1965 #1 Singles Albums
and more…
January
December 26, 1964 – January 15, 1965, The Beatles: “I Feel Fine” #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In January: Albert Ayler’s Spiritual Unity album released. “Ayler was among the most primal of the free jazz musicians of the 1960s; critic John Litweiler wrote that ‘never before or since has there been such naked aggression in jazz.’ He possessed a deep blistering tone—achieved by using the stiff plastic Fibrecane no. 4 reeds on his tenor saxophone—and used a broad, pathos-filled vibrato.”
January 2 – 8, 1965: Elvis Presley’s Roustabout soundtrack is the Billboard #1 album.
Teenage Culture
January 8, 1965: in response to ABC-TV’s Shindig!, Hullabaloo premieres on NBC. The first show included performances by The New Christy Minstrels, comedian Woody Allen, actress Joey Heatherton and a segment from London in which Brian Epstein introduced The Zombies and Gerry & the Pacemakers.
January 9 – March 12, 1965, The Beatles: Beatles ’65 is the Billboard #1 album.
January 16 – 22, 1965: “Come See About Me” by the Supremes #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It had already been #1 in December.
1965 #1 Singles Albums
February
February 6 – 19, 1965: “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” by the Righteous Brothers #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1999, BMI listed the song as the one most often played on American radio and television in the 20th century, with some 8 million plays.
February 20 – March 5, 1965: “This Diamond Ring” by Gary Lewis and the Playboys #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1965 #1 Singles Albums
March
March 6 – 12, 1965: “My Girl” by the Temptations #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
March 13 – 26, 1965, The Beatles: “Eight Days a Week” #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
March 13 –19, 1965: the Mary Poppins soundtrack is the Billboard #1 album.
March 20 – April 9, 1965: the Goldfinger soundtrack is the Billboard #1 album.
March 27, 1965: Bob Dylan released Bringing It All Back Home, his fifth studio album. The album’s cover photographed by Daniel Kramer features Sally Grossman (wife of Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman) lounging in the background. There are also artifacts scattered around the room, including LPs by The Impressions (Keep on Pushing), Robert Johnson (King of the Delta Blues Singers), Ravi Shankar (India’s Master Musician), Lotte Lenya (Sings Berlin Theatre Songs by Kurt Weill) and Eric Von Schmidt (The Folk Blues of Eric Von Schmidt). Dylan had “met” Schmidt “one day in the green pastures of Harvard University” and would later mimic his album cover pose (tipping his hat) for his own Nashville Skyline four years later.
1965 #1 Singles Albums
April
Apr 10 – 23, 1965: “I’m Telling You Now” by Freddy and the Dreamers #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
April 10 – July 9, 1965: the Mary Poppins soundtrack returns to the Billboard #1 album spot.
April 12, 1965: The Byrds released their first single, Mr Tambourine Man. It will become the Billboard #1 on June 26. Helped introduce many to Bob Dylan.
April 24 – 30, 1965: “Game of Love” by Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1965 #1 Singles Albums
May
May 1 – 21, 1965: “Mrs Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” by Herman’s Hermits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Grateful Dead
May 5, 1965: the Warlocks,’ who would later be known as ‘The Grateful Dead,’ played their first show, at Magoo’s Pizza Parlor in Menlo Park, California.
Teenage Culture & Fear of Rock
May 17, 1965: the FBI had launched a formal investigation in 1964 into the supposedly pornographic lyrics of the song “Louie, Louie.” That investigation finally neared its conclusion on this day in 1965, when the FBI Laboratory declared the lyrics of “Louie Louie” to be officially unintelligible.
May 22 – 28, 1965, The Beatles: “Ticket to Ride” #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
May 29 – June 11, 1965 – “Help Me Ronda” by Beach Boys #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1965 #1 Singles Albums
June
June 14, 1965, The Beatles: release of Beatles VI. (the 6th Capitol label album released)
Bob Dylan
June 14, 1965: The Byrds release their second single, All I Really Want to Do. It reached #40 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Byrds
June 21, 1965: the Byrds’ debut album, Mr. Tambourine Man, marked the beginning of the folk-rock revolution. In just a few months, the Byrds had become a household name, with a #1 single and a smash-hit album that married the ringing guitars and backbeat of the British Invasion with the harmonies and lyrical depth of folk to create an entirely new sound.
