Taylor Swift has maintained chart supremacy on the UK Album Charts this week, holding off The Beatles from clenching the top spot with their reissued Greatest Hits albums.
Swift has held on to Number One for the third week running with ‘1989 (Taylor’s Version)’, seeing off competition from the reissued editions of The Beatles’ ‘Blue’ and Red’ albums which charted at Number Two and Number Three respectively.
These are the same positions that both albums charted in when they were originally released in 1973, according to the Official Charts Company, but stops them achieving a 16th number one album.
The Beatles, however, did hit Number One earlier this month with their “final” song ‘Now And Then’.
The Beatles celebrate the completion of their new album, ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, at a press conference held at the west London home of their manager Brian Epstein. The LP is released on June 1st. (Photo by John Pratt/Keystone/Getty Images)
The song, which was completed with some help from AI, has topped the UK Charts 60 years after their first Number One. It is the band’s 18th Number One single, with the last being 1969’s ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’.
Ringo Starr then shared his reaction to the news, with a video claiming that ‘Now And Then’ is the fastest-selling single of 2023 and fastest-selling vinyl single of the century. It also claims the song had the biggest one week physical sales in almost a decade, and it has the most streams in a week of any Beatles song ever.
“What’s happening it’s all happening number one in England UK incredible a few more facts will come on the screen” he wrote on X/Twitter alongside the video. “Peace and love everybody. It’s a beautiful day.”
In addition, McCartney and co. now boast the longest period between an artist’s first and last Number One single – with their first being ‘From Me to You’ in May 1963 (60 years and six months ago). Previously, Elvis Presley held the record with 47 years and six months between his 1957 hit ‘All Shook Up’ and a reissue of ‘It’s Now or Never’ that was released in 2005.
‘Now And Then’ reaching peak position on the charts also marks the longest gap ever between Number One singles. This comes as the rock veterans last reached Number One 54 years ago with ‘The Ballad of John and Yoko’ (1969.) Prior to the “final” track Kate Bush held the record for 44 years between ‘Wuthering Heights’ (1978) and’ Running Up That Hill’ (2022).
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