The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The group’s core lineup consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as one of the most influential acts in popular music and played a central role in the development of 1960s counterculture. The Beatles’ music incorporated elements of skiffle, beat, 1950s rock and roll, classical music and traditional pop, and they explored styles including folk, Indian music, psychedelia and hard rock. They were also noted for innovations in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, and were frequently associated with youth culture and social movements of the era.

The band evolved from John Lennon’s previous group, the Quarrymen, and gained experience performing in clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany, beginning in 1960. Lennon, McCartney and Harrison had performed together since 1958 and invited Starr to join the group in 1962 after a series of earlier drummers. Manager Brian Epstein helped shape the band into a professional act, while producer George Martin expanded their recorded sound. The Beatles signed with EMI and achieved their first hit with "Love Me Do" in late 1962. As their popularity surged, a phenomenon known as "Beatlemania" emerged and they were nicknamed "the Fab Four". By early 1964, the band had become international stars and were instrumental in the British Invasion of the United States pop market. Their first film, "A Hard Day’s Night" (1964), was released during this period.

In 1966 the Beatles stopped performing live, seeking to focus on studio work. During this period they produced albums such as "Rubber Soul" (1965), "Revolver" (1966) and "Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967), followed by "The Beatles" (also known as "the White Album", 1968) and "Abbey Road" (1969). These records contributed to the rise of the album as a primary format in popular music, and influenced public interest in psychedelic drugs, Eastern spirituality, electronic music, album art and music videos. In 1968 the band founded Apple Corps, a multimedia company that continues to manage projects related to their legacy. The Beatles disbanded in 1970. Lennon was murdered in 1980 and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001, while McCartney and Starr remain active in music. Partial reunions and posthumous releases occurred in subsequent decades, but the original four members never performed together again.

The Beatles are the best-selling music act in history, with estimated sales exceeding 600 million units worldwide. They hold the record for the most number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart (20) and sold 21.9 million singles in the United Kingdom. They held the record for the most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart (15) until 2026. The group received numerous awards, including eight Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film "Let It Be", and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, with individual members inducted between 1994 and 2015. The Beatles were ranked as the greatest artists in history by Rolling Stone in 2004 and 2011, and Time magazine included them among the 100 most important people of the 20th century.

Studio albums Please Please Me (1963) With the Beatles (1963) A Hard Day's Night (1964) Beatles for Sale (1964) Help! (1965) Rubber Soul (1965) Revolver (1966) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) Magical Mystery Tour (1967) The Beatles (1968) Yellow Submarine (1969) Abbey Road (1969) Let It Be (1970)