Mr. Tambourine Man
June 26 – July 2, 1965: “Mr. Tambourine Man” by the Byrds #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1965 #1 Singles Albums
July
July 3 – 9 – “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” by the Four Tops #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
July 10 – August 6, 1965: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first of five #1 Billboard Hot 100 songs in the 1960s.
July 10 – August 20, 1965, The Beatles: Beatles VI is the Billboard #1 album.
Bob Dylan
July 25, 1965: Dylan played Newport Folk Festival. many in audience booed his performance for playing electric set with The Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Joan Baez and Donovan also play sets.
1965 #1 Singles Albums
August
Future Woodstock Performers
August 1965: The Lovin’ Spoonful (John Sebastian age 19) released their first single, “Do You Believe in Magic”
August 7 – 13, 1965: “I’m Henry the VIII I Am” by Herman’s Hermits #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
August 13, 1965, The Beatles US release of Help! lp.
August 14, 1965, The Beatles appeared live on the Ed Sullivan Show for the last time. [I Feel Fine > I’m Down > Act Naturally.
August 14 – September 3, 1965: “I Got You Babe” by Sonny and Cher #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
August 15, 1965: at 8 pm EST The Beatles took the stage at Shea Stadium in New York City, marking the very first time a rock band would headline a stadium concert and a major victory for promoter Sid Bernstein, who had arranged the gig after his gamble of booking the then-unknown group at Carnegie Hall had paid off. Tickets for the show, sold merely by word of mouth created by kids who asked Bernstein about the next Beatles show while he strolled in Central Park, sold out in just three weeks, beating the stadium’s old seating record with 56,000 seats sold.
Two thousand professionals were pressed into service for security. The concert, filmed for BBC and NBC both, also featured openers Brenda Holloway, The King Curtis Band, and Bernstein’s new obsession, The Young Rascals.
August 21 – September 10, 1965: The Rolling Stones’ Out of Our Heads Billboard #1 album.
Bob Dylan
August 28, 1965: from The College of Rock and Roll Facebook page: Dylan kicked off his tour at NYC’s Forest Hills Tennis Stadium. This show is legendary, and for anyone who doubts that 1965 audiences heaped great scorn on Bob Dylan and his electric crew, all they need to do is listen to a a tape of the concert to hear the audience’s point of view. There was so much hostility directed toward the stage that it’s frightening. Coming as it does after the shocking Newport appearance with members of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the audience for the Forest Hills show pretty much knew what to expect, and the majority showed extreme displeasure during the electric half.
The first set, which was acoustic, was very well received. The crowd was quiet and respectful for the 45 minute opening set, which followed a typical top-40 disk jockey introduction more appropriate for a Dave Clark Five concert than a Bob Dylan concert. This show featured the debut of “Desolation Row”, from the Highway 61 album which was yet to be released (only a few days away, in fact). It’s a great performance and it went over very well with the crowd, who laughed appreciatively at the lyrics. It must have been amazing to sit there and hear a brand new masterpiece like “Desolation Row”.
After the well received acoustic half came to an end with “Mr. Tambourine Man”, the band set up for the second half. No doubt the crowd was gearing up for the hostility that was to follow. The crowd is so loud and belligerent at times that it becomes extremely hard to hear the music, but what can be heard is awesome. Levon lays down a muscular beat that drives the music forward and Robbie plays tough blues licks as only he can. Al Kooper pretty much plays the way only Al Kooper can.
August 30, 1965: Bob Dylan released Highway 61 Revisited album. His sixth studio album.
1965 #1 Singles Albums
September
September 4 – 24, 1965: from the Beatles’ second movie, “Help!” #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100.
September 11 – November 12, 1965: the soundtrack to the Beatles’ Help! the Billboard #1 album.
