Hold Your Hand” this week jumps aboard Billboard’s Hot 100 chart for the first time, landing at the No. 45 spot 10 days after the record hit the market, thus becoming the fastest-breaking disk in the labels history.
According to Capitol, dealer orders passed the million mark at press time with the new York City market alone responsible for 294,000. Billboard learned that Capitol called for a Record Industry Association of America audit for sales.
The label hopes to get RIAA certification in time so that Capitol President Alan Livingston will be able to present Britain’s Beatles with a gold record award when they arrive here February 7.
Capitol’s artist and repertoire Vice-President Voyle Gilmore told Billboard his company has shipped 640,000 copies during the first week of the disk’s release.
This surpasses the label’s all-time fast-breaking singles, Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “Sixteen Tons,” and the Kingston Trio’s “Tom Dooley.” To Keep pace with the demand, Capitol has had it’s plants in Scranton, Pa., and Los Angeles on 24-hour production schedules, and found it necessary to farm out 200,000 Beatle pressings to RCA Victor.
At week’s end, Capitol’s Livingston ordered the immediate release of its “Meet The Beatles” album, which had been scheduled for issue January 20. This stepped up pace, Livingston said, resulted from “pressure too great for us to hold back any longer.”
England’s hit act is scheduled for three appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show immediately after the band’s arrival here, the first to be telecast February 9, the second on February 16, and the final one to be pre-taped in Miami for a March show. The group appeared on the Jack Parr show on a film clip several weeks ago. END
BILLBOARD LATE SINGLE SPOTLIGHTS 
MEET THE BEATLES — Capitol T 2047 (M); ST 2047 (S) — The Beatles, Britain’s prize group with the Liverpool sound, have created a great stir here. Their initial single “I Want To Hold Your Hand” is already well up the charts and this album, rushed out to cash in on the publicity splurge, should move out rapidly. For full review and cover reproduction see next week’s Billboard. END
___
(Information and news source: Billboard; January 18, 1964)
