On this day in 1965, British guitarist Eric Clapton left The Yardbirds due to musical differences: in short, Clapton's interest in the American blues was intensifying, while The Yardbirds were interested in making pop records. Clapton's departure paved the way for Jeff Beck to join the group, and after his exit from the band, for Jimmy Page to take over on lead guitar. All three guitarists would, of course, go on to have highly successful careers after their respective stints with The Yardbirds, and all three are still performing today.

To acknowledge this event and its significance in the history of rock and roll, I investigated the occurrence of the word guitar in songs from Billboard's year-end Top Ten charts (1951-2015) and present videos of the songs in which the word occurs below (in chronological order).

And, as a bonus, this classic Beatles' song, which originally included both Clapton and George Harrison on guitars, played here by an all-star lineup featuring Clapton on guitar and vocals as well as the late great Prince on guitar.