The Beatles' final song Now And Then is the fastest-selling vinyl single of the century so far in the UK

(Image credit: Apple Corps Ltd)

The Beatles are continuing to break records in the UK, some 53 years after disbanding.

The Liverpool band scored their 18th UK number one single last week with their final song, Now And Then, extending their run as the British act with the most number one singles in chart history: only Elvis Presley has landed more chart-topping songs, with 21 UK number ones.

Now And Then racked up 78,200 combined chart units, including 48,600 sales (physical and download), making it the fastest selling single of 2023 in the UK. Its 38,000 physical sales are the most by any single in almost a decade, and having sold 19,400 copies on vinyl, it's the fastest-selling vinyl single of the century.

The song, built up from a John Lennon cassette recording, was streamed over five million times in its first week of release, and its Peter Jackson-directed video was played 2.15 million times.

The band are now on course to score another UK number one success tomorrow, November 17, as their re-released 'Red' and 'Blue' compilations are set to chart at number one and two, with the 'Blue' album, 1967-1970 currently outselling the 'Red' album, 1962-1966. The boxset version of the two LPs is also destined to chart in the Top 10. The new charts will be announced tomorrow.

Last night, November 15, Giles Martin, the son of legendary Beatles producer George Martin, and conductor Ben Foster, introduced a 58-piece orchestra at Abbey Road Studios, as they performed original and new arrangements of 10 Beatles classics taken from the two compilation albums.

Orchestra at Abbey Road, November 15, 2024 — (Image credit: Phoebe Fox)

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.