In addition to the Beatles songs A-Z list, here is a list of songs by the band sorted by lead, or primary, singer, from ‘Love Me Do’ to ‘Let It Be’.
The songs are presented by person, year, and in order of release. Some songs had more than one lead singer, most commonly shared by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. There were also a handful of songs where all four sang, which are listed at the end.
Some songs had two or more Beatles harmonising, but with one more prominently than the other. Others, such as ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘This Boy’, were more evenly matched. Sorting this list is not an exact science, and there will inevitably be disagreements among Beatles fans, so feel free to comment below!
BBC, Anthology, and other post-1970 releases are not included, but features on all of those can be found on the main songs page.
John Lennon
1962
1963
- ‘Misery’
- ‘Anna (Go To Him)’
- ‘Chains’
- ‘Ask Me Why’
- ‘Please Please Me’
- ‘Baby It’s You’
- ‘There’s A Place’
- ‘Twist And Shout’
- ‘Thank You Girl’
- ‘She Loves You’
- ‘I’ll Get You’
- ‘It Won’t Be Long’
- ‘All I’ve Got To Do’
- ‘Little Child’
- ‘Please Mister Postman’
- ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’
- ‘Not A Second Time’
- ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’
- ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’
- ‘This Boy’
1964
- ‘I Call Your Name’
- ‘Slow Down’
- ‘A Hard Day’s Night’
- ‘I Should Have Known Better’
- ‘If I Fell’
- ‘Tell Me Why’
- ‘Any Time At All’
- ‘I’ll Cry Instead’
- ‘When I Get Home’
- ‘You Can’t Do That’
- ‘I’ll Be Back’
- ‘I Feel Fine’
- ‘No Reply’
- ‘I’m A Loser’
- ‘Baby’s In Black’
- ‘Rock And Roll Music’
- ‘Mr Moonlight’
- ‘Eight Days A Week’
- ‘Words Of Love’
- ‘Every Little Thing’
- ‘I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party’
1965
- ‘Ticket To Ride’
- ‘Yes It Is’
- ‘Bad Boy’
- ‘Help!’
- ‘You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away’
- ‘You’re Going To Lose That Girl’
- ‘It’s Only Love’
- ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzy’
- ‘Day Tripper’
- ‘We Can Work It Out’
- ‘Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)’
- ‘Nowhere Man’
- ‘The Word’
- ‘Girl’
- ‘In My Life’
- ‘Wait’
- ‘Run For Your Life’
1966
- ‘Rain’
- ‘I’m Only Sleeping’
- ‘She Said She Said’
- ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’
- ‘Doctor Robert’
- ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’
1967
- ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’
- ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’
- ‘Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!’
- ‘Good Morning Good Morning’
- ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)’
- ‘A Day In The Life’
- ‘All You Need Is Love’
- ‘Baby You’re A Rich Man’
- ‘I Am The Walrus’
1968
- ‘Revolution’
- ‘Dear Prudence’
- ‘Glass Onion’
- ‘The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill’
- ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’
- ‘I’m So Tired’
- ‘Julia’
- ‘Yer Blues’
- ‘Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey’
- ‘Sexy Sadie’
- ‘Revolution 1’
- ‘Cry Baby Cry’
1969
- ‘Hey Bulldog’
- ‘Don’t Let Me Down’
- ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’
- ‘Come Together’
- ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’
- ‘Because’
- ‘Sun King’
- ‘Mean Mr Mustard’
- ‘Polythene Pam’
1970
- ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’
- ‘Dig A Pony’
- ‘Across The Universe’
- ‘Maggie Mae’
- ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’
- ‘Dig It’
- ‘One After 909’
Paul McCartney
1962
1963
- ‘I Saw Her Standing There’
- ‘Misery’
- ‘Chains’
- ‘A Taste Of Honey’
- ‘There’s A Place’
- ‘From Me To You’
- ‘She Loves You’
- ‘I’ll Get You’
- ‘All My Loving’
- ‘Little Child’
- ‘Till There Was You’
- ‘Hold Me Tight’
- ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’
- ‘This Boy’
1964
- ‘Long Tall Sally’
- ‘A Hard Day’s Night’
- ‘And I Love Her’
- ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’
- ‘Things We Said Today’
- ‘She’s A Woman’
- ‘Baby’s In Black’
- ‘I’ll Follow The Sun’
- ‘Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!’
- ‘Eight Days A Week’
- ‘Words Of Love’
- ‘Every Little Thing’
- ‘What You’re Doing’
1965
- ‘I’m Down’
- ‘The Night Before’
- ‘Another Girl’
- ‘Tell Me What You See’
- ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’
- ‘Yesterday’
- ‘We Can Work It Out’
- ‘Drive My Car’
- ‘You Won’t See Me’
- ‘Michelle’
- ‘I’m Looking Through You’
1966
- ‘Paperback Writer’
- ‘Eleanor Rigby’
- ‘Here, There And Everywhere’
- ‘Good Day Sunshine’
- ‘For No One’
- ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’
1967
- ‘Penny Lane’
- ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
- ‘Getting Better’
- ‘Fixing A Hole’
- ‘She’s Leaving Home’
- ‘When I’m Sixty-Four’
- ‘Lovely Rita’
- ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)’
- ‘A Day In The Life’
- ‘Baby You’re A Rich Man’
- ‘Hello, Goodbye’
- ‘Magical Mystery Tour’
- ‘The Fool On The Hill’
- ‘Your Mother Should Know’
1968
- ‘Lady Madonna’
- ‘Hey Jude’
- ‘Back In The USSR’
- ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’
- ‘Wild Honey Pie’
- ‘Martha My Dear’
- ‘Blackbird’
- ‘Rocky Raccoon’
- ‘Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?’
- ‘I Will’
- ‘Birthday’
- ‘Mother Nature’s Son’
- ‘Helter Skelter’
- ‘Honey Pie’
1969
- ‘All Together Now’
- ‘Get Back’
- ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’
- ‘Oh! Darling’
- ‘Because’
- ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’
- ‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window’
- ‘Golden Slumbers’
- ‘Carry That Weight’
- ‘The End’
- ‘Her Majesty’
1970
- ‘Let It Be’
- ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’
- ‘Two Of Us’
- ‘Maggie Mae’
- ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’
- ‘One After 909’
- ‘The Long And Winding Road’
George Harrison
1963
- ‘Chains’
- ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’
- ‘Don’t Bother Me’
- ‘Roll Over Beethoven’
- ‘Devil In Her Heart’
- ‘This Boy’
Great list, interesting idea! If I can express my opinion, I would add All Together Now to songs with John’s lead vocals (in this case, of course, in the middle section). In a similar way, A Day in The Life and I’ve Got A Feeling were shown as songs featuring both Paul and John’s lead vocals. To consider…
Seems to me there are some mistakes: Both John and Paul sang the lead together on “From me to you”, but on the original mono release, it’s John who is singing the lead. And no way is Paul the lead on “I saw her standing there”. That’s John!
Thank you for making this list. I know their voices are distinctive, but I often find myself wondering “is this one John… or Paul?” Helpful resource!
Thanks! I’ve always wanted such a list.
@iceman81, you’re right abor From Me To You (both sing it, although John more than Paul), but I Saw Her Standing There is Paul.