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Credit: Far Out \/ NASA \/ Uwe Conrad<\/p>\n
Sat 18 July 2026 18:00, UK <\/p>\n
While the Summer of Love was a year away, 1966<\/a>\u2019s sunshine months were already eyeing up the counterculture\u2019s heady bloom.<\/p>\n Be it swinging London or the US\u2019 far-out West Coast, the youthquake upheaval was beginning to reflect on the charts in earnest. Rock and roll felt like ancient history by June 1966, an affectionate soundtrack to youth before the British Invasion\u2019s Billboard domination and the political, sexual, and chemical liberation it wrought.<\/p>\n Over on the UK Singles Chart, The Kinks and The Troggs won out with big numbers across the summer of 1966, \u2018Sunny Afternoon\u2019 and \u2018With a Girl Like You\u2019 both enjoying two weeks at the top spot. Over on the States\u2019 Hot 100, The Rolling Stones\u2019 exotic \u2018Paint It Black\u2019 sat at number one for two weeks, and The Troggs\u2019 cover of \u2018Wild Thing\u2019 nabbed three weeks at Billboard\u2019s premier position largely due to its perfectly Americana garage growl for a quartet from Hampshire.<\/p>\n As ever, the charts are always a reflection of the broader tastes of the public. Most people weren\u2019t hippies, freaks, or the children of flowers; in fact, the majority at best met the era\u2019s psychedelic happenings with nonplussed bemusement, if not downright contempt.<\/p>\n Mum, Dad, and the dreaded straights were snapping up Frank Sinatra\u2019s \u2018Strangers in the Night\u2019 with such shelf-flying vim that Ol\u2019 Blue Eyes<\/a> perched at the UK number one for three weeks in June and nabbed a week at the top spot in the US.<\/p>\n 1966\u2019s longest-held for the entire year was Jim Reeves\u2019 \u2018Distant Drums\u2019 \u2013 if excluding Tom Jones\u2019 \u2018Green, Green Grass of Home\u2019 which held a whopping seven weeks at the top spot but spilling over into January the next year \u2013 and the patriotic \u2018The Ballad of the Green Berets\u2019 from Sgt Barry Sadler, applying a conservative plaster to the American consciousness as the Vietnam War was waging with a five-weeker number one.<\/p>\n For 1966\u2019s summer, it appeared that both new and vintage camps met in the middle in their pop picking.<\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/strong><\/p>\n So, what was number one the longest in 1966\u2019s summer?<\/p>\n In the States, even the most committed hippie hater couldn\u2019t help but nod along to The Lovin\u2019 Spoonful\u2019s summer smash. It\u2019s easy to see why. <\/p>\n Spending three weeks on top of the Hot 100 in August, \u2018Summer in the City\u2019s careening urban blast joyously bottled just enough of the counterculture\u2019s spirited crackle while proving a toe-tapper for the uninitiated. Replete with sound effects and novel recording tricks, \u2018Summer in the City\u2019 would play its part in nudging pop that bit closer to the studio as an instrument principle that would see pop enter its new creative dawn in a few short months.<\/p>\n In Britain, The Beatles were still the country\u2019s premier pop group. Not content with \u2018Paperback Writer\u2019s two weeks at number one in June, the \u2018Yellow Submarine<\/a>\u2019 \/ \u2018Eleanor Rigby\u2019 double A-side would round off August with a full four weeks at the top spot, a double whammy of charming submersible nursery tale for the kids and stirring string drama for the pop mavericks. For Fab Four fans, such eclectic dexterity was part of what made Liverpool\u2019s finest the world\u2019s greatest band.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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<\/a> The Far Out Beatles Newsletter<\/p>\n