Beatles 1 is now number 4 is the US charts, selling 159,400 units in the last week. It has now sold over 6.1 million units in the US alone
The Beatles held off a stiff challenge by reggae star Shaggy to retain the No. 1 spot on the US national album chart, but strong opening-day sales Tuesday for Jennifer Lopez make her the favorite in this week's sales race.
ÊÊÊÊÊThe Beatles' hits compilation, 1, sold 215,500 copies last week, bringing the group's total to 5.8 million since its release in November. That gave the Fab Four about a 12,000 vote lead over Shaggy's pop-flavored Hotshot album, which has sold more than 2.3 million copies since August, according to SoundScan.
However in the UK 1 is down to number three - to be replaced at number one by Texas Greatest Hits.
More than 20 million copies of Beatles 1 have been sold worldwide in nine weeks -- representing the biggest bonanza in the history of repackaged entertainment.
The album 1 overtook Moby's Play, which has topped the bestseller list for most of the year, at the weekend by breaking through the 1.3 million sales barrier.
It is at number one in the UK chart for the fifth consecutive week, the longest run by The Beatles since Abbey Road in 1969.
Their last studio release Let It Be managed a run of only four weeks at the top of the charts.
The album has now sold 1.34 million copies in the UK since its release on November 13, while Play by Moby, released last year, shifted 1.28 million copies throughout the entire year.
The Beatles are believed to have scored a new world record, with their greatest hits album becoming the fastest seller of all time.
Copies flew off shelves around the globe as soon as the album went on sale a month ago, with early figures suggesting the album sold 3.6 million copies in a week.
Guinness World Record chiefs are now checking the figures to establish whether the album beats the previous fastest-seller, N Sync's No Strings Attached, which sold 2.4 million.
The greatest hits album 1 has climbed to the top of the charts in 28 countries simultaneously.
A spokesman for The Beatles says: "They're all really, really thrilled."
The album has been at number one in the UK for the past three weeks and is expected to stay in the top slot until after Christmas.
Countries in which the album has topped the charts include major record-buying nations such as Japan, the US and Germany. Others include Finland, Venezuela and Chile.
When it was released last month, industry experts were tipping the album to be one of the biggest sellers of all time. It contains 27 tracks which made it to number one in the UK or the US.
It has sold 12 million so far and over the coming months is expected to catch up with The Eagles Greatest Hits which shifted 26 million - the best-selling album to date by a group.
In the US it is now number two - being overtaken by boy band The Backstreet Boys. However Beatles 1 sold more in its second week of release than its first week and looks like being around for a lot longer than the Backstreet Boys. Don't be surprised if it '1' goes back to the top of the charts before Christmas.
Beatles 1 is number one in 19 countries in its first week of release, a spokesman for the Beatles said on Thursday.
The Beatles previous best was in November 1995 when ``The Beatles Anthology 1'' was top of the charts in 10 countries in its first week of release, the spokesman for the Fabs, said.
Japan's fans led the way, buying 750,000 copies of the Beatles greatest hits album.
1 is the Beatles' 19th U.S. chart-topper in the album charts. They last ruled the charts with 'Anthology 3,' which debuted with about 237,000 copies in November 1996.
The new album also becomes the Beatles' second biggest U.S. debut, following the 855,500 debut for 'Anthology 1' in November 1995. No doubt helping sales for '1' was the ABC TV special, 'The Beatles Revolution,' which attracted 8.7 million viewers. It will be rebroadcast on U.S. cable television's VH1.
Beatles 1 went straight into the UK album charts at number one.The album has already gone platinum, selling 319,126 copies within a week of being released.
A spokesman for The Beatles said the remaining members of the band, Sir Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, were "dead chuffed" by the chart success.
The album of 27 songs has been outselling Westlife, the current darlings of the pre-teen market, and Oasis, who once saw themselves as the Fab Four's successors.
By Friday, Oasis's album had only amassed 40,629 sales and entered the chart on Sunday at number five.
It also sold five times as many copies as Westlife's Coast To Coast album, which went straight in at number one the previous Sunday.
Many in the music industry predict the album, which is also number one in Germany, France, Spain and Canada, could go on to become one of the biggest sellers of all time.
As the highest-selling album of the year so far, the album 1 has beaten previous chart topper Robbie Williams, whose Sing When You're Winning sold 313,000 copies in its first week.
There was a great cartoon in the Daily Mirror Newspaper today. It shows an ageing hippy looking at a newspaper billboard that reads, 'Beatles zoom to No1'. The hippy is saying to himself, 'Oh no, man...I'm having a sixties flashback.'
