58 Years Ago, The Beatles Released a No. 1 Hit That Changed the Rules of Radio Men's Journal

The Beatles helped revolutionize music in several incalculable ways, from re-energizing the British music scene to popularizing the concept album, but one of the smaller — but still significant — ways the Fab Four changed the creative landscape was rewriting the rules of what could be a radio hit.

“Hey Jude,” the 1968 standalone single penned by Paul McCartney, clocked in at 7 minutes and 12 seconds, around twice the length of an average pop single the band would be competing alongside for the coveted #1 spot on the charts.

To make matters worse, the second half of the song simply repeats a variation of “Nah, nah nah, nah nah, nah, nah, nah nah/ Hey, Jude” for at least 3 and a half minutes. While this creative decision has since made the anthem a crowd favorite at sports events (most recently, England’s 2026 World Cup stint, as an ode to Jude Bellingham), as well as McCartney’s concerts, there were concerns that this would be cut by radio stations, comprising on McCartney’s “fade-out to end all fade-outs,” as described in a 2018 retrospective on the song by The Guardian.

George Martin, the Beatles’ longtime producer, warned that the length would discourage DJs from playing the song altogether, clipping its commercial success. Lennon, however, offered his signature defiance in response: “They will if it’s us.”

Lennon’s pragmatism proved to be correct, with the song staying on top of the Billboard Hot 100 for 9 weeks, from September 28 to November 23, 1968, and broke the record for the then-longest #1 single in U.S. chart history — as well as the longest in song length.

Source: mensjournal.com/Bethany Gemmell

Read More<<<