On November 13, 2000, The Beatles’ album 1 – an accumulation of every No. 1 hit The Beatles had in the United Kingdom and the United States – was released. Getting a No. 1 song is very tough. Some musicians have done it a few times. The Beatles, though? This album has 27 songs on it. And this is just their No. 1 hits, mind you; they’ve had plenty of other songs chart that are also fondly remembered and super popular. But even a band like The Beatles has some songs further down their discography. These are the, for wont of a better word, “overlooked.” So, we decided to rank them.
How did we measure this? With cold, hard logic. All songs that charted, or were released as A-side singles, were excluded. So were any songs that have showed up on the band’s various greatest-hits compilations. This includes the 1962-1966 and 1967-1970 albums. And even with all that, this list will still have a lot of popular songs you’ve heard of. To which we say: Of course it does. They are The Beatles. Still, by the standards of arguably the biggest band of all-time, these songs are the sleepers of a storied catalog. We’ve chosen 27 of them, for symmetry reasons.
A quick note on the videos below. The Beatles may be the biggest band in the history of music, but they also have a strange, iffy internet presence. As such, a lot of these videos have Spanish subtitles. One is taken from a Beatles-centric version of Rock Band. Another comes from a Beatles cartoon that… well, to say it doesn’t age well would seem to imply that there was ever a point where it wasn’t questionable. In the end, we did our best.
27. “Think for Yourself”
Album: Rubber Soul
Writer: George Harrison
26. “Two of Us”
Album: Let It Be
Writer: Paul McCartney
25. “Dig a Pony”
Album: Let It Be
Writer: John Lennon
24. “Here, There, and Everywhere”
Album: Revolver
Writer: Paul McCartney
23. “If I Needed Someone”
Album: Rubber Soul
Writer: George Harrison
22. “Julia”
Album: The White Album
Writer: John Lennon
21. “I’ve Got a Feeling”
Album: Let It Be
Writer: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
20. “Tomorrow Never Knows”
Album: Revolver
Writer: John Lennon
19. “Long, Long, Long”
Album: The White Album
Writer: George Harrison
18. “It Won’t Be Long”
Album: With The Beatles
Writer: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
17. “Rocky Raccoon”
Album: The White Album
Writer: Paul McCartney
16. “I’m So Tired”
Album: The White Album
Writer: John Lennon
15. “Oh! Darling”
Album: Abbey Road
Writer: Paul McCartney
14. “Any Time at All”
Album: A Hard Day’s Night
Writer: John Lennon
13. “Sexy Sadie”
Album: The White Album
Writer: John Lennon
12. “For No One”
Album: Revolver
Writer: Paul McCartney
11. “Blackbird”
Album: The White Album
Writer: Paul McCartney
10. “She Said, She Said”
Album: Revolver
Writer: John Lennon
9. “Across the Universe”
Album: Let It Be
Writer: John Lennon
8. “You Won’t See Me”
Album: Rubber Soul
Writer: Paul McCartney
7. “I’ve Just Seen a Face”
Album: Help!
Writer: Paul McCartney
6. “Helter Skelter”
Album: The White Album
Writer: Paul McCartney
5. “Happiness Is a Warm Gun”
Album: The White Album
Writer: John Lennon
4. “No Reply”
Album: Beatles for Sale
Writer: John Lennon
3. “She’s Leaving Home”
Album: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Writer: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
2. “And Your Bird Can Sing”
Album: Revolver
Writer: John Lennon
1. “Dear Prudence”
Album: The White Album
Writer: John Lennon
