The Beatles make UK chart history with number one after 54-year gap
Now And Then is the group’s 18th chart-topper in the UK.
The Beatles have made history by topping the UK singles chart a record 54 years since their previous number one.
Now And Then, a song based on a private recording made by John Lennon in the late 1970s and completed earlier this year by the surviving members of the group, has hit the top spot after just eight days on release.
It comes more than five decades since The Beatles last reached number one with The Ballad of John and Yoko in 1969.
No other act in UK music history has had such a long gap between two chart-toppers.
Sir Paul McCartney, one of the two surviving Beatles, described the news as “mind-boggling”, telling the Official Charts Company: “It’s blown my socks off. It’s also a very emotional moment for me. I love it!”
Now And Then is The Beatles’ 18th number one hit, extending their lead as the group with the most chart-toppers in the UK, ahead of Westlife (14) and Take That (12).
Presley has topped the UK singles chart 21 times, but on three of these occasions the songs were re-releases of former number ones.
The history of Now And Then spans nearly five decades, beginning with the home recording made by John Lennon on a cassette in the late 1970s, a few years before he was shot dead in 1980.
Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono passed this tape to Sir Paul in the early 1990s, who then worked on the recording with fellow Beatles George Harrison and Sir Ringo Starr.
It was not until 2022 that the right software was available to isolate Lennon’s voice from the original recording, which was then used as the basis for the current version of the song.
Along with Lennon’s 1970s vocal, some of the 1990s guitar work by George Harrison – who died in 2001 – has been kept on the track, along with new contributions from Sir Paul and Sir Ringo.
The Beatles’ original run of number ones lasted just over six years, starting with From Me To You in April 1963 and ending with The Ballad of John and Yoko in June 1969.
Their 1960s chart-toppers included some of the world’s most well-known songs, such as She Loves You, Help!, Yellow Submarine, All You Need Is Love and Hey Jude.
Both of these songs, like Now And Then, were based on private recordings made by Lennon in the 1970s, except these were fully developed and completed in the mid-1990s by McCartney, Harrison and Starr.
Other artists with long spells between UK number one singles include Tom Jones (42 years from Green, Green Grass of Home in 1967 to Islands In The Stream – with Rob Brydon, Robin Gibb and Ruth Jones – in 2009); Wham! (35 years between The Edge Of Heaven in 1986 and Last Christmas in 2021); and Cher (26 years between I Got You Babe – with Sonny Bono – in 1965 and The Shoop Shoop Song in 1991).
It is the earliest appearance ever in the UK singles chart for a Christmas song.
Elsewhere, last week’s number one, Is It Over Now? (Taylor’s Version) by Taylor Swift, drops to number three, while Prada by Casso, Raye & D-Block Europe climbs one place to number two.
Taylor Swift remains at the top of the album chart with 1989 (Taylor’s Version), while a reissued version of Oasis’s 1998 compilation album The Masterplan is at number two.
BTS star Jung Kook is a new entry at number three with his debut solo album Golden, ahead of Hackney Diamonds by The Rolling Stones at four and a new entry for Sir Cliff Richard at five, Cliff With Strings – My Kinda Life.
The UK singles and album charts are compiled by the Official Charts Company.
