The Beatles have made pop history once again 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.
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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.
The previous record was set by Kate Bush, who waited 44 years between her first number one in 1978, Wuthering Heights, and her second in 2022, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God).
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).
They have also drawn level with Elvis Presley to share the record for the act with the greatest number of different songs to reach number one in the UK.
Presley has topped the UK singles chart 21 times, but on three of these occasions the songs were re-releases of former number ones.
Source: Press Association
