This was to be a year of big change in pop music. There was a definite shift in record sales, away from easy listening, toward the more exciting, new and established pop bands of the day, whose sales were fuelled by a much younger and very fast-growing record buying public.
The nation was introduced to Beatle-mania, and, along with the Beatles, there were many more British acts eager to go along for the ride.
The Beatles themselves, in 1963, enjoyed the first three of an astonishing uninterrupted run of eleven number 1 singles. Another Liverpool band, Gerry and the Pacemakers, made chart history this year when they became the first act to reach the number 1 position with their first three singles. It would take twenty years and yet another Liverpool band, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, to repeat this feat. Furthermore, fellow Liverpudlians, The Searchers, also enjoyed a number 1 hit with their debut single, 'Sweets For My Sweet'. However, it wasn't just the new bands from Liverpool enjoying the fruits of a sudden increase in young record buyers. Cliff Richard, a relative chart veteran, either as a solo artist or with The Shadows, enjoyed five of six consecutive visits to the top spot this year.
In 1963 it wasn't just the singles chart that was to be revolutionised. Big changes also occurred in the LP charts. The year began with two Black and White Minstrels LP's occupying the two top spots of the first album chart of the year. They were joined in the top 10 by two soundtrack albums (West Side Story and South Pacific). By the end of 1963, however, the LP charts looked very different, with The Beatles sitting comfortably at both Numbers 1 and 2, Gerry and The Pacemakers at number 3 and The Searchers at numbers 5 and 7.
The Mersey-Beat sound had most definitely arrived!