A good way of judging an artists' worth is to ask the question, "What did their contemporary fellow artists think about them?"
Well, in The Beatles case, with almost unaminous, hero worshipping, approval - amongst white musicians
And, this approval stretched into the folk world. Many former folkies got rid of their acoustic instruments and plugged in upon hearing The Beatles.
The body of work produced by The Beatles is incredible. And, they were so inventive - and they could sing. How they could sing!
However, you really had to be there to feel the impact The Beatles made, and if you weren't there, then it would take a lot of time and detailed, academic study to gain a proper insight to their contribution to the development of popular music.