How The Beatles ROCKED America!

February 7th is the 50th anniversary of the Beatles' arrival in the US. Relive the excitement in true BuzzFeed style... through gifs!

I Want To Tell You...

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The British Invasion officially became a 'thing' with the arrival in the US of a certain popular four-piece from Liverpool in 1964. They were welcomed with open arms! Well...

Help!

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A frenzy of 3,000 screaming fans greeted the band at JFK airport at 1:20 pm on February 7th, 1964. Over 100 police were assigned to protect them, an honor usually reserved for kings and queens... Well, they might as well have been royalty.

With A Little Help From My Friends

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Their first stop was a performance on the iconic Ed Sullivan Show. Half a million ticket requests came in for a studio that could only seat about 700. Even Sullivan himself had trouble getting tickets. He asked his audience the week before: “If anyone has a ticket for The Beatles on our show next Sunday, could I please borrow it? We need it very badly.”

Come Together

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Over 73 million Americans tuned into watch the Beatles perform on the Ed Sullivan Show on the evening of February 9. That was almost half of the US population, and 20 million more people than lived in the UK at the time!

Give Peace A Chance

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Allegedly, no major crimes were reported during the live show. George Harrison commented: "Even the criminals had a rest for 10 minutes."

Got To Get You Into My Life

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When the camera cut to John Lennon during the live performance, a caption flashed up: “SORRY GIRLS, HE’S MARRIED” (that'd be to his first wife, Cynthia). Cue weeping from millions of fans.

Across the Universe

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A couple of days later, the fab four made their way down to Washington (w00t!) for their first ever public concert in the US. They played at the Washington Coliseum near Union Station in front of 8,000 adoring (and very vocal) fans.

A Hard Day's Night

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Later that evening, the Beatles attended a reception at the British Embassy, the details of which are (ahem) not important. But John Lennon did manage to convince a reporter his name was Eric (see above).

Hello, Goodbye

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...and the rest is history. Fifty years on, the Beatles are still huge. A Beatles album was the best-selling album of the 2000s. They've only been on iTunes since November 2010, but they've already sold almost 3 million singles there.

(Not) The End

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America's obsession with British music has never ended. British acts like Adele, the Rolling Stones, One Direction and Bastille are selling out US tours and claiming the top spots in American charts.