McCartney Times

This week in the U.K., The Beatles are back at No. 1 after half a century away with one of their most beloved titles. No, the remaining members haven’t reformed to start recording new material! A newly-released anniversary edition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, meant to celebrate 50 years since the title was first released, was welcomed warmly by the British public, and now it is on top once again.

This past week, the title shifted another 37,000 equivalent units, which adds to the already impressive total the record has been able to move over the decades. That figure might be enough to give the band the No. 1 spot this week, but it is actually a tiny fraction of the total number of copies that have been sold over the 50 years Sgt. Pepper’s has been available.

According to the Official Charts Company, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the bestselling studio album in British history. The record has now sold well over five million units in the U.K. alone, which is an absurdly high number for a country only one-third the size of the U.S.

It is important to note that the title is the bestselling record of all original material, but it isn’t actually No. 1 when all types of recordings are included. Two greatest hits compilations—Queen’s Greatest Hits and ABBA’s Gold—have both moved more copies, but it’s easier to shift millions of units when every track on a CD is a certified smash. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is impressively in third place behind those two blockbuster releases, which is incredible, considering the fact that The Beatles also have a handful of massively popular best of collections, though none of them performed nearly as well as the record considered one of the greatest artistic accomplishments from the most successful band of all time.

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band has now topped the British album charts for 28 nonconsecutive weeks, and while it might not end up ruling the ranking ever again, the LP has made history many times over and in a number of different ways, and it will likely never stop selling.

Source: The Beatles’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’ Is The Bestselling Studio Album In The U.K. Ever