On this day in 1963, The Beatles’ career begins its meteoric rise as their debut album reaches number one in the UK

Following the success of the bands first two singles, Love Me Do and Please Please Me, an album also titled Please Please Me was quickly announced to capitalise on this unexpected surge in popularity.  

Aside from the already released singles, the majority of Please Please Me was recorded in a single, lengthy recording session at EMI Studios on the 11th of February. The songs used were simply the groups usual stage repertoire, which helped capture an authentic representation of the sounds of this early Cavern Club era. The entire session cost only £400 (equivalent to £8,600 in 2020), a far cry from some of their later, more extravagant albums.

After reaching the UK’s top spot, the album remained there for a further 30 weeks, a record at the time. Please Please Me also broke the record for being the first non-soundtrack album to spend more than one year in the top ten, which was only broken in 2013. Please Please Me is now considered one of the greatest and most significant albums of the rock era, that helped lay the foundations for the careers of arguably the most significant and influential musical artists of all time.