Motown's Marvelettes (Gladys Horton, Wanda Young, Katherine Anderson and Georgeanna Tillman) had the label's first number one hot with "Please Mr. Postman" featuring Marvin Gaye on drums in 1961. The tune has been credited to a bevy of various composers: Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland, Robert Bateman, Holland-Dozier-Holland.

The Beatles featuring John Lennon's take on the song shows up on "With the Beatles" (UK) or "Beatlemania/With the Beatles" (Canada) in 1963.

One of the first American groups to produce music videos, The Carpenters hit the top position on the charts with their rendition in 1975 from the album "Horizon".