BILLBOARD #1 HITS: #177: ‘I’M A BELIEVER”- THE MONKEES- DECEMBER 31, 1966

· by · in 1960's, Album Covers, Albums, American Top 40, BILLBOARD HOT 100 SINGLE CHART, Entertainment, Music, Music Videos, Pop Music, Radio. ·

The-Monkees-Im-A-Believer

Billboard #1 Hits: #177: “I’m A Believer”- The Monkees. December 31, 1966. #1 for 7 weeks.

  • Single: “I’m A Believer”- The Monkees
  • Record Company- Colgems
  • Genre: Pop
  • Written by Neil Diamond
  • Time: 2:47
  • B-side: {I’m Not Your} Steppin’ Stone”
  • Album- More Of The Monkees
  • Grade: A
  • Peaked at #1 7 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100. #1 also in Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, West Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Monkeemania had taken over- however briefly. “I’m A Believer” was written by young songwriter who had started out at the Brill Building who was starting to make a solo career for himself- his name was Neil Diamond. Diamond had a hit with “Cherry Cherry” and the Monkees producer Don Kirshner asked Diamond if he had any other material like “Cherry Cherry” for The Monkees. He did- “I’m A Believer.”  This wasn’t a cover by The Monkees- because Diamond at this point hadn’t released the song himself. On the last day of 1966- “I’m A Believer” went to #1 in the Billboard charts- and wouldn’t leave #1 until mid-February of 1967. If I had known of the singles chart at age 6 I probably would have been ticked off- during the 7 week run at #1 “I’m A Believer” kept out my favorite single at the time “Snoopy vs The Red Baron” by The Royal Guardsmen out of the #1 slot- “Snoopy vs The Red Baron” at #2 for 4 weeks.

“I’m A Believer” had over a million advance orders and went officially Gold two days after its release. The brains running The Monkees sure knew to cash in while they could. The Monkees first album The Monkees was released on October 10, 1966. “I’m A Believer” was on the second album the creatively titled “More Of The Monkees” which came out on January 9, 1967. Both albums went 5 X platinum.

 

9 responses to “BILLBOARD #1 HITS: #177: ‘I’M A BELIEVER”- THE MONKEES- DECEMBER 31, 1966”

  4. This is one of the reasons I like The Monkees, even though initially they were simply creation for TV – they just had many well-crafted songs.

    Kudos to Neil Diamond for writing the tune; though I have to say his own version, which I just listened to for the first time, isn’t as compelling.

Comments are closed.