September 12, 1965: August 14 taped Beatles performance broadcast on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Taped before a live studio audience at Studio 50 in NY. The Beatles perform: 1) I Feel Fine 2) I’m Down 3) Act Naturally 4) Ticket to Ride 5) Yesterday 6) Help!
September 13, 1965: Beatles released the Paul McCartney composition ‘Yesterday‘ as a single in the US. The final recording was so different from other works by The Beatles that the band members vetoed the release of the song as a single in the United Kingdom. (However, it was issued as a single there in 1976.)
September 15, 1965: Otis Redding released his Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul containing his composition “Respect”
September 25 – October 1, 1965: “Eve of Destruction” by Barry McGuire #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1965 #1 Singles Albums
October
Paul Butterfield
In October, 1965: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band album released. (Paul Butterfield age 23)
Jimi Hendrix
In October 1965: recorded a single with Curtis Knight, “How Would You Feel” backed with “Welcome Home.”
October 2 – 8, 1965, “Hang on Sloopy” by the McCoys #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
October 9 – November 5, 1965: the Beatles’ “Yesterday” #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1965 #1 Singles Albums
November
Rock Venues
November 5, 1965: promoter Bill Graham put on his first show, a benefit for the radical San Francisco Mime Troupe at the Calliope Warehouse in San Francisco. He did it to raise money for a legal defense fund for a member of the troupe who been arrested a few days earlier. The troupe’s offices were in the warehouse and they figured they could hold about 400 – 500 people. The donation to get in was “at least $1.00”. About 4000 people showed up.
For entertainment, Bill hired a band who also rehearsed in the same warehouse. The band was the Jefferson Airplane. They played 3 songs. Also on the bill were The Fugs and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
November 6 – 19, 1965, “Get Off My Cloud” by the Rolling Stones #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
November 20 – December 3, 1965, “I Hear a Symphony” by the Supremes #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Arlo Guthrie
November 26, 1965: Arlo Guthrie arrested in Great Barrington, MA for littering on Thanksgiving in the nearby town of Stockbridge. The resulting events and adventure would be immortalized in the song “Alice’s Restaurant.”
Ken Kesey
November 27, 1965: Ken Kesey began his Acid Tests, a series of parties held in the San Francisco Bay Area centered entirely around the use of, experimentation with, and advocacy of LSD. It included the first performance by The Grateful Dead, still known as The Warlocks.
November 27, 1965 – January 7, 1966 – Herb Albert’s Whipped Cream and Other Delights the Billboard #1 album. The album cover is considered a classic pop culture icon. It featured model Dolores Erickson wearing chiffon and shaving cream. The picture was taken at a time when Erickson was three months pregnant.
1965 #1 Singles Albums
December
Hey Joe
In December 1965: The Leaves released single of “Hey Joe” later covered by Jimi Hendrix.
The Who
December 3, 1965: The Who [Pete Townshend, 20; Keith Moon, 19; Roger Daltrey, 21; and John Entwistle, 21] released My Generation album.
Grateful Dead
December 4, 1965: the Dead play their first show as the Grateful Dead (formerly the Warlocks) in San Jose, CA at one of Ken Kesey’s Acid Tests. (Jerry Garcia, age 23; Phil Lesh, age 25; Pigpen, age 20; Bob Weir, age 18; Bill Kreutzmann, age 19) Owsley Bear Stanley participated for the first time.
December 4, 1965, “Turn! Turn! Turn!” by the Byrds #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
December 6, 1965, The Beatles: release of Rubber Soul in the US. Different and omitted track from the one issued in the UK earlier in December upset the Beatles.
Roots of Rock
December 13, 1965: it was announced that the Federal Communications Commission gave formal consideration to requests from radio broadcasters seeking exemption from a proposed rule that their FM stations must cease duplicating AM programs by 50 per cent.
December 25 – December 31, 1965, “Over and Over” by the Dave Clark 5 #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- Link to Billboard #1 Singles of 1965
- Link to Billboard #1 Albums of 1965
- Link to my “1966 #1 Singles and Albums” page