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The Beatles play The Ed Sullivan Show
Their first live US TV appearance
The Beatles performed live on The Ed Sullivan Show to an estimated 73 million US viewers. The broadcast is often seen as the start of the British Invasion of American pop music.
The Beatles had flown into New York two days earlier, on February 7, 1964, greeted by crowds of fans. Their single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was already at the top of the US charts, and the appearance had been arranged months earlier by their manager Brian Epstein with Sullivan's booker. Tickets to the CBS studio in New York were in very high demand.
They played five songs across two sets that evening: "All My Loving," "Till There Was You," "She Loves You," "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The estimated audience of 73 million was more than 60 percent of US television viewers that night, a record for the time.
The broadcast is widely credited with opening the door for other British acts to reach American audiences, including the Rolling Stones and the Dave Clark Five. Viewer figures from this era come from early Nielsen estimates, so the 73 million figure should be read as approximate.
The performance came about eleven weeks after the assassination of President Kennedy, and many commentators have linked the public mood to the Beatles' quick rise. Ed Sullivan had reportedly seen fans mobbing the band at London Heathrow airport in late 1963, which helped persuade him to book them for three consecutive Sunday shows in February 1964.