We end 1966 with the Monkees. To prepare for their second album, Don Kirshner, the Monkees publisher, wanted to bring in other talent besides Boyce and Hart, who had written their first hit, “Last Train to Clarksville,” so they decided to take the whole musical operation to New York and record there. Therefore, the boys flew back and forth filming the show and recording their next album. Kirshner knew a relatively new singer from his work at the Brill Building in New York named Neil Diamond. Diamond was just getting started and had had one hit with “Cherry Cherry.” He had written another song called “I’m a Believer,” and Kirshner wanted that song for the Monkees but Diamond was reluctant to give it up. Diamond wanted to retain half of the rights to the song, but Kirshner finally got his way, and they came to an agreement. The Monkees had their second hit single.

“I’m a Believer” peaked at number one on the Billboard charts, making it the group’s second number one in a row. It was a two-sided hit with the B-side “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” also peaking at number twenty. “I’m a Believer” spent seven weeks at number one at the end of 1966 and the beginning of 1967. It became the biggest hit of 1967 and ended up selling over ten million copies. There are fewer than 40 singles in the entire history of music that have sold more than ten million copies and “I’m a Believer” is one of them.

The single got an advance order of 1,051,280 copies, which is more than any other single since the early days of Elvis Presley.

The double-sided hit was included on the second Monkees album called More of the Monkees and, of course, it went right to number one. In fact, it was the album that bumped their first album The Monkees out of the number one spot. More of the Monkees would spend eighteen weeks at the top meaning that the Monkees held the number one spot on the album chart for 31 consecutive weeks in 1966 and 1967.

“I’m a Believer” established the guys as international stars. The song went to number one in England, Holland, Germany and many other countries. Now that the television show was airing all over the world, the Monkees were the biggest thing in music since Elvis.

“I’m a Believer” debuted at number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 10, 1966 and was number one three weeks later. It spent a total of seven weeks at number one, one week in 1966 and six weeks in 1967.