Mumford and Sons Match 48-Year-Old Beatles Chart Record

One of the longest-standing marks in U.S. pop history has been equalled. British folk-rock act Mumford and Sons have placed six songs on Billboard's Hot 100 chart at the same time. No group has achieved that feat since the Beatles did it the week of Sept. 19, 1964.

The six songs by Mumford and Sons are all from their second album, 'Babel,' which was released last week and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. 'Babel' has the biggest-selling first week of any album this year, with 600,000 copies sold, and the best-selling week for any rock act since AC/DC's 'Black Ice' sold 784,000 the week of Nov. 8, 2008.

Mumford and Sons owe much of their success on the singles chart to changes in technology. While in the Beatles' day chart positions were determined by sales and radio airplay, streaming services -- which, of course, didn't exist in 1964 -- are now taken into account. All 12 of the songs on 'Babel' reached the On-Demand Songs chart, with 'I Will Wait,' the first single, getting played 555,000 times.

However, the Beatles still hold the record for most concurrent songs on the Hot 100, with 14 songs, the lowest of which was 'Love Me Do' at No. 81, on April 11, 1964. The week before, they had the top five songs on the charts.