The Beatles’ Favorite Beatles Songs

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr released over 200 songs during their ten-year tenure as a band. These songs include countless beloved hits, and of course, every fan has their own favorite Beatles songs. Even the Beatles themselves have some favorites, too, as it turns out—as well as their least favorites, of course. Read on to discover which of their own songs each one of the Beatles loved most.

1. John Lennon
2. Paul McCartney
3. George Harrison
4. Ringo Starr

John Lennon

Lennon never publicly identified one single favorite Beatles song, but in a 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, he cited some of his favorites. “I always liked ‘[I Am The] Walrus’, ‘Strawberry Fields’, ‘Help!’, ‘In My Life,'” he said, and also praised “I Want To Hold Your Hand.” 

He went on to elaborate on why he loved the song “Help!” so much. “Because I meant it, it’s real,” he said. “The lyric is as good now as it was then, it’s no different, you know. It makes me feel secure to know that I was that sensible or whatever—well, not sensible, but aware of myself. That’s with no acid, no nothing…well pot or whatever. It was just me singing ‘help,’ and I meant it, you know.”

In another 1970 interview with Ken Zeilig, Lennon also shared a preference for “I Am the Walrus” and “Strawberry Fields Forever.” Additionally, he praised “Rain,” “A Day in the Life,” and “Revolution 9,” and jokingly added, “I'm prejudiced, I like my own, you know.”

Paul McCartney

In a 1984 interview with Scott Muni, McCartney shared that his favorite Beatles song might have been “Yesterday”—if the track weren’t so popular. “Well, it’s difficult to choose the favourite,” he said. “You look at your songs and kinda look to see which of the ones you think are maybe the best constructed and stuff,” he said. “I think ‘Yesterday’—if it wasn’t so successful—might be my favourite. But, you know, you get that thing when something is just so successful… people often don’t want to do ‘the big one’ that everyone wants them to do. They kind of shy away from it.” He went on to cite a preference for the song “Here, There and Everywhere.”

In 2020, though, he cited a lesser-known B-side as his favorite, telling Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that he has a strong preference for the track “You Know My Name (Look Up My Number).” “[It’s] a zany, zany little B-side that nobody knows, but we had so much fun making it,” he said of the tune.

George Harrison

True to his reputation as the “quiet Beatle,” Harrison has been a bit quieter about his favorite Beatles songs. He did once explicitly identify his most beloved Beatles album, though. “Rubber Soul was my favourite album,” he said. “Even at that time, I think that it was the best one we made,” he continued. “The most important thing about it was that we were suddenly hearing sounds we weren’t able to hear before. Also, we were being more influenced by other people’s music and everything was blossoming at that time—including us.”

Over the years, Harrison has elaborated on some of the Beatles songs he favors, citing “Strawberry Fields Forever” as one he particularly enjoyed in a 1974 interview. “I enjoyed the ones [songs] which were inventive, which were new,” he said of the track. He has also praised the songs “This Boy,” “Norwegian Wood,” “Golden Slumbers,” and “Because,” calling the latter track “possibly my favorite one” on the album Abbey Road.

Ringo Starr

In 2021, Starr told Stephen Colbert that if he had to listen to one Beatles song for the rest of his life, it  would be “Come Together.” “There’s lots of other favourites, but if you want one, ‘Come Together’ can’t be bad,” he said, clarifying that the song is his favorite Beatles track. “I just think it worked perfectly with the band and the song and John being John. I loved that moment.”

Decades prior, Starr said that the track “Rain” was one of his favorite Beatles songs, noting the song features what he sees as some of his best drumming. “I feel as though that was someone else playing,” he told Barry Miles for his 1997 biography of Paul McCartney. “I was possessed!” He went on to explain what exactly he was proud of about the tune. “I was into the snare and hi-hat. I think it was the first time I used this trick of starting a break by hitting the hi-hat first instead of going directly to a drum off the hi-hat,” he continued. “I think it’s the best out of all the records I’ve ever made.”