Holly's producer, Norman Petty, was credited as a co-writer, although he did not contribute to the composition.

It was the first song recorded (as a demonstration disc) by the Quarrymen, a skiffle group from Liverpool that evolved into the Beatles.

Decca, displeased with Holly's previous two singles, did not issue recordings from this session.

To evade this restriction, the producer Norman Petty credited the Crickets as the artist on his re-recording of "That'll Be the Day" for Brunswick Records.

The second recording of the song was made on February 25, 1957, seven months after the first, at the Norman Petty studios in Clovis, New Mexico, and issued by Brunswick on July 27, 1957.

[8] The Brunswick single was a number-one hit on Billboard magazine's Best Sellers in Stores chart in 1957.

[9] The song peaked at number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1957 and stayed in that position for three weeks.