Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	B
Consequence of Sound	A–
The Daily Telegraph
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Paste	79/100
Pitchfork Media	9.3/10
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

Beatles for Sale is the fourth studio album by English rock band the Beatles, released on 4 December 1964 in the United Kingdom and produced by George Martin for Parlophone. The album marked a minor turning point in the evolution of the Lennon–McCartney partnership, John Lennon particularly now showing interest in composing songs of a more autobiographical nature. "I'm a Loser" shows Lennon for the first time coming under the influence of Bob Dylan, whom he met in New York while on tour, on 28 August 1964.

Beatles for Sale did not produce a single for the UK – the non-album tracks "I Feel Fine" and "She's a Woman" performed that role. Nevertheless, that coupling was followed up in the United States by "Eight Days a Week", which became their seventh number one in March 1965. In Australia, the only-ever non-original Beatles single (either side) went to Number One: Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music" backed with Carl Perkins' "Honey, Don't", which held the summit for four weeks.

The album hit the UK number one spot and retained that position for 11 of the 46 weeks that it spent in the Top 20. Beatles for Sale did not surface as a regular album in the US until 1987. In its place was Beatles '65 which featured eight songs from Beatles for Sale, plus the A and B-side of "I Feel Fine" and "I'll Be Back" from the UK's A Hard Day's Night album. Beatles '65 enjoyed a nine-week run at the top of the US charts from January 1965.

Prior to the recording sessions for Beatles for Sale, the band toured Australia and New Zealand (after a two-show night in Hong Kong), played concerts in the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden and made several television, radio and live concert appearances in the UK. Music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said, "It was inevitable that the constant grind of touring, writing, promoting, and recording would grate on the Beatles," leading to the inclusion of several cover versions after the all-original A Hard Day's Night; the band's obviously tired appearance on the album's cover is noted by narrator Malcolm McDowell during The Compleat Beatles and producer George Martin has commented on the Beatles general weariness during the recording sessions as well as the subdued and melancholy tone of the album in general. Yet, during these sessions they were still capable of recording the single "I Feel Fine" and its B-side, "She's a Woman" (both written by Lennon–McCartney, and not included on the album).

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