Beatles, Week 1: 2 Million Singles Sold. But Which Classics Endure?

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The original fresh-faced Fab Four in their early days

Photo via TIME.com

450,000 albums and two million individual songs sold worldwide in the first week. You know what? The Beatles might  have a future.

The Fab Four took their sweet time allowing their music on iTunes but appetite from fans had clearly not abated. Record company EMI called it “a pretty amazing achievement” and when you consider that people potentially own much of this music (albeit on vinyl, cassette or CD) then the hyperbole is justified.

(See pictures of The Beatles.)

That said, in their home nation of the U.K., just one track, “Hey Jude,” cracked the top 40 last Sunday with greatest hits compilations – “red” and “blue” – being the only albums to chart. Across the pond, the best-selling long player was Abbey Road, with best-selling song being “Here Comes the Sun,” which is on Abbey Road. The White Album and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band also made the top 20 and, impressively, the $149 Box Set reached number 28. Indeed, of the available albums, only the Yellow Submarine soundtrack wasn’t in the top 100.

(See pictures of Abbey Road studios.)

Back to the U.K.and it was felt that with Simon Cowell’s  X Factor last Saturday being a Beatles special, the following day’s chart would have seen a spike in sales (NewsFeed decided to pass up Cowell in favor of seeing actual live music in the form of the wonderful Gabby Young and Other Animals). Could The Beatles have done even better chart-wise if these digital releases been staggered? Any way you look at it, it’s hard to make a case for any of today’s acts causing such a stir 50 years from now. (via The Guardian)