The Beatles were a British rock group from Liverpool, England. Dubbed "The Fab Four", The Beatles were John Lennon (1940–1980), Paul McCartney (born in 1942), George Harrison (1943–2001), and Ringo Starr (born in 1940).
The group shattered many sales records and charted more than fifty top 40 hit singles, including twenty #1 hits in the USA alone, becoming the biggest musical act of the twentieth century. EMI estimated in 1985 that the band had sold over a billion records worldwide. The band's songs covered many genres (including ballads, reggae, psychedelic music, blues, heavy metal and country music) and opened the door for many new musical styles and production techniques. The Beatles' influence extended beyond music into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.