1964...see C of L49....P gets the touchstones in America right....

[Mark Kohut]

Gould again, in "Can't Buy Me Love" on the Beatles sez that 1964 was THE peak year of populist popularity in Western (popular) culture in the 60s...
Gould estimates that 60%! of the singles sold in America that year were Beatles singles.....

When "Swinging London"--named by Time Mag two years later---went to America. 

For all you knowledgeable Beatles' lovers on the plist, Gould makes this remark i'd like to hear some thots about: The Beatles break-out to immense
success in England could be traced thru seven years of cultural preparation there, whereas their American success seemed singular, unprepared for........

A...and, in America the Beatles were the first non-American popular music successes at the sweep-the-culture level....all others from Sinatra thru Presley were American......