HOF Inductee No. 9: "Hey Jude," the Beatles

Number nine. Number nine. Number nine.

Inductee No. 9 into the Earworm Hall of Fame is, fittingly enough, the Beatles. Why fittingly? Beatle John Lennon was obsessed with the number 9. He was born on the 9th. He was born in October, which, if you are fixated on the Number 9 (as Lennon was), you note as being the 9th month of the year ... according to the Chinese calendar. He was raised in a house at 9 Newcastle Road in Liverpool. His best solo song, my opinion, was "#9 Dream," which peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at, you guessed it, #9.

The Beatles biggest hit on the U.S. pop charts was, of course, "Hey Jude". It went to #1, where it spent, yes, nine weeks at the top of the charts, from September 28, 1968, through the week of November 23. And September is the ninth month! The nines keep on coming! Yes, it is a Paul McCartney song, but it allegedly is about (or at least inspired by) John Lennon's first-born son, Julian.

And so we have at Inductee No. 9, "Hey Jude." Lists of the Beatles biggest earworms routinely have two of their songs as the earwormiest. "Yellow Submarine," a likely future inductee, and this, their biggest hit. The earworm is the lengthy -- very lengthy -- outro "Na na na nananana nananana, hey Jude," which goes on for nearly four minutes at the end of the 7 minute, 11 seconds song (then the longest timed #1 hit in the history of the Billboard charts, a record later broken by Don McLean's "American Pie," and much more recently, and much sadly, by some Taylor Swift song). Both the longest and the earwormiest outro in the history of pop music!

The best cover of "Hey Jude"? The gospel-tinged version by Wilson Pickett, featuring guitar work from Duane Allman.

HOF Inductee No. 8: "The Love You Save," Jackson Five

The Jackson Five began their career with four consecutive number one hits:  "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save," and "I'll Be There." The next two singles after that could only eke their way up as high as #2: "Mama's Pearl," and "Never Can Say Goodbye." Four chart-toppers, then two near-chart-toppers. Earworms all. And if you had to pick one to be the initial Jackson entrant into the Earworm Hall of Fame, the choice is easy. "Stop / The love you save may be your own / Darling, take it slow / Or someday you'll be all alone".

The Jackson Five really were misnamed. Yes, there were five brothers. All with the surname "Jackson." But they really were the Jackson One, with four of his brothers. Even at age 11, the Jackson Five were all about the youngest brother on stage, Michael. Not only did he have serious vocal chops at that very young age, he had stage presence. As can be seen from the lip-synched clip from the "Ed Sullivan Show," even at a very young age he commanded the stage. His brothers were his supporting players. Without Michael, with Jermaine in the lead, the Jacksons would have had hit records, but their career would have looked more like the Five Stairsteps, another group of soul singing siblings from 1970, than the Michael-led Jackson Five.

Michael's vocal skills at even that young age are evident from the fact that only two of those initial six mega-hits have been covered. Michael's vocals are so sophisticated, so difficult, so soulful, even as a pre-teen, that there is no point in even trying to re-do "Mama's Pearl," or "ABC," or, the subject here, "The Love You Save." Graham Parker made a credible stab at "I Want You Back." And Gloria Gaynor and Isaac Hayes did very different takes on "Never Can Say Goodbye." And everybody's done "I'll Be There," although most non-Jackson version are very weak tea. But Jackson songs belong to the Jacksons and no one else.

"I Want You Back" started the whole Jackson family thing. "Mama's Pearl" is Michael's best, most difficult to emulate, vocal. "I'll Be There" spent five weeks at #1 and was the Jackson's biggest hit as a family act. But great as those songs may be, none are more catchy than the sing-along "The Love You Save."