Background: The term "British Invasion" describes a musical period in the mid-1960s, during which British rock artists dominated the American music charts. The British Invasion began in late 1963, and ended with the beginning of 1967, when psychedelic rock became mainstream.
Criteria: These British artists are rated only for their actions and recordings from 1963 to 1966. Chart success in the US and UK, lasting popularity of their recorded work, influence of their recordings and live shows, and musical impact were taken into consideration. Although the term British Invasion is only used for British bands and musicians that were present in the American charts, this list also includes artists that didn't enjoy any success in the U.S. but were active at the time.
Edited By: pauldrach
Last Updated: 2011-09-09
1. The Beatles 2. The Rolling Stones 3. The Kinks 4. The Who 5. The Yardbirds 6. The Animals 7. The Dave Clark Five 8. The Hollies 9. Dusty Springfield 10. Herman's Hermits 11. Gerry & the Pacemakers 12. The Searchers 13. Peter & Gordon 14. Manfred Mann 15. Petula Clark 16. The Troggs 17. Donovan 18. The Zombies 19. John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers 20. Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas 21. Chad & Jeremy 22. Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders 23. Tom Jones 24. The Moody Blues 25. Small Faces 26. Freddie & the Dreamers 27. Cliff Richard 28. Cilla Black 29. The Shadows 30. Marianne Faithfull 31. Brian Poole & the Tremeloes 32. The Pretty Things 33. Them 34. The Fortunes 35. Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated 36. Billy Fury 37. The Spencer Davis Group 38. Sandie Shaw 39. Shirley Bassey 40. Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames 41. The Swinging Blue Jeans 42. Adam Faith 43. The Honeycombs 44. Dave Berry & the Cruisers 45. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich 46. The Merseybeats 47. The Graham Bond Organization 48. Crispian St. Peters 49. The Nashville Teens 50. The Barron Knights
51. The Fourmost 52. The New Vaudeville Band 53. Unit 4+2 54. The Rockin' Berries 55. Chris Andrews 56. The Silkie 57. David & Jonathan 58. Lulu 59. The Ivy League 60. The Four Pennies 61. Heinz 62. Ian Whitcomb 63. Jonathan King 64. Chris Farlowe 65. The Tornados 66. Mike Berry & the Outlaws 67. The Hullaballoos 68. The Applejacks 69. The Mojos 70. Johnny Kidd & the Pirates 71. The Sorrows 72. Steampacket 73. Jet Harris & Tony Meehan 74. The Alan Price Set 75. The Migil Five 76. Twinkle 77. Paul & Barry Ryan 78. John's Children 79. Jackie Trent 80. Screaming Lord Sutch & the Savages 81. The Overlanders 82. Cliff Bennett & the Rebel Rousers 83. Hedgehoppers Anonymous 84. The Merseys 85. Pinkerton's Assorted Colours 86. Billie Davis 87. The Big Three 88. Helen Shapiro 89. The Joystrings 90. Bern Elliott & the Fenmen 91. Geno Washington & the Ram Jam Band 92. The Creation / The Mark Four 93. Cyril Davies All-Stars 94. St. Louis Union 95. The Naturals 96. Zoot Money's Big Roll Band 97. Twice As Much 98. The Cryin' Shames 99. The Poets 100. The Vernons Girls
101. Tommy Quickly / The Remo Four 102. The Cherokees 103. The Paramounts 104. The Dennisons 105. The Mike Cotton Sound 106. Tony Jackson & the Vibrations 107. The Beat Merchants 108. The Birds 109. The Action 110. The Zephyrs 111. The Escorts 112. The Undertakers 113. The In Crowd 114. The Artwoods 115. The Roulettes 116. Mike Sheridan & the Nightriders 117. Rory Storm & the Hurricanes 118. Long John Baldry 119. Les Fleur de Lys 120. The Chants 121. The Rockin' Vickers 122. The Black Knights 123. Just Four Men / Wimple Winch 124. David John & the Mood 125. The Riot Squad
126. Lee Curtis & the All Stars 127. Faron's Flamingos 128. The Syndicats 129. The Eyes 130. Episode Six 131. The Downliners Sect 132. Sounds Incorporated 133. Tony Rivers & the Castaways 134. Beryl Marsden 135. King Size Taylor & the Dominoes 136. Ian & the Zodiacs 137. The Country Gentlemen 138. The Koobas 139. The Pete Best Four 140. Dean Ford & the Gaylords 141. The Wheels 142. Steve Aldo 143. The Rats 144. A Band of Angels 145. The Gamblers 146. The Mark Leeman Five 147. Peter Jay & the Jaywalkers 148. Freddie Starr & the Midnighters 149. The Cheynes 150. Jimmy Powell & the Five Dimensions
Honerable Mentions
Howie Casey & the Seniors
Simon Dupree & the Big Sound
Gary Farr & the T-Bones
Chick Graham & the Coasters
Herbie's People
High Society
Casey Jones & the Engineers
The News
The Pack
Paddy, Klaus & Gibson
The Bobby Patrick Big Six
Keith Powell & the Valets
Earl Preston
Martin Raynor & the Secrets
The Roadrunners
Earl Royce & the Olympics
Shotgun Express
The Snobs
The Spectres
The Toggery Five
The Whirlwinds
Second Wave
These are some artists that missed the first wave of the British Invasion. They enjoyed only very little or even no commercial success in the United States before 1967, but became very popular in the years that followed. They are ranked only for their popularity in the United States from 1967 to 1970.
1. Led Zeppelin 2. Cream 3. The Jimi Hendrix Experience 4. The Who 5. Joe Cocker 6. Traffic 7. Deep Purple 8. Ten Years After
9. The Jeff Beck Group 10. Free 11. Procol Harum 12. Black Sabbath 13. King Crimson 14. Pink Floyd 15. Fleetwood Mac
Pre-'British Invasion'
These are the artists that helped shape the British pop and rock scene before The Beatles came along. They are ranked according to their influence on the British Invasion, their musical impact and their chart success in the UK and (where applicable) the US from 1954 to 1962.
1. Lonnie Donegan (skiffle) 2. Cliff Richard (rock & roll, pop) 3. Tommy Steele (rock & roll) 4. The Shadows (instrumental rock) 5. Chris Barber (skiffle, trad jazz) 6. Alexis Korner & Cyril Davies (British blues) 7. Billy Fury (rock & roll) 8. Adam Faith (pop) 9. Johnny Kidd & the Pirates (rock & roll) 10. Ken Colyer (skiffle, trad jazz) 11. Marty Wilde (rock & roll, pop) 12. Chas McDevitt (skiffle) 13. The Tornados (instrumental rock) 14. Joe Brown & the Bruvvers (rock & roll) 15. Petula Clark (pop)
16. Johnny Duncan & the Blue Grass Boys (skiffle) 17. Vince Taylor & the Playboys (rock & roll) 18. Wee Willie Harris (rock & roll) 19. Craig Douglas (pop) 20. The Vipers Skiffle Group (skiffle) 21. Helen Shapiro (pop) 22. Tony Sheridan (rock & roll) 23. John Leyton (pop) 24. Shane Fenton & the Fentones (pop) 25. Terry Dene (rock & roll) 26. Tommy Bruce & the Bruisers (rock & roll) 27. Mark Wynter (pop) 28. Lance Fortune (pop) 29. Kingsize Taylor & the Dominoes (rock & roll) 30. The Brook Brothers (pop)