And so far it is selling five times as many copies as Westlife's Coast To Coast album, which rocketed to number one, at the firm's stores.
A spokesman for HMV said: 'It's absolutely massive. Even though it's a greatest hits and most fans have every single track, it's selling phenomenally well.'
One of the first fans to buy the album was the singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, who was in the queue at a midnight opening at the Liverpool HMV store.
A spokesman said: 'He was among the first 10 into the store and would have had to queue for up to an hour. People didn't realise it was him until he went into the store. He had on a woolly hat and scarf and so we think he was trying to be a bit low key. But staff recognised him and asked him to sign copies of his own albums.'
'Elvis first in queue for new Beatles hits album' - Daily Telegraph
'Beatles album selling well' - Ananova
It turned out to be a hard day's night for a major London record store when it opened its doors at midnight on Sunday to sell the latest Beatles album.
The HMV store had hoped to be besieged by hundreds of fans but there were few signs of Beatlemania -- just 15 had turned up by midnight despite the offer of a special certificate for the first 350 buyers of the greatest hits album.
But the diehard fans did try to bring back memories of the Fab Four's 1960s heyday by running and jostling to get the first copy of the album ``1,'' a compilation of the group's 27 number one hits.
`Well at least we've managed to create a bit of mayhem,' said an HMV spokesman. First in line was Japanese Naoto Ito. `I'm honored to be the first to buy the record,' he said. Ito was unsure what to do with his certificate: `I guess I'll keep it so when I retire I can look back on how much I liked the Beatles,' he said.
The Beatles '1', will be available from midnight on Sunday November 12th at HMV's store at 360 Oxford Street in London.
The first 350 people in the queue who buy the CD will be presented with a CD sized certificate confirming that their edition of '1' was purchased on the first day of the worldwide release.
HMV will also be giving Fab Four fans the opportunity to win exclusive artwork in a prize draw. The 'art-prints' are based on photos taken by Richard Avedon in 1967 and consist of four album prints, one of each member of the band, set side by side and framed.
On November 9th TV crews around the world will be at Abbey Road Studios for the official launch of the new official Beatles Website http://www.thebeatles.com
Crews will be shown the site seperately with the event lasting all day.
Then, next week, it is believed the famous perimeter wall of Abbey Road will be painted Red with the Beatles '1' logo spayed on. Sources close to the studios told me it will be painted nect Tuesday and then be whitewashed over after only one day.
Beatles '1' is currently number 2 on the best sellers list of both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk - not bade considering it isn't out for another week.
Incidently in both chart U2 are number one.
According to PA news the site has been in creation for a year. It will include both music and video.
In the Get Back area of the site, visitors can see the band's final ever performance on the roof of their company headquarters in Savile Row, London, in 1969, as well as hearing comments from the crowd.
In another, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, fans can take a virtual tour of Studio 2 at the Abbey Road studios which became a second home where they created almost all their finest moments.
We've just heard that Apple are about to launch a new official 'Beatles 1' Website. It will go online on November 13th.
To access the new website click here
The publicity campaign for Beatles '1' is just beginning. Both the down market Daily Mirror and the up market Daily Telegraphs carried major articles about it this weekend.
The Mirror say that over a million copies of the CD have been pressed for the UK alone and that it is likely to go multi-platinum in days. They also state that EMI are spending 1.5 million pounds to promote it.
The Telegraph say that the CD has already taken 10 million pounds in advance sales and a record for internet advanced orders.
Chirs Windle, vice president of marketing at EMI said: 'The interest in this album is intense. Promotion is on a truly global basis with creative multi-media campaigns, and builds on the Beatles' traditional fans to emphasise the music and its importance to a younger music audience.'
Bearing the unique title '1' this album brings together all the group's 27 British and American number one singles on one CD for the very first time.
The tracklisting for 1 is: Love Me Do, From Me To You, She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Can't Buy Me Love, A Hard Day's Night, I Feel Fine, Eight Days A Week, Ticket To Ride, Help!, Yesterday, Day Tripper, We Can Work It Out, Paperback Writer, Yellow Submarine, Eleanor Rigby, Penny Lane, All You Need Is Love, Hello Goodbye, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude, Get Back, The Ballad Of John And Yoko, Something, Come Together, Let It Be and The Long and Winding Road.
Ken Berry, CEO EMI Recorded Music, says 'The Beatles are the most influential band in popular music and no other band has had their degree of chart success.
'Their music has had an unprecedented impact on the lives and cultures of so many around the world. Their songs are as vibrant and contemporary today as when they were recorded.
'This is a must-have album for every music lover's collection which will be supported by an innovative marketing campaign. We are proud that the Beatles spent their entire career with EMI and this album is a tribute to their genius.'
Chris Windle, Sr. Vice President Marketing Recorded Music, says 'Priced as a regular album this long playing CD with over 79 minutes running time represents fantastic value to the public. Promotion on a truly global basis with hugely creative multi-media campaigns will build on the Beatles huge fan base to emphasise the music and its importance to a contemporary audience.'
In selecting the tracks for 1, EMI Records together with Capitol Records in the USA chose the songs that were either No.1 in the Record Retailer chart in the UK (the only independently-audited UK chart throughout the sixties) or in the Billboard chart in the USA.
The Beatles achieved 17 No.1 hits on the Record Retailer singles chart between May 1963 and July 1969. In the USA, The Beatles had a total of 20 No.1 singles between February 1964 and June 1970.
The show will air just three days after the release of 'Beatles One'
Mojo magazine have revealed the much talked-about Beatles Greatest Hits CD is to be called Beatles One - as it contains every number one record The Beatles had in Britain and America. However that criteria has caused much argument as Strawberry Fields Forever is not included. In the UK it was a double A side with Penny Lane and only reached number two in the charts. In the US Penny Lane was an air-play number one but Strawberry Fields wasn't.
Another strange inclusion for UK fans is Eight Day's A Week - this wasn't even released as a single in the UK.
The full track listing is: Love Me Do, From Me to You, She Loves You, I Want To Hold Your Hand, Can't Buy Me Love, A Hard Day's Night, I Feel Fine, Eight Day's a Week, Ticket To Ride, Help, Yesterday, Day Tripper, We Can Work it Out, Paperback Writer, Yellow Submarine, Eleanor Rigby, Penny Lane, All You Need is Love, Hallo Goodbye, Lady Madonna, Hey Jude, Get Back, Ballad of John and Yoko, Something, Come Together, Let it Be, Long and Winding Road
how can you do a greatest hits when there all hits? There's no way this can be done, not in their case
Tom Nickerson
I don't see the point in putting out a Beatles hits package, it's just to make more money.I don't think you can realistically put the best of the Beatles on any album, even if it is a stated run down of the number 1 singles. There's just too much quality stuff missing eg. Strawberry Fields. Also if your going to put A sides on it, why not the B sides too, Rain for example or Revolution?. As everyone knows the red and blue albums are the nearest we have to 'a best of' at the moment, but even they cannot possibly really adhere to that, there are only two tracks from Revolver on the red one for example. A point to note is that every track on the new album is on the red and blue anyway plus the selected album tracks. So if you want a selection of what is best to describe as the Beatles 'best known' songs why not just get the redÊand blue which have been available for years anyway. For two double albums they are not really going to break the bank balance much more. Or if you really like the Beatles why not buy all the albums and the Past Masters, it's well worth it. Ê Liam Sinnott. Ps. Wasn't there an album a few years ago called ' The Twenty Greatest Hits'?
ees@principals.freeserve.co.ukÊ
we, the hard core collector's, of course don't need that record at all. For that
reason, don't think about the track-listing - it doesn't matter.
But for all of us fans it will be great to have them back once more in the press
and charts worldwide.
It will be great to show my kids (16 and 13) that my heroes are number ONE again
and that they can outsell any act in the world 30 years after their breakup.
Goodbye
Herbert Neugebauer (51)
Moenchengladbach, Germany
As anyone who knows anything about The Beatles or popular music will
tell you....
what was and was not a single for this band and what was and was not a
number one is not relevent.
'a day in the life'....possibly the best work they ever did. Not a
single and not on this album.
The whole idea behind this album is ludicrous.
I have decided not to buy it.
Thanks
Sean
I was a bit excited about the prospect of a Beatles greatest hit's
package, especially after the superb sounding Yellow Submarine Songtrack from
last year. Then when I heard that the boy's haden't even bothered to
re-master the track's for the album I lost all intrest. I'm a hard-core fan
and since I already have all the album's I'm going to pass on this new
compilation. What I'm really waiting for, and what I think the Beatles and
their fan's deserve, is a complete re-mastering of the entire catalouge!! My
god, it's been 15 year's and technology has come so far....what's the hold
up???? All the album's should sound as fantastic as the Yellow Submarine
Songtrack
Zengypsy2@aol.com
Hi there, I think that nobody is waiting for a compilation like this. There are the RED and the BLUE double CD's already! Are the tracks on this CD remixed, just like Yellow Submarine? If this is so and the tracks are remixed at the same manner the Beatles Music has become a very poor consumer article. It has lost it's personality and it's charm.
Bye, Nico
Ê