When The Beatles split, all four members went off to their own corners. Some were licking their wounds and trying to recover from the loss and betrayal, while others were instantly basking in the spotlight of the new freedom.
Paul McCartney was definitely in the first camp as he’d later admit that he actually didn’t even know if he would continue making music after the painful split. “I was depressed. You would be. You were breaking from your lifelong friends,” he said as the breakup of the band for him also included a major breakdown in those relationships.
On the flip side, George Harrison was so overjoyed that he was caught on camera basically running to sign the divorce papers. It makes sense given that his first release after the split was full of songs he’d been working on for quite some time that the band had rejected. Clearly he was eager to finally have them heard and have them heard his way.
By the time the process was all final and formal and the band was officially and legally over in 1974, all four members were in deep with their solo careers. In fact, none of them wasted any time as by the end of 1970, all of them had shared their debut release of their independent careers.
While it’s not a competition, it inevitably became one. From their own corners, the four old friends were bound to be comparing their work to others, wondering who would pull the trigger first and who would succeed most. Their solo albums also drew out complex lines of alliance as Lennon played on Harrison’s, Starr played on Lennon’s and their other old friends and collaborators scattered between them. But in the end, who hit the charts highest, and first?
Which Beatles member had the first solo number one?
First out the gate with their solo work was Ringo Starr when he released Sentimental Journey in March 1970. No slight at all on Starr who contributed greatly to the band with his drums, but as a solo artists, I’m so no one had faith in him winning the race, and he didn’t. The album peaked at number 7 and that was that.
A month later, McCartney released McCartney; the album he made fully and completely on his own. Technically, this was the first Beatles solo number one as it topped the Billboard LP charts, but that was it’s own win. In the UK, it peaked at number 2 and as he chose to release no singles from it, he couldn’t compete in the chart battle.
Lennon’s debut solo effort, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, also didn’t come close as it’s highest chart rank was at six in the US and eight in the UK. ‘Mother’ was released as the single and it didn’t even make the charts in the UK, landing at 48 in America.
The winner of the race turned out to be George Harrison. When he released All Things Must Pass in November 1970, the so-called quiet Beatle unleashed something powerful with this flawless album that absolutely stormed the charts.
The full LP was number one around the world, including in the UK and US. But the artist’s first ever single, ‘My Sweet Lord’ also cleared the board, bagging the trophy worldwide.
Well and truly winning the battle, Harrison got his revenge for feeling overlooked in the band by beating them all to the top of the charts.
