The Beatles are mobbed by adoring fans after landing at Kennedy Airport to start their first U.S. tour. Later in the day, the Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan's TV show, becoming the first British rock group to perform on U.S. television. The group played "I Want to Hold Your Hand," from their album Meet the Beatles, which became the fastest-selling album in U.S. history to date.

Perhaps the most influential musical group of all time, the Beatles led the rock-music revolution called the "British Invasion" and scored more No. 1 hits on the Billboard charts than any other group in history, with 20 chart toppers.

The band's roots traced back to the late 1950s, when John Lennon's group, the Quarreymen, played at a church picnic near Liverpool. There, Lennon met Paul McCartney, and the two soon began writing songs together, and McCartney joined the group. The group changed their name to Johnny and the Moondogs and recruited McCartney's friend George Harrison. After bassist Stu Sutcliffe joined, they changed the name again, to the Silver Beetles, eventually modified to the Beatles. Tommy Moore joined the band as drummer and was replaced by Pete Best in 1960.

Sutcliffe left in 1961 to become a painter (he died of a brain hemorrhage less than a year later), and the band returned to Liverpool. Label after label rejected them, but in 1962 Best left the band, Ringo Starr joined up, and they recorded "Love Me Do," their first Top 20 hit in the United Kingdom. Two years later, they were introduced to a wide American audience.

As the band evolved, it experimented with musical styles, ranging from the simple ("I Want to Hold Your Hand") to the innovative ("Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," which used electronic music and a sitar). The shaggy-haired stars were among the first rock bands to write most of their own material. They received the Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1965 at Buckingham Palace, and their immense popularity prompted Lennon to tell a newspaper reporter, "We're more popular than Jesus Christ right now."

The band broke up in 1970, and each member went on to pursue a solo career or form a new group. Although there was frequent speculation about the possibility of a reunion, Lennon's tragic murder by a deranged fan in 1980 ended that possibility forever.

Eight years later, the Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a retrospective anthology was released in 1995. It included the previously unrecorded "Free as a Bird," written by Lennon and recorded by surviving band members in 1994 and 1995. It became one of the fastest-selling albums in history.