Mumford & Sons Accomplished Something Not Done Since The Beatles

Mumford & Sons are to banjos what the Beatles were to the sitar, in that they’re making an instrument rarely heard on mainstream top-40 radio popular, so it’s only fitting that…actually, no, it’s not fitting. The Beatles and Mumford & Sons being in the same record-breaking sentence doesn’t feel right, though not nearly as NOT RIGHT as Glee having more hit singles than the Fab Four. But the Vociferous Vests (I don’t know) have accomplished something not done since the Beatles in 1964.

With five debuts joining “I Will Wait” (No. 57), the lead radio single from Babel, which launched atop the Billboard 200 with the largest sales sum in the U.S. this year – 600,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan – Mumford & Sons is the first band to chart as many as six concurrent Hot 100 titles since the Beatles more than 48 years ago. Debuting are the title cut (No. 60), “Lover’s Eyes” (No. 85), “Whispers in the Dark” (No. 86), “Holland Road” (No. 92) and “Ghosts That We Knew” (No. 94).

No band had logged at least six simultaneous Hot 100 hits since the Fab Four the week of Sept. 19, 1964. That frame featured “A Hard Day’s Night” (No. 12), “And I Love Her” (No. 28), “Matchbox” (No. 32), “Slow Down” (No. 43), “If I Fell” (No. 55) and “Ringo’s Theme (This Boy)” (No. 57). (Via)

They responded not with a celebratory shout, but with a pick of the banjo. A recreation, if you’ll allow.

That squirrel is nuts.

(Via Billboard)

×