At 63, Louis Armstrong Knocked The Beatles Off Number One. Nobody Had Predicted It.

In the spring of 1964, The Beatles held the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously. It was the most dominant chart run in American pop music history. Then Louis Armstrong released a record. In this video, we look at the week in May 1964 when Louis Armstrong — at sixty-three years old, a generation removed from the music the charts were celebrating — knocked The Beatles off the number one position with 'Hello, Dolly!' This is a story about what it means to be counted out, what the chart meant at that moment in American music history, and why the people who were closest to Armstrong were not entirely surprised. Timestamps: 0:00 — The Most Dominant Chart Run in History 3:00 — Where Armstrong Was in 1964 — and What the Industry Thought of Him 6:00 — The Week 'Hello, Dolly!' Arrived at Number One 9:00 — What Armstrong Said and Didn't Say 11:00 — What the Chart Position Actually Meant Louis Armstrong, Satchmo, Hello Dolly, Beatles, jazz history, classic jazz, Louis Armstrong 1964, Billboard number one, golden age of jazz, vintage music history, jazz legends, entertainment history, American music history, Louis Armstrong